Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Walking into her new force captain barracks, Catra felt a sense of pride swell over her. She had shown Hordak that, once again, she meant something. She remembered how Hordak had given her badge back after the portal closed, saying how capable she was of getting shit done. It was a shame though, with no reason to lounge around in his lab anymore, that Hordak stated that he would take on the new role as force commander. It made Catra wondered if he still had trust issues with her. She thought the idea was absolutely dumb considering he most likely had never left his lab before. Regardless, she kept her mouth shut. He was still the Horde’s leader. Talking back to him was probably a good way to get her head chopped off after recent events. Catra decided not to retake Shadow Weaver’s old quarters. She didn’t need another reminder of that bitch, especially since she ran back to her precious Adora.

As she settled in she couldn’t help but think of the last encounter with Adora. Her actions were so unlike what she used to see from her. Back while the world was falling apart and Catra was all corrupted with, whatever you would call that energy from the portal, Adora was actually mad with her. And to top it off, that look she got Shera will she was running away with Hordak was one of real anger that sent chills down Catra’s spine. In previous fights, it felt like Adora would not truly bring harm to her. Now, it felt like Adora was willing to win by any means necessary. It was a fact that brought true fear into Catra's heart, making her ponder if Adora would actually try to kill her.

Catra had begun to accept a hard fact about her life now. The person she knew as Adora was gone now, replaced fully by Shera, that fucking perfect shinning princess. The person she once considered her friend growing up in the horde was no more.

This was no time to think about that now though. Emotions would only get in the way of her success. They would make her weak, and only serve to give her another reason to hate Shera. There were already fucking plenty of those. Catra took a deep breath, and continued getting her things together.

Afterwards, she laid down on her new bed and took a much needed nap. It had been a very long couple of days. She wasn’t sure what time it was when she woke up. The only thing now would be to discuss future plans with Scorpia.

Scorpia. Catra could not help but feel uneasy at the earlier events that happened in Entrapta’s lab. She couldn’t let those thoughts distract her though. She could put those moments in the past. And if she could, Scorpia could too. For the sake of the Horde's mission, right?

After walking the halls of the fright zone for a few minutes, she found Scopia in her own quarters. She was sitting down on her bed, just looking down at the floor. Catra walked over to her. That uneasy feeling was returning, but she did her best to push it down.

“Come on, you can’t spend all day moping around can ya.” Scorpia looked up. Her face showed she was obviously hurt. “Come on. It's not that bad. I got my title of force captain back” Catra gave her one of her smirks. “We’re a team remember, you're one of the reasons I got back here.” She put her hand on Scorpia’s shoulder. Scorpia looked at her for a moment, before putting her head down, removing the feline’s hand to get up.

“I’m sorry Catra. I thought I could be by your side forever, but I just can’t do this anymore.”

“Scorpia what are you --?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be the one to help fix you. Obviously you're the only one who can.”

Catra was in shock. Was...Was Scopria leaving too? She was, wasn’t she? Just as quickly as it came, the hurt inside of her turned into a fiery rage.

“And you said you were different. You're just like them you now that. All you princess types do is care about yourself and leave behind what doesn’t matter to you.”

Scorpia stopped by the door. “Yea well, you helped me realize that I shouldn’t.”

Catra’s anger only roared on. “You walk out of this room, you're nothing but dead to me. I’ll make sure you fucking suffer, just like the rest of the princesses.

Scorpia just stood there, and for a moment, Catra truly thought she would change her mind. But then, Scorpia opened the door, and Catra charged her. If she’s going to leave me like everyone else she can suffer like the rest, she thought. However, she was promptly met by Scorpia’s tail. She was given enough of a dose of her venom to fully pass out.

When she finally awoke, she wasn’t sure how much time had passed. She was alone now in Scopria’s room. She got up and ran. If Scorpia was leaving there was likely only one place that she was going, and that wasn’t any more good news. She checked some places on her way to see if Scorpia had gotten out yet and eventually got to the hanger bay. There were two soldiers standing guard. Catra questioned them about Scorpia.

“Yea she came by.” One of them said. “She said something about performing a scouting mission. She took out a skiff not too long ago.”

Catra could not believe what she had just heard. “Well you dumb asses just let yet another force captain defect.” She stomped off. Her anger threatened to spill over. The next thing she knew she was back in Scorpia’s room, and all she could think about was what the woman just did.

Catra lashed out at everything. She tore into the sheets on the bed, nightstands, and trashed all the furniture in the room. The place became another pit of bad memories she didn’t want to be reminded of. Yet another person left her. Someone else left her for those stupid fucking princesses, for Adora. The room just left her with even more bitterness, and guilt too. Catra can’t help but feel like she could have prevented this. She could have not shocked Entrapta. She could have not threatened Scorpia. She shook her head. If it wasn’t for Adora none of this would have ever happened. She could still have some amount of control in her life. She could get the praise she desired. She could actually be something instead of the lowly nothing that Shadow Weaver and just about everyone else called her.

Catching her breath after the destruction, the decision was made to finally get some actual control. She went back to her new quarters to do just that. Upon arrival, she took a razor and went to the mirror. She wasn't a simple cadet anymore, she was a force captain. It was time to actually looked the part. Without a second thought, she began to groom her hair. She shaves off her sideburn tuffs, and cut out the more wild curls of her hair, proceeding to flatten it out and make it less animalistic.

Once that was done, she took a good look down at her current uniform. It needed a change as well. She went over to her closet and observed her options. She took out a red and black top, as well as some long black pants. It was time to form a style to call call her own. Taking off her own pants and unsheathing her claws, she cuts clean through the first tear in the fabric. From there she cuts the black pants at a spot where it roughly matches, and then cuts holes in the bottom to fit her clawed feet.

Then, she takes a look at the top she picked out. It is similar in design to Scorpia’s outfit, except it possesses two long dark sleeves with holes for fingers. She picks it up and starts to cut at sections of the left sleeve, cutting it clean off at the shoulder, and then cutting a section near the hand to create a glove. She’s about to do the same to the other side, but stops. A flashback to her time in the portal comes to mind, of how her right arm was all covered in black. She’s a little apprehensive, but the more she thinks about it, the more it is the greatest idea ever. What better way to remind Adora of just what she would be up against. Besides, cutting off the other arm would make it too similar to Scorpia’s look, and she sure as shit didn't want to be anything like the scorpion princess.

She puts on her new outfit, finishing it up by placing her face caption badge on her chest, then takes a good look at herself in the closet mirror. A wicked smirk plasters itself onto her face. She has never looked more intimidating in her life. It's perfect.

As the new and improved force captain strides out of her room, she can’t help but let her anger fuel her thoughts. One in particular sticks out from the rest.

Adora, no, Shera would pay for this. All of the fucking princesses would.

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The days since returning to Brightmoon were some of the worst for the princess alliance. It had been an extremely rough time for Glimmer. She had to prepare for her own coronation as queen. However, the loss of her mother had made even that task tougher than it should have been. At first, she just never wanted to come out of her room. Despite how worried Adora was, Bow thought they should give her some space.

Eventually, she felt good enough to come out. Everyone was glad she was alright. When the idea of Glimmers coronation ceremony was brought up, she suggested that they don’t just make the day about her. She wanted her mom to be remembered for the sacrifice that she had made. Some of the princesses weren’t sure about the idea. Bow thought it should be a happy day, while Adora thought it would be a painful topic, but Glimmer insisted. She thought that a day celebrating herself becoming queen would not be right without at least remembering what Angella did before her.

Not wanting to bother Glimmer with it, Adora took her newfound questions about coronations and memorials to Bow. Glimmer had enough already to worry about.

“Well, a coronation is like a party in a way. Just, more formal. There are all these fancy procedures and then Glimmer takes her vows to be a good queen for the people.”

“That seems nice.” Adora started. “How come you were nervous about the memorial? Is that not normal for these events?”

“Yea. It’s basically a sad event where you remember someone who died.”

“Oh.” Adora wondered if the loss of Angella was affecting Glimmer more than she had anticipated. It made her wish she had tried to do more.

“Yeah, I’m just worried for Glimmer.” Bow stated. “Maybe this could help her out, but I'm not sure. Memorials usually help people feel better by remembering that her spirit has moved on.”

Adora looked at Bow with confusion causing him to continue. “That’s an explanation that’s probably even too complex for me to explain." Bow continued on. "For right now, we should go get ready.”

All the other princesses were invited to the event, and a large crowd of citizens even gathered around. Hell, even Shadow Weaver attended. Well, if you count just standing in a corner away from everyone and observing the events attending. Glimmer had decided that she could be of some help. Not everyone felt the same way, especially Castaspella. At in the end, they decided she could roam free, so long as she did not cause any trouble. Adora wasn't too keen on the idea, but Glimmer hadn't budged an inch on her position.

Everyone dressed up for the occasion. Adora decided to go in her princess prom dress(she could not really find anything else that was comfortable to wear). Other princesses wore more fancy dresses. Bow even decided to not wear a crop top for once in his life. A large crowd gathered for the event as well. A stage was set up in the courtyard with a large number of chairs for everyone who gathered. Adora and the other princesses sat in a special section in the front.

The coronation went smoothly. Everyone cheered as Glimmer went out on stage to address everyone, and take her vows to uphold the Brightmoon values and be crowned queen. She took time to thank everyone for coming and promising to do her best as queen.

Then she took time to thank those who helped her along the way. “Without the help of those I cherished, I never would be the person I am today. That goes for my friends, the princesses, and most importantly, my mom.” She paused to wipe a tear from her eye. “If it wasn’t for her sacrifice, the rebellion wouldn’t be where it is today. I’d like to take some time to honor her memory.”

Glimmer maneuvers the audience to a spot set up right in front of the stage where a wooden sign has been set up as a makeshift gravestone. From there, people are given a chance to come up and pay their respects. When the civilians are done, all the princesses take turns walking up to the makeshift grave. Bow had taken a moment to explain to Adora that the purpose was to take a moment and talk to the dead person. You talk different topics and let them know how things are going with life. It was a way of letting out the emotion of their loss.

Many princesses went up to the gravestone to pay their respects. They were all sad and serious, even if they showed it in different ways. Perfuma cried, Frosta stood in silence with a solemn expression, while Mermista, even though she sounded nonchalant, spoke in a very serious way.

Glimmer was the next one. There were tears in her eyes as she knelt down. “Hey Mom.” She said through a sob. “Who knew I’d step in for ya this early?” She looked down at the ground. “I’m not even sure that I’m ready to do this, but I know I got my friends beside me. I promise that I’ll do whatever it takes to take down the horde so that your sacrifice won’t be in vain. After what they did, I’ll make sure the Horde is destroyed for good.”

When she was done, she got up and Adora took her place, kneeling down on one knee. “Hey.” She started. “It’s my first time doing this, so I’m not totally sure how this works.” She let out a sigh. “It’s been tough on everyone without you. I think Glimmer has really taken it the hardest.”

Tears were now beginning to form in her eyes. “I wish I could have done something. I know it’s not my fault, but I can’t help but feel I could have stopped this.” She took a minute to wipe her eyes. “I’ll make sure your sacrifice wasn’t for nothing. I’ll train even harder, and I’m going to make sure we win. No matter what it takes.”

As Adora got up. She couldn’t help but feel a newfound resolve. She knew she would have to do whatever it takes to defeat the Horde. One thought in particular helped especially to give her a fierce determination.

Catra is going to pay for this. I’ll train more and get even stronger, and by no means will I let her win.

Chapter Text

“Ugh why is this so hard?”

It had been a few weeks since Glimmer had been appointed as queen of Brightmoon, and she was already feeling the pressure of the role. It felt so easy to fail and let everyone down. There had been a dispute between two towns on how to divy up the latest batch of supplies. Despite her best efforts, there were some people thinking she could be handling it much better than she was.

“Hey it can’t be all that bad. You've handled other challenges really well. You can do this."

Glimmer peered down from her new throne to look at Scorpia. A few days after the portal incident she had shown up in Brightmoon wanting to join the rebellion. She explained that Catra had too far down a path she couldn’t follow. She had sent Entrapta to Beast Island. At first, no-one was sure about her, so they decided to have her locked up in the spare room. However, as time went on, everyone began to warm up to her. Seahawk had even vouched for her, which surprised everyone. Glimmer eventually let her become one of her personal advisors.

Since then, one of her main tasks had been attempting to locate Beast Island. Adora had explained that Beast Island was worse than death. Both Adora and Scorpia had heard stories about it. How it was an island filled with various carnivorous beasts. Scorpia, and even Adora had been looking for information about the island. However, all the efforts were turning up with blanks.

Shadow Weaver attempted to stop this excursion. Saying that it was a useless endeavor. That by the time they would even be able to locate Beast Island, their friend would likely be long dead, and the journey would all be for nothing.

“Doesn’t mean they would be pleased with it. Everyone just expects me to be my mom when I’m not.” Glimmer stated rather angrily. “No-one seems to think that I have what it takes. Even Shadow Weaver won’t teach me the more powerful spells because she thinks I’m not ready.

Glimmer had begun taking lessons with Shadow Weaver to help her get stronger. These lessons featured a mix of using her powers with Shadow Weaver’s help, as well as using her powers on her own. Glimmer had grown much stronger with her current powers. She could now teleport objects or people without needing to be in physical contact with them, but Shadow Weaver had refused to teach her any more powerful abilities. Your not ready, she would keep saying.

She had even taken to helping out Adora with training from time to time when time with Light Hope had not gone well. While Adora was not quite as comfortable about taking lessons from her, she would be lying if she said they were not helpful. She got more control over her swords magical blasts, and even learned how to tame different animals.

“Don’t worry about all of them. You’ve handled the horde really well. I’m sure you can handle this no problem.” Scorpia said, trying to offer up some kind words of encouragement.

“Easy for you to say. Your not the one with a lot of pressure resting on you.” Glimmer sighed. “I’m surprised the Horde has made any moves. The damage from the portal must have really set them back.”

“Yea, I noticed they started up a bunch of repair projects when I left. It must have really did a number on them if nothing has happened yet. But hey, that means less pressure to get things done right?”

Just as Scorpia had finished her sentence, a guard came running into the throne room.

“Your majesty.” The guard said. “We have just received word of a Horde convoy moving on a supply cache in a town in the Whispering Woods.”

Speak of the devil. Glimmer thought. Going after a supply cache sounded like a desperate move. She should have to expect the Horde to be giving their all.

“Call Shadow Weaver in. I’m going to call the other princesses. We move on this ASAP.”

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Catra felt happy to finally be back out on the field. For so long, the Horde had been managing repairs from the portal incident, with her managing issues within a section assigned to her. She felt extremely cooped up. The lack of activity continually caused her thoughts on recent events to fester. This caused her to take out her anger on those who were performing less than adequate. When some of her bandit crew members from the waste began to voice some concerns about working with the Horde, she had them kicked out. Needless to say, she was happy when Hordak ordered an attack. It felt like the perfect opportunity for her to blow off some steam.

The only real qualms she had were about Adora. This was likely the first time that they would see each other since Shera closed the portal, and for once, she felt unsure of how an encounter might turn out.

As the Battalion approached the supply camp. Catra split her forces into two groups in order to attack. The idea was to split up the rebellion’s forces making them easier to take down. Catra directed one section, while Lonnie directed the other. Each side would attack the town from two different directions.

Catra instantly sees rebellion troops as her faction approaches. She has the bots engage first, which brings a good chunk of units out to engage in hand to hand combat. A group of archers stayed back in the town stayed back in the town to provide support. On Catra’s side, a rear tank unit cleaned up any Rebels that caused any problems with the bots.

Catra felt things going successfully from her perch on top of a rear tank. With how the battle was progressing it would only be a matter of time until the village was theirs. Then all of a sudden, a giant purple flash of light shot up from the center of the town. Catra pulled out a set of binoculars from the inside of the tank, only to see a seen that infuriated her more. All of the princesses, along with Shadow Weaver, were now in the center of the town.

Well shit, Catra thought. She pulled out a communicator. “Lonnie, we got company, be ready. Rogelio get the skiff team ready. I have a few princesses to deal with.” And with that she took off into the town, carving a path through some straggling rebellion troops in the process.

It wasn’t long before she came across Scorpia fighting off Horde bots, and her mind flashed back to a few weeks ago. That moment that showed that Catra was not even good for Scorpia to be her friend. It caused her anger to simmer once more.

“You fucking traitor!!” She yelled out. Scorpia turned her head up to face her. Anger painted on her own face as well.

“You know exactly why I left Catra.” Scorpia responded rather bitterly. A part of Catra was surprised to hear such a tone coming from her, but her anger quickly overpowered that shock. She growled and charged at her. Taking out her whip and throwing a few lashes out her. Scorpia blocks them easily with her claws. When Catra is close enough, she wraps her whip around one of Scorpia’s claws and use pulls hard, using the momentum to deliver a swift kick to the face, causing her to stumble backwards.

Catra kept up the assault. She puts up her whip and extends her claws and runs up to Scorpia and gets a few good swipes at her chest before one final swipe to her face makes her fall over backward. Catra leaps off the ground for one final blow, but a blast of magic sends her karreening of to the side. When she recovers, she looks up towards the source of the blast, only to be met by the form of Shera. Her eyes glaring at Catra with pure hatred. It makes Catra feel the same fear she had back when Shera closed the portal.

“Hey Adora” Catra says putting on a smirk. How she manages to say it without breaking her cool facade, even Catra doesn’t know.

“This ends now Catra. Your not winning this.” Shera says rather bitterly at her. It was a new level of hate that Catra had never heard coming from Adora.

At the mention of her losing, Catra’s anger only flared up again. “This isn’t over until the Rebellion falls.” She said, practically growling at her.

“If your so determined then bring it.” Shera responded. “Or is the big old bad force captain too scared.”

Now Catra was practically seething. She screamed and charged her. As she got close, Shera swung her sword at her. Catra doged underneath and gave a swift punch to Shera’s stomach, causing her to stumble backwards slightly. Catra jumped for another attack, but Shera transformed her sword into a shield just in time to deflect it, pushing Catra over to the side.

Shera shifted her shield into a mace and now charged Catra. Catra almost instantly began a series of dodges as Shera swung at her wildly. Catra kept moving backwards avoiding Shera’s swings, but eventually Shera’s mace managed to get a good wack in on her side. Shera jumped at her, but Catra used her whip to pull herself out of the way. Shera slammed into the ground where Catra originally was, leaving a small crater behind.

Catra took out her whip once more and swung it at Shera. Shera raised her arm and let the whip wrap around it. Then she yanked on it hard, and Catra flown in toward her. When she was close enough, Shera smacked her in her cheek with her mace, causing Catra to fly into the side of a building. Shera immediately followed that up by charging her. She smashed into Catra, and took her through the front and back walls of the building, as well as an outer stone wall along the outskirts of the town. Shera stopped after smashing the wall, but Catra flew across the ground an extra couple of feet. She stopped a few inches short of a nearby cliffside overseeing a lake.

Catra clutched her side as she rose up off the ground, wiping blood from her head as she did. Her body ached all over. In all the times she fought Adora when she was Shera, she had never known her to go all out like this. Looking up at Shera again, her look of absolute anger and bitterness was enough for realization to slap Catra in the face. Adora wasn’t holding back anymore. After everything that had happened, she was now willing to win by any means necessary. A part of Catra had wanted Adora to actually fight like her like she meant it, but it felt different seeing it in person. Catra was starting to get nervous again. Adora wouldn’t actually try to kill her, would she?

“Catra” The sound of Lonnie’s voice came through her communicator. “We managed to take a supply cache, but we’re having trouble holding it.” Catra continued standing up, spitting up some blood onto the ground as she looked up at Shera. If Adora wanted to win by any means necessary than so could Catra. She began talking into her communicator. “Take what you can get out. Then destroy the rest.”

The order made Shera’s look of distancing turn into pure bitterness. “Catra?” Lonnie responded.

“You have your orders Lonnie. Now do it.” She said as she put away from her communicator.

Shera untangled Catra’s whip from her arm and gripped the handle. She then turned her mace into a whip of its own. She began lashing both whips at Catra. She was just able to move out of the way in time before one came down. Catra began dodging again as she made her way to Shera. Catra dodged under the bulky princess and gave her a kick to her shin. Shera fell to one knee as Catra latched herself on her shoulders. She sinks a claw into Shera’s right arm, causing her to drop Catra’s whip, drawing blood in the process. Before she can do the same to her other arm, Shera manages to take her now free hand to toss Catra off. While she is in the air, Shera uses her own whip to snag Catra by her foot, and pulling her back toward her. Catra slammed up against a tree behind Shera.

Shera turns her whip back into a sword and charged the tree. Catra just barely has enough time to duck under the attack, as the sword causes the tree to fall over. Catra leaps up over Shera on her arm and shoulders. Unfortunately, Catra is not quite fast enough, as Shera manages to grab her by the tail, and slam her into the ground. Catra has to take a second to have her senses come back to her, and she is barely able to roll out of the way from Shera’s boot coming down on top of her. She is just able to recover her own whip before another another swing from Shera’s sword comes down on top of her.

Catra turned quickly, throwing her own whip at the sword, and snagging it by the hilt. From there, the fight turned into a tug of war. Both sides were pulling with all their might to get an advantage. While Shera needed no help, Catra had to plant her feet on a stray root so that she did not loose her footing. Eventually, Shera gives a hard tug, causing Catra to fall foward. Shera then untangled Catra's whip and charged forward and jumped for another attack. Catra just managed to jump backward to avoid a fatal hit, but Shera managed to swipe a cut across her abdomen. Luckily for Catra , it wasn't too deep. She stood up and brought an arm across it to try and stem some of the bleeding.

With how the fight is going, and how much she was now hurting, Catra’s fear began to spike again. She begins to back up slowly, her eyes trained on Shera the entire time. Eventually she back into another tree, which caused her to turn around for a brief second. Unfortunately, she was met by Shera charging her when she turned back. She crumpled over, and Shera picked her up and threw her. Catra went tumbling over the cliff and was just able to plant her claws in the cliff side. She began to climb back up, but as soon as her hand reached the safety of the top, it was immediately met by one of Shera’s boots.

Catra let out a yelp of pain. She looked up into the eyes of Shera. What used to seem so familiar to her now seemed so foreign. They were filled to the brim with anger and disgust. It reminded Catra of what happened back in the northern reach, when Shera had been infected by the data crystal virus. Only this time, there was no difference in eye color to signify something was wrong. It felt so much more scarier to look into those eyes and see that they were the same light blue color they always were. They were so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time.

In an effort to save her own hide, Catra did the only thing she could think of doing.

“What are you waiting for?” She asked, not quite able to keep the nervousness out of her own voice. “Everyone knows what’s going to happen. You’re just going to pull me up because you can’t even bring yourself to-“

“Shut the fuck up!!”

Catra was beginning to sweat now, but she kept at it. “What? Don’t believe me?” She began to raise her free hand to climb up. “Your probably worried I’m going to fall and just waiting to-“. She never finished her sentence as Shera’s other boot promptly came down on top of it.

“Why should I after what you did?” Catra looked up, fear now showing in her eyes. “I’m not falling for it anymore Catra. You tried to destroy Etheria, you sent Entrapta to her death, and you hurt me and my friends time and time again. You wanted me to fight you as an enemy, while here I am. You made it clear what you wanted when you pulled the switch. If I ever see you on the battlefield again, I won’t hesitate to kill you!” And with that she began to push off Catra’s arms so that she could fall.

“Adora, wait!” Catra cried out after one of her arms was pushed off. Adora just ignored her however, and she pushed off Catra’s other arm, causing Catra to fall. Everything after that went in slow motion. She saw Shera look at her with eyes of pure disdain, doing something she never thought she would ever be able to do. Catra wasn’t sure how long it took to hit the water, but it felt like an eternity. As soon as she did, she almost immediately swam up, and grabbed onto a nearby rock formation for support. She peered up the cliff, now seeing Shera walk away. She hears commotion over her communicator about her forces being forced back but she couldn’t bring herself to care at the moment. Adora, her best, well, ex-best friend actually wants to kill her. After taking a moment, she gives the retreat order. A skiff picks her up and she joins the retreat.

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Shera fades back into Adora as she walks away from the cliff. A single tear falls down her face. The horde was now in full retreat, and most of the town’s supplies were safe and still in tact. Adora met up with Glimmer and Bow when she got back into town.

“We did it.” She heard glimmer say to Bow. “Told ya they don’t stand a chance against us.” She noticed Adora walking towards them. “Adora there you are.” She seemed to notice the mood that Adora was in. “You alright? I saw you fighting Catra. I swear if she so much as layed a finger on you I’m gonna-”

“Don’t worry, she didn’t.” Adora responded. “I’m good. Just.. tired as all.” Her friends shared a look of concern, but did not press her any further.

There was a part of Adora that was glad that she was able to do what was necessary to protect everyone. To show Catra that she wouldn’t be messing around anymore. There was another part that hurt to do what she just did, but she forced that part down. She knew that whatever part of Catra that was her friends was not there anymore. Catra would hurt her without so much as a second thought.

The princesses took some time to survey the scene. The horde had managed to snag some supplies and burn some that they could not get, but most of the supplies remained in tact. Other than some damage to a few houses, it had been a relatively successful mission. The damage could easily be fixed given time.

Adora looked on at the aftermath. The houses each had varying amounts of damage on them that would need to be repaired. It still felt like a defeat that people were hurt. Adora would have to get even stronger to prevent further harm from being done, especially from Catra. She made her choice, and now Adora made hers. She would do whatever it takes to make sure Catra and the Horde would never hurt anyone again. No matter what the costs were.

Chapter Text

Catra wasn't sure what made her more anxious, the previous fight with Shera, or the upcoming meeting with Hordak. She was now standing outside of his new throne room, which was still being rebuilt. Regardless, she took a breath and stepped in.

“You wanted to see me Lord Hordak.” She stated.

“Yes.” Hordak began. His back was currently toward her as he was facing a computer screen. “I would like to say that I am disappointed in the results in the latest assault. There were very little supplies recovered that we are capable of using.”

Catra felt tense but did her best to appear unphased. “It was one time the princesses caught us off guard. We’ll be ready for them next time.”

Hordak now turned around to face her, he began to speak, his anger clearly showing. “For all we know, the next time could be an attack on the Fright Zone. An attack we cannot afford to take at the current moment.” He began to walk toward her. “We also suffered heavy casualties in the assault.” He now stood directly in front of her now.

“Tell me force captain, was it a mistake to reinstate you?” He asked glaring at her.

“I assure you it wasn’t” Catra began. “The next time we fight the rebellion it will not end the same way.”

“I hope for your sake that it doesn’t.” Hordak turned back around and began walking away. Dismissed.”

With that Catra turned and walked out. Upon leaving she immediately scraped the wall with a claw in anger. She could not help but think that she had fucked up during that battle. She had let fear get the better of her against Shera. She had shown weakness.

As she continued walking she thought back to Adora. She was so willing to just shove her over that cliff. A sign that the Adora she knew was gone. A sign that she no longer cared what happened to Catra so long as the rebellion won the war.

A thought crossed Catra’s mind. What if Adora didn’t care from the first place? She knew that Adora used to have a soft spot for her, but it was most likely because she wanted Catra as a pet. Adora never saw Catra as another person of equal worth. She just saw Catra as another person beneath her to boss around and expect nothing back from. The problem was that Adora had gotten shit back from Catra. Catra had rebelled when Adora had shown she only had enough care for her as an underling. Now that it seemed that Adora could not get her precious pet back, she decided it was time to stop playing around.

Well I can play that game too. Catra thought as she walked back into her new force captains quarters. This was war after all. No move that was truly illegal. She took at a map and began to circle a list a villages near the horde’s side of the whispering woods. Let’s see how you like it when I pull out all the stops. Maybe you’ll see how fucking good I am when I really mean business.

After some time forming an attack plan, she went out to arrange a debriefing. She decided she would break the news to her squad first. She found them in a training room taking on a few bots. She decided to take some time to watch them. Lonnie and Rogelio appeared to be able to hold their own. Kyle on the other hand, was struggling just to avoid being taken out of the fight. He was just barely able to block the attacks from the bot he was facing.

When they finished up, Catra followed the trio into the locker room. Upon walking in, she saw Lonnie at a locker drinking from a water bottle, while Rogelio was sitting on the bench next to Kyle. He seemed to be making sure a shaken up Kyle was alright.

“I see you fellows are up to more of the same.” Catra said as she approached them. Her voice startled Kyle, causing him to fall backwards off the bench as all three looked over to see her.

“Catra” Lonnie said when she noticed her. “Never knew you for the one to check in on a training regiment.”

“Lucky for you, I’m not.” Catra responded. “I’m prepping a squad to move out tomorrow. You three are going to be a part of it. We’ll be hitting a few towns along our end of the whispering woods.” Catra paused for a moment when she saw Kyle. He seemed more nervous than usual that Catra was here.

“What?” Catra barked at him, causing him to stiffen.

“We-well I-it’s nothing really.” Kyle stammered out. “We.. happened to run into Scorpia during the raid … A-and she happened to mention you.”

Catra narrowed her eyes at him. “And what did Scorpia say about me?”

“W-well Sh-she” Kyle stammered out. The words after that however, got stuck in his throat.

“Well” Catra said rather coldly. Kyle galped, and seemed to struggle just as much getting the words out.

Seeing that Kyle wouldn’t get the words out anytime soon, Lonnie finished his thought for him. “Did you really send Entapta to Beast Island?”

Catra turned around to face Lonnie. Her facial expression now shifting to one that showed surprise, but it almost immediately shifted into one of disdain.

“And what? You believe the words of some traitor over that of your own commander?” Catra asked rather bitterly.

“After that command to burn the supplies we couldn’t grab. I’d say it sounds believable.” Lonnie responded.

Catra’s clenched her fists so hard that her nails drew blood. “So what if I did? That make you think any less of me?” She snapped.

“Easy Catra” Lonnie said. “I’m just worried about you. You’ve been going more off the deep end ever since Adora closed that portal. I’m honestly beginning to wonder if she was right in leaving. If this place does this to you, I would have hated to see what it would have done to her”

If there was anything Lonnie could say that would make Catra snap, she just said it. “Oh, so perfect little Adora is fucking right about everything huh. You wanna run off and follow her too?!”

“Easy, I didn’t mean it like-” Lonnie didn’t get a chance to respond as Catra swiped her claw down on Lonnie’s face. Lonnie stumbled back as she brought a hand to her face, and Catra followed up with a swift kick to Lonnie head. She fell back into a locker, and fell unconsciously to the floor.

Behind her Kyle scrambled back up against a locker and Rogelio got up into a fighting stance. Catra turned around to face them.

“So who’s next?” She asked, extending both her claws at them.

Rogelio glares back at Catra. For a moment, she thinks she’ll have to fight him as well, but after a moment he makes a sound similar to that of a groan. He goes over to help Kyle up, and the two leave the room.

With that Catra turns back to look at Lonnie. There is now four scratch marks going down her right eye, blood is running down it. There is a moment where she flashes back to zapping Entrapta, and the panic that she felt right after it. However, she is able to regain her composure.

“You just had to side with Adora didn’t you?” Catra muttered angrily. “Probably just want to follow her out huh. Leave me behind like everyone else.”

Seeing that Lonnie was much too heavy for Catra to pick up herself, she began to drag her out of the locker room. She had to stop a few times to catch her breath before she even reached the door to the training room. Luckily for her, two of the most helpful people happened to be walking by right now.

“Hey there boss.” Came the voice of Kyle 2.0. Catra peered up at the sound of the voice from her two lackeys from the Crimson Waste.

“Hey.” Catra said in response. “Perfect timing. I got another one to put on the transport to Beast Island.” She said throwing Lonnie’s body down at their feet.

“Weeell. There is just one small problem with that boss.”

The irritation on Catra’s face became very clear to see. “And what might that be?” She asked.

“You remember when we put that purple haired girl with the ponytails on the transport?” Catra nodded. “Well it hasn’t come back since then.”

Well fuck me then.Catra thought as she groaned. That transport should have been back at worst a week after Entrapta was sent out. So that fact that it still wasn't had was very odd, and could very well raise some suspicions. Catra could arrange for a jet to send her there, but that would draw some attention. If that happened, it was only a matter of time before Hordak had her head.

But just then, an idea popped into her head. “You know what it doesn’t matter. Just throw her in a storage crate and dump her out in the Crimson Wastes somewhere.”

“Um. Wouldn’t the guards just stop us at the skiffs.”

“Not if you tell them you making a supply delivery. Those dumbasses believe just about everything.” Catra responded back.

“Well if you say so.” With that, her lackeys picked up Lonnie and were off. Catra set off in the direction of the barracks. A part of her felt guilty at the events that had just transpired, but she did her best to shove them down. It was Lonnie’s fault after all. She went and agreed with Adora. As for Rogelio and Kyle, well, maybe they would learn to follow orders and not think less of their commanding officer.

As she walked on, her thoughts turned to Adora, and her plan, and she couldn’t help but her anger fly again. Let’s see how things turn out for you now Adora. As she walked away from the training room, she was fully unaware of a pair of eyes that were watching her.

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“I must say I’m impressed your highness. Perhaps it is time we start to learn more advanced spells.”

Despite not letting it show, Glimmer felt ecstatic that Shadow Weaver was finally admitting her strengths and letting her train in more advanced magic. She wanted to make the Horde pay for everything they did. Most importantly, she wanted to make Catra pay.

“Let us start with some more advanced magical attacks.” Shadow Weaver said. “We will begin with some advancements of your own powers.”

The sessions were grueling. The spells take a lot to master, and many tries. Most of Glimmer’s failed attempts are met with either a ‘Concentrate, try harder,” or a “You need to be better to show them you have what it takes,” from Shadow Weaver.

In the end, Glimmer has learned a new arc lighting spell, and a new spell pacifism spell, similar to the one Shadow Weaver used to immobilize her enemies.

“You have shown great potential today your highness.” Shadow Weaver exclaimed. “Perhaps one day you can be as strong as your father.”

Glimmer felt a surge of joy at the words of her father’s old teacher. If she could be as strong as her father, it meant that she could do what her mother had failed to do. She would have what it takes to take down the horde once and for all.

“Now take some time to rest. Brightmoon wouldn’t want a queen that is unable to do her job now would they?”

With that Glimmer shook her head and took her leave. After training for so long, she felt too exhausted to just teleport to her room. Instead, she elected to walk there, occasionally needing to steady herself with a hand on the wall. She dismissed any worried guards with an ‘I’m fine’, any who would push further, she would simply say she was going to rest, declining any offers for assistance. Like hell would she let anyone see her needing help. They would think she is unfit to rule.

As she approached her room, she encountered Adora and Scorpia. The two noticed Glimmer bracing herself against a wall and came over to her.

“Are you alright Glimmer?” Adora asked.

“I’m fine” Glimmer responded. “I’m just worn out from training, that’s all.”

“You know you really shouldn’t push yourself too hard.” Scorpia exclaimed. Her voice was full of concern. “It really isn’t healthy for you. I mean, I get that you want to make yourself stronger but-”

“I know what the hell I’m doing.” Glimmer remarked rather angrily before taking a breath. “I know the both of you mean well, but I need to do this. I’ll be in my room. I’d prefer if you guys could leave me be” And with that, she opened the door to her room and went inside.

Adora couldn’t help but feel like she failed Glimmer in a way. If she had been stronger herself, she could have prevented this entire mess from happening. She could have prevented Shadow Weaver from even getting close to her. The worst part was that Adora felt like if she did anything to separate the two now, it could only make matters worse.

Adora peered up at Scorpia. From the look on her face she could tell the Scorpion woman felt just as concerned. It really had been a rough few weeks for just about everyone.

Scorpia closed her eyes and sighed. “The Horde has really made it rough for everyone hasn’t it.”

Catra’s made it rough for everyone. Adora thought Scorpia wanted to say.

The two decided to start waking again. Eventually they went into Adora’s room, where the two sat down on Adora’s bed.

“You know.” Scorpia started. “Part of the reason I didn’t like you before was because I could see the bond you and Catra shared.”

Adora raised an eyebrow at that. “A bond?”

“Yea, a bond. Even when you guys fought each other, you could tell there was something playful to it. It… kinda made me jealous of you in a way.”

Adora just sat there and looked at the taller white haired woman. Despite their recent time together, Adora never really saw this side of her new comrad. She could see just how much Scorpia cared for Catra. She wondered if Catra had really gone too far if Scorpia decided to leave the Horde.

“In that battle we at the town,” Scorpia continued on. “I saw you two fight after you helped get Catra off me. It was like, whatever was left of it was... was completely gone. All I say was hatred.”

Adora took a moment to take in Scorpia’s words. Despite being angry with Adora, Catra had always used to have a certain playfulness when the two crossed paths. Catra seemed to always view a fight against Shera as a challenge. Now though Catra seemed to run on anger, and was dead set on just destroying Shera.

Adora looked down and sighed. “Yea well, I think Catra ruined whatever was left of it.”

“Yea. I think she's just too far gone.” Scorpia responded. “She made me realize I won’t be able to help her when she hurt Entrapta. I still wish we could find something on Beast Island.”

Despite the recent success, Adora couldn’t help but feel the sting of those words. Despite all their research there was still no luck finding anything of relevance to Beast Island. It made Adora feel once again that she was not strong enough. She needed to be stronger. For her friends, and for the people the Horde were hurting. She needed to--.

“Adora”

Adora peered up to look at Scorpia. “You alright there? You kinda spaced out for a second.”

“Yea I’m fine. Maybe I could check Bow's dads' library and see they has something on Beast Island.” Adora goes to get up, but Scorpia stopped her.

“Hey thanks for trying, but I think we all should get some rest after the day we just had.”

Adora realized it had been awhile since she actually slept. Despite how wrong it feels to sleep, Adora begins to think that maybe a good night's rest will help clear her mind. It's been a while since she has managed to get one.

“Alright. I’ll try.” Adora says as she moves to change. “And Scorpia.” Scorpia looks up to meet Adora's eyes. “We’ll find her. I promise.”

Scorpia smiles at that “Thanks.” And with that, she leaves the room.

Adora thinks about the promise she just made. She almost feels guilty for making it. It only reminded her about the last promise she failed to keep. One where she failed to be the friend that she said she would be. If she broke another one -- . Adora shook her head. She didn't want to think about that right now. Although she isn’t sure about it, she’ll be damned if she didn’t try her hardest to keep it.

Chapter Text

All the hatred that Catra felt for the Rebellion flared to the surface when she had the first village she attacked burned. The horde hat swarmed the town quickly and inflicted massive damage. They chased out the locals as well as killed any stragglers that were left behind. When there were no civilians left in the town, Catra arranged for anything of value to be taken, whether it be food, or other supplies, and for the rest to be burned to the ground.

For once someone else would get to feel the pain that she felt. It was unfair that these rebellion citizens got to life such a happy carefree life so removed from the life of war. A life where you got to live so carefree that you could do whatever without consequence. The thought made Catra want to gag. Not every life got to be so perfect. If anything, she was teaching them a lesson about the hardships of war.

Passing this series of attacks to Hordak as a way to reinforce the Horde’s defensive position had been relatively easy. Making it harder for an attack on any important Horde compound sounded like a good plan. Catra was sure to score points with Hordak for coming up with this plan. Plus, making sure there was nothing left for the Rebellion to retake was an icing on the cake. The Rebellion would finally get to know what it felt like to lose.

As the day began to draw to a close after their latest victory, Catra arranged for an outpost to be constructed. The village that they were in oversaw a passing road. It made the area a perfect outpost. A place for Horde troops to resupply, and an extra layer of defence against the rebellion.

On her way back to her makeshift quarters, Catra ran into a group of soldiers at a nearby campfire. They appeared to be an argument going on among them, which drew in Catra’s curiosity.

As Catra approached, she heard the conversation from the soldiers.

“Please, those damn princesses would probably do the same thing to us if the had the chance.” One soldier said.

“Maybe. I don’t know, this whole thing just feels like going a step too far ya know.”

That was where Catra decided to step in. “Care to elaborate on that soldier.” She said with a glare getting the attention of everyone there.

“Oh force captain.” The soldier responded, clearly nervous. “We were just talking about how things were going on this mission.”

Catra glared at the soldier. “You don’t really seem to have a positive review about it. Care to share it with me?”

“W-well” The soldier began. “D-don’t you think we are going kinda overboard with the whole destroying towns thing?”

Catra went up to the soldier and grabbed them by the throat. “The gate is right over there. You don’t like what is going on, you have all the right to leave."

“No, I’m good. I didn’t think it was a bad thing.” The soldier said rather nervously, now beginning to sweat.

“Good” Catra said, throwing the soldier to the ground. She then turned to address the whole group at the fire. “I’ll have you all know that I want to win this war for the Horde. I have seen what the princesses are capable of doing. In order to combat there strategies, we need to be able to do anything. That means winning by any means necessary. Do I make myself clear?”

She earned a salute and a “Yes mam” from the whole group. “Good” Catra responded back with a smirk. “Now put that out, and get some shut eye. We’ll be moving out in the morning.” And with that she walked off, leaving the soldiers to put out the fire and clean up.

Catra went into her own makeshift quarters set up in the town made up of a desk and a makeshift bed. She couldn’t help but lean over the desk and think about what happened. Her own soldiers were starting to doubt her methods. Had they not seen what she could do. She had been good enough to be Hordak’s second in command. She had been good enough to come back from the Crimson wastes. Anyone who had the fucking nerve to doubt what she was doing didn’t know what kind of person they were dealing with.

She swiped at a helmet that was sitting on her desk, causing it to fly off and fall on the floor. Her thoughts roamed back to what Lonnie had said. How she said that Catra was going off the deep end, before she had… well, Catra really didn’t want to think about that moment. It only brought feelings she would rather not feel. She was not even sure why she felt that way either. Lonnie was part of the problem for why she was like this anyway. All that bitch used to do is constantly bully and belittle her. So if she wanted to look for any reason to see why Catra was like how she was, she could go look in a fucking mirror.

The feeling of victory all of a sudden begins to sour. As much as she wants to feel great about winning, she just seems to feel so much worse. Everything that was supposed to be great about her life, everything about the Horde that gave her joy just seems to have up and vanished. Like always, she can never seem to find happiness, and she is not sure what she can do.

Feeling exhausted, Catra strode over to her bed and layed down. She needed to be ready for the next set of battles to come, and there was no way she would appear weak again if Adora and her princess brigade showed up. Sleep didn't come as easy as she hoped that night.

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Of course, three towns down the road, the princess brigade was on the scene. Catra put down her binoculars and dragged her hands down in face in agitation. She knew they would show up eventually, but this was a little sooner than expected.

Catra crossed her arms, putting a hand up to her chin in thought. With Adora stepping up her game, Shera would prove to be more of a problem than ever. She would have to step up her game as well.

A thought crossed Catra’s mind. She had been good at taking Shera out of the action before, so why change what works best? She went over to one of her officers.

“I’m going to go ahead and scout out the area. Be ready to attack on my signal.”

“Roger that Captain.” The officer replied. And with that, Catra scurried off toward the town.

Catra quietly crept into the town and scurried up to the rooftops. All the civilians were below her just minding their own business. She could just pounce on any of them and noone would see it coming. However, she quickly reshifted her focus to the reason she was really here.

She scurried across rooftop after rooftop, moving quickly and quietly enough to not disturb any of the villagers below. Eventually, she managed to find her target. She saw Adora in a corner of a pasture, talking to… her own horse? Catra quietly snickered to herself at the prospect of what was happening.

“Come on Adora cheer up, you act like everywhere you go doom and gloom is going to follow you. You know what I think would cheer you up? Some old fashion singing from good ol' Swift Wind.”

Wait, Catra thought. Her horse can talk!! Catra was honestly taken aback for a moment, then she internally groaned. The horse, whose name she guessed was Swift Wind, sounded of it, he sounded just as annoying as Sparkles or any of the other princesses.

“No no, Swifty it’s fine. I want to be ready for when the Horde comes anyway.” Adora responded before the horse could start anything.” Catra, for once, was thankful for something Adora did. Not that she would tell her thank you.

“Hey just trying to make you feel better.” The horse responded. “How have you been holding up lately? You seem on edge every time I see you lately.” Huh. Catra thought. Who knew being Shera was a stressful job. Maybe you should have thought twice before leaving. Strangely though, Catra couldn’t help but feel bad for Adora.

“I just want to always be ready for the next time the horde shows up. I have to make sure no one gets hurt.”

“I mean being prepared is one thing, but you should learn to take a break every once in a while.”

“I just.” Adora sighed. “I don’t want to be caught with my pants down.”

Catra couldn’t help but snicker at that. Guess what is totally about to happen Adora.

“Well just don’t go too crazy.” The horse responded. “If you need me at all I’ll be uh.. checking to make sure the apples in that orchard aren’t poisoned. Yep.” He pointed with his wing toward a couple of apple trees, right before he zipped over to them and began to pull one off and eat it.

Finally he’s gone. Catra thought to herself. She was beginning to think she would be unable to get Adora alone. She was very much not in the mood to deal with talking horses as much as she was with shiny princesses.

She saw Adora looking over to where swift wind had gone. A soft smile was on her face for a moment before it eventually shifted to one of stern coldness.

“Alight Adora, focus” Catra heard her say. “You can’t let your guard down.”

Catra casually smirked to herself. Now it was time to get Adora alone. She draped her tail over the balcony in an attempt to get Adora’s attention. After a moment, Adora peered up and appeared to catch sight of it as her gaze shifted to one full of surprise. Catra waited for a second, and then took off across the rooftops, and Adora chased after her. Catra weaved her way across the rooftops of the town, while Adora did her best to maneuver through the townsfolk to keep up with her.

Once the number of people died down, Catra jumped down into a side alleyway, making sure that Adora say her enter it. Catra perched herself on top of a set of crates as she watched Adora enter the alleyway. The Sword of protection was now out of its holster as she was ready for a fight. Catra took a moment to give her office with the rest of the troops the signal to attack.

Catra quietly snuck down to put herself between Adora and the exit of the alleyway. As soon as Adora made a move to turn. Catra took her whip, and threw it around the hilt of Adora’s sword. The two instantly begun a tug of war for it.

“Hey Adora.” Catra purred. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Catra” Adora responded rather angrily. “We know about your little town burning campaign and its about to stop right here.”

As Adora finished her sentence, a loud explosion occurred that caused Adora gasp. Catra took advantage of the brief moment of confusion to yank the sword away from Adora. It flew off to the side on top of a stack of boxes.

“On the contrary, Adora. It’s just getting started.” Adora snarled at her. Catra couldn’t help but smirk as it seemed like the mighty Shera would fall. Catra quickly closed the distance as she swung her leg at Adora. Adora however easily ducked underneath.

As Catra turned around, she could see Adora headed toward the stack of boxes to try and retrieve her sword. Catra extended her claws and charged her.

“Oh no you don’t.” She took a swipe at her. Adora noticed Catra in time to raise an arm to block her attack. Catra countered by kicking Adora’s legs out from under her and pouncing on her, causing the two to roll out of the alleyway.

The town was now in total chaos as villagers ran by the two combatants in an attempt to escape the rest of the horde. Meanwhile the two continued to exchange attacks and blocks with each other. Adora kept trying to get a punch in, while Catra kept trying to get what swipe in she could with her claws.

After some time, Catra headbuts Adora. Catra takes advantage of the moment to get a swipe in at Adora face. Adora managed to move her head to avoid a more fatal blow, but Catra’s claws manage to make a cut on the left side of Adora’s jawline, and draw blood, causing a scream of pain.

Adora took both of her hands and shoved Catra off of her. Catra managed to quickly regain her balance, rolling backwards and shifting to stand up on her feet. Adora then got up and charged her, ramming her into a wall of a nearby building, before unloading a few punches on Catra’s face. Catra then manages to catch Adora’s hand and head but her to knock her away.

Catra extends her claws once more and began to swipe at Adora once more, Adora just managed to get an arm up to block Catra’s attack. The once again began to exchange a series of attacks and dodges.

As time went on, Catra began to realize that the closed space of the area would play to her disadvantage. If she hoped to end this more quickly, she would have to find more open space. As the two continued to exchange blows, Catra gradually began to back up toward the pasture they were in earlier. She would be able to take advantage of the open area and the terrain there.

Eventually, the two are back at the tree line, and Catra is able to take advantage of the terrain. She uses a tree in order to get an extra boost on an attack. Adora is just able to block so that she will only stumble backwards. Catra than moves in swiping at Adora with her claws. Adora is just able to dodge each of them before she goes back on the offensive, with a series of punches. Catra dodges each one of them with ease. When she is more closer to a tree, she hopes back uses it to propel herself straight into Adora. Adora gets knocked to the ground, but she manages to push Catra up and over her. Catra roles into a crouch, and turns to face Adora.

Adora again goes on the offensive. She swings her fists at Catra, only for Catra to either dodge or block them. Eventually, Catra pushes Adora back, ant then jumps onto a low tree branch.

“You know,” Catra begins to say. “For a while I actually felt scared of you. But now,” She comes down, knocking Adora to the ground and pinning her there. “I realize just how much of a fool I was for that. Your just as pathetic as the rest of the princesses.” She said with a scowl on her face, her voice overflowing with venom. "I can't wait to watch rest of the alliance burn because you failed!"

Adora had anger plastered all over her face. Catra couldn’t help but smirk as Adora tried to fight back and wiggle free unsuccessfully. The mighty Shera was about to fall before her. Hordak would finally see just how much she was worth, and just how strong she could really be. Everyone would. However, Catra mood begins to shift to confusion when she sees Adora’s expression change to a smirk. Before she can question the change, Catra feels what feels like a sharp needle in her back. She all of a sudden begins to feel woozy as she falls limp to Adora’s side. Her vision is now beginning to fade. The last thing she can see is the body of Scorpia standing above her.

“This is for your own good Catra.”

Chapter Text

“I don’t see why we just kill her now, she’s done enough to warrant it.”

Adora was talking on a datapad to Glimmer, who was back in Brightmoon serving as queen. It had been a few hours since they had managed to fend off the Horde’s latest attack. Now they were staying behind to help with repairs. Everything was running smoothly again.

Well, smoothly except for one wildcard now being held in a spare room in one of the town's buildings. It seemed that local towns were also not quite as ready for the possibility of holding prisoners. Adora was beginning to wonder what life was like for Etherians before the Horde came.

“I understand.” Adora responded back. “but Scorpia thinks she at least deserves a trial though. She also wants to see what information we can get out of her.” Adora pauses. "Maybe she's right."

“I don’t see what she will tell us.” Glimmer yells back. “We’re probably just wasting our time with this.”

Adora just sighed. She was about to say something, but then Scopria came up behind her. “She deserves a trial at least. We shouldn't just do things like the Horde does.”

Glimmer groaned in frustration. Scopria had a point. “Fine” the queen finally said. “See what talking to her can do, but as soon as the repairs are done, she comes back to Brightmoon immediately.”

“Will do, I’ll see you soon.” And with that, she hung up the call. Adora leaned her head back against the wall she was currently leaning against and looked up at Scorpia. Looking up toward the clouds, she groaned over the fact that she would have to talk to Catra. Adora wondered if maybe Glimmer was right when she said it was a waste of time to try and get information. She figured it would probably go as it usually has these past few months.

"You ready for this?" She asked Scopria in a tone that suggested she wasn't really ready.

Scorpia took a deep breath. "Yea lets just get this over with."

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When Catra’s eyes had closed last, she honestly didn’t expect them to open again, but rather surprisingly, they did. Things started off rather fuzzy as she tried to get a bearing on where she was. She appeared to be in some sort of room. There was a single window where light was shining in.

Catra took a moment to close her eyes and shake off the fog of her brain. She pinched her nose as she sat up and got a good look at the room. She was lying on a bed in a room with basic furniture. A bucket sat over in the corner. The door to the room was closed. It was a simple door with just a doorknob on it. She got up and, using an arm to keep her balance against the spinning world around her, went to test the door. Twisting the door knob, she found that door wouldn't budge an inch.

Oh. Well Shit. It instantly became clear that she was being held in jail cell. Well, if you could even call this a jail cell when it looked more like an average room. Just when everything had been going so well, it all had to find a way to go so wrong.

Looking over on a nearby nightstand, she noticed a small plate of food that appeared to be left for her. She walked over to examine it. Picking it up, it looked like a chunk of a strange brown object that, when touching it, had a relatively soft texture. It seemed entirely different from the ration bars she was used to. Catra would not be surprised if the food was poisoned, but curiosity got the better of her. She casually sniffed and poked at the substance. Concluding that it was safe enough to eat, she cut a piece with her claws and took a bite.

Hmm. Catra thought. This is actually really good. It's even better than ration bars. If this is what they feed prisoners, than the princesses must really be living the life of luxury. The thought made Catra wonder just how much better Adora’s life now was. She couldn’t help but swipe a claw at the fabric of the bed as the thought only brought out her anger.

Eventually, Catra heard a distant door open, and the sound a muffled voices. Guess someone is coming to visit. She quickly slipped the uneaten bits of her food under the bed and laided back down as she heard footsteps approaching. She could hear two sets of feet approaching, as the voiced grew in sound. One was much heavier, while the other pair was rather light and unmistakable. When the noise stopped, Catra hear the sound of the door being unlocked. She turned her head just in time to see Adora and Scopria entering the room. They had cold looks plastered to their faces. Adora now had a bandage on her face from where Catra had previously scratched her during their previous fight.

“Hey Adora.” Catra said as she turned and sat up. “Couldn’t stay away from me for even a day now could you?”

“I wouldn’t press your luck Catra.” Adora responded. “Your lucky to still be alive. If you want to stay that way you'll answer our questions.”

“Ahhh, you do care. And here I thought you would kill me the first chance you got.”

“Catra” It was Scopria’s turn to talk now. “If you actually want to live, you should probably consider giving us something useful. Just what has the Horde been up to recently.”

“And why should I tell you that?” Catra responded back with a glare. “Your the enemy now. Your probably just going arrange for my execution no matter what happens. The Horde will come back, and I just sit back and watch the Rebellion crumble.”

"Cut the shit, Catra." Adora responded bitterly, startling Catra. "I'm done with your games. Too many people got hurt when you activated the portal. On top of that now Angella is gone, because of it. So if your not going to give us something to work with, then we can be on our way."

Catra snarled at the mention of the portal, but then she took a moment to let what she just heard settle in. So the Queen of Brightmoon, well.. now former queen she presumed, was dead, and it was all thanks to her. Catra couldn’t help a sense of pride swell up in her over dealing such a critical blow to the rebellion.

"So Brightmoon's precious queen is dead." The thought began to make her laugh. A maniacal laugh that starts out quiet and turns into a large cackle. It startles the two people who are watching her.

“And it's all thanks to me huh?” Catra stated rather boastfully. “I can’t wait to see the fallout.”

Adora and Scorpia's faces hardend, but Catra continued. "And too be honest Adora, where were you when the other towns got hit?" She saw Adora's expresion change from one of anger to worry as she turned her gaze toward the ground. "Looks like your pretty good at letting your friends get hurt without my help."

“You really don’t care about what you just did?” Scorpia stated with a hint of worry.

“Why should I?” Catra responded back rather bitterly. “As far as I’m concerned, I just dealt a critical blow to the rebellion, and brought the Horde one step closer to victory. So why should I care? If anything I should be happy.” Despite what she says out loud, Catra can't help but think about how she feels anything but happy.

“Are you serious Catra?” Adora responded with equal amounts of bitterness. Her anger now returning. “You really feel it’s necessary to make others' lives a living hell just to spite me.”

“I‘ll take my wins any way I can get them. And if I get to hurt you in the process and ruin your new perfect life,” Catra put on a dangerous smirk. “That just makes the win all the more delightful.”

“What makes you think you know what my new life is like?” Adora asked.

“Please” Catra says. “I’ve seen enough of you and your little perfect princess squad to know just what your life is like. All super with great food and no problems whatsoever and you get to have everything you want.”

Adora just glared back at Catra. “If you think I get want I want you don’t know shit about me.”

Catra was honestly surprised at that, but kept her cool. She shifted her face quickly to a glare. “Really. Somehow I don't believe that. Your part of the glittery princess gang that gets to live a life of--”

“I don't get to have what I want.” Adora responded cutting her off. “I don’t get to make my own choices, I don't get to be able to protect those I care about, I don't get to have a normal life, and most importantly, I don't get to have my best friend!" Adora took a moment to catch her breath. “So yea, MY LIFE SUCKS, but I guess you wouldn’t care about that would you?!”

For a moment, Catra felt bad. She had been fighting so long because she wanted to ruin Adora’s new perfect life, only to realize that it wasn’t so perfect. But then she remembers just how this all started, and her anger takes over. “Well maybe you should have thought of that ahead of time before you decided to leave me behind! That'll teach you a lesson for next time.”

Adora groans. “This again. For the last time, I’m sorry for leaving, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to just hurt my new friends and try to bring down their lives as well.”

Catra glared at Adora. “You took everything from me the moment you left Adora. Why shouldn’t I do the same to you?!”

Adora’s hands clenched so hard that her knuckles were beginning to turn white. “You know, I honestly thought I could get through to you before. I thought that you could put others before yourself for once in your life. But now, I especially see how much of a fool I was for that. All you ever wanted was power, and you’ll stop at nothing to get it.

You’re just like Shadow Weaver!”

Catra swiped her claws at Adora, but the attack was easily dodged. “DON’T YOU FUCKING COMPARE ME TO HER!!” Catra was seething now.

Catra swipped another clawed hand at Adora, but it got caught by Scorpia's claw. “Catra, maybe you should stop and think about what we're saying?.” Scorpia asked rather coldly.

“Shut up” Catra bit back. “You left me just like she did." Catra said, giving a nod toward Adora. "You don’t get to criticize what I do anymore. You've already shown me you don't fucking care.”

“BULLSHIT.” Catra was taken aback at Scorpia’s response. She had never seen Scorpia this upset. If she didn’t know her better, Catra would never have guessed that she was the bubbly sociable sweetheart that she was.

“I left because you proved you never cared about me in the first place.” Scorpia continued on. “I did care about you. Hell, maybe I still do. I tried to help you out. I tried to actually make you happy, but time and time again you just treat me like a henchman who’s only task is to do a job. I tried to be a good friend for you and you constantly treated me like I was never good enough for you.”

Catra is stunned by how mad Scorpia is, and she can’t help but feel the familiarity of the conversation. It sounds just like when she was talking to Shadow Weaver.

“I wanted to be your friend.” There are tears running down Scorpia’s face now. “I thought we could be happy together, but now I know I maybe I can't be happy with you.

There were tears now streaming down Scorpia's face. "You're just a bad friend”

Catra’s eyes go wide. She sits there stunned as Scorpia just walks out of the room. Catra had prepared herself for just about any verbal or physical attack, but Scorpia had somehow found the one thing she was not prepared for. Those words had dealt more damage to her than any punch, kick, beating could have. Catra feels like she could have been pierced through the chest with Shera's sword and still not feel as much pain as she currently is right now. A something within her shatters inside just to hear it.

“You wanna know something Catra?” Adora asked. Catra turned to face her. She felt on the verge of tears, but she would be damned if she would let Adora see her cry.

“If it wasn’t for Angella, it would have had to be me who got left behind to close the portal. You would have actually managed to get rid of me. But I guess that you wouldn’t have cared that I was gone would you have? You would have just been glad I was gone. You would have gotten what you wanted.”

What!! Catra’s eyes widened in horror at what she just heard. There was a chance that Adora would have been gone. That she would have succeeded and in a way, actually beat her. She wouldn’t have to deal with her ever again. That was what she wanted? Right?

So then when why did the news fill her with so much dread?

Adora turned to walk about bu stopped at the door. "You know, you're constantly angry that people leave you, but maybe you should think about why they end up leaving?" And with that, Adora walked out of the room.

As soon as she left, Catra stumbled backwards and fell onto the bead. She thought about just what Adora and Scorpia was insinuating with her words. No, it couldn't be her fault. From where it was hidden, Catra threw the remains of her food against the wall of the room. The plate shattered on impact. Afterwards, she curled up on the bed, latched onto a pillow, and cried.

————————————————————————————————————--------------------------------------------------------

Octavia stepped into Hordak’s throne room wondering just what she had been called in for. She walked up to the top of the stairs and knelt down.

“Lord Hordak” She said. “You wanted to see me?”

“Octavia” He responded. “There is a matter that needs to be dealt with urgently. It appears that Force Captain Catra has been apprehended, and is currently in custody of the Rebellion.”

Octavia dared to peer up at Hordak. Was he suggesting just what she thought she was suggesting. He couldn’t be after all that had happened between the two.

Hordak continued on. “You are to assault the town where she was last heard from, and have her taken out of Rebellion custody before she can be moved to Brightmoon.”

Octavia was stunned. “You want me to rescue her?” She asked. She needed to be sure she heard him right.

Hordak glared back at the force captain. “I didn’t say rescue.”

Chapter Text

Adora layed down on a bench and groaned in annoyance. With everything that happened, she was now both emotionally and physically exhausted. It had taken forever, but the repairs to the town were now almost complete. What really wore her out was the argument with Catra. A part of Adora especially hoped that maybe Catra could at least give her something, but it seemed that Glimmer had been right. The whole thing had just been a waste of time.

“Well, looks like we’re about finished up.” Scorpia said, now taking a seat behind her. Adora peered up at her. She looked just as tired as she did. There was sweat beating down her face.

“Sooo... what do we do now with Catra?” Scorpia asked, turning to face Adora now. Adora used her arms to push herself up enough to look at Scorpia clearly. “We just take her back to Brightmoon and let Glimmer decide from there?”

Adora sighed. “Yea.” She leaned back again to peer up at the sky.

Scopria leans back and sighs. "Can I ask you a question?" Adora makes a soft hum, signaling Scorpia to continue. "Do you actually hate her now?"

Adora closed her eyes. "I..." Scorpia's question really was a difficult one for her. As much as recent events made her angry with Catra, as much as she wants to say yes, she's not sure she would be telling the truth. "I don't know." She finally answers. "Do you?"

Scorpia looks up at the sky with Adora. "Honestly." She starts. "Even after everything, I don't know that I could."

"I'm just so sick of it." Adora started. "I'm sick of everyone trying to manipulate and try to control me. Light Hope tries to get me to follow some destiny. Catra tries to use my feelings against me. Even, Hordak took me away from my own home-world.

Scorpia spoke again, this time with confusion in her voice. "Your.. home-world?"

“Apparently when I was just a baby, Hordak used a portal to take me from my own home world of Eternia. The rest of my life you pretty much know.”

Scorpia looked down at Adora with a sad look. “Wow” She said. “I mean, I knew what the Horde was doing, but I didn’t know they did anything like that. I mean kidnapping someone from their home?!”

“Yea” Adora responded. “Apparently no one is good at telling me the truth.”

“Yea well,” Scorpia started. “I thought I could help Catra be a better person, and look where that got me.”

“Yea, I guess that’s something we have in common now huh?” Adora stared up at the sky and sighed. “I guess the universe really has it out for us doesn’t it?”

The two sat there for a while just enjoying the silence. After everything that had happened to them, the two really needed a break from all the action, but it seemed liked it wouldn’t get to last for long as a town soldier approached.

“Princesses.” The Soldier said to them. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, and look at Scorpia.

“What is it?” Adora asked.

“Sorry for the interruption” the soldier responded. “One of our scouts spotted a horde convoy and it seems to be heading this way.”

The two princesses looked at each other before Adora let out a groan. “Looks like it still wants to take a shit on us.”

————————————————————————————————————----------------------------------------------------

Catra wasn’t sure how much time had passed after Adora and Scorpia had left. She had just been laying on the bed in her makeshift cell, crying into a pillow. Their talk that had brought up some feelings that she would rather not think about.

To start off, Scorpia's words had accused her of being the problem between the two. It made feelings Catra didn’t want to feel come up. It made her think back to before the portal, when she had shocked Entrapta and sentenced her to Beast Island. Had Catra herself really been the cause of Scorpia’s new view of her. Just thinking about it made her feel… well she wasn't quite sure, sadness, guilt, maybe shame.

The news that Adora had presented was a completely different topic. First of all, the reason she was fighting Adora in the first place seemed to be proven as a huge sack of shit. All this time, one of her main reasons for fighting Adora was to ruin her new perfect life, and now Adora had said that she didn’t consider it perfect at all. What really made her feel unnecessary feelings was how Adora said there was a possibility that she herself could have been trapped in the portal. The whole ordeal left her feeling conflicted. On one hand, she could have finally gotten rid of Shera and would have been one step closer to helping the Horde conquer Etheria. Everyone in the horde would finally see that she was worth something. On the other hand, the thought of living in a world without her… well she didn’t really want to think about that. Getting rid of Shera seemed to be the win she most craved and her worst fear at the same exact time.

The whole ordeal was one big pile of shit that she wanted to get away from. Being alone with just her thoughts made her bring up lots of untimely emotions, and something she had never really thought about. Could this really all be her fault?

Catra tries to shake it off. No, it couldn't be her fault. It was Adora and Scorpia's fault for leaving her. They decided that she was worthless to them, and she would show them how strong she could be. She didn't need them. She didn't need anyone. She would take down the rebellion without anyone's help and show everyone just what she was capable of.

The sound of distant gunfire pulled her back to reality. She hoped up to a nearby window to try and get a better look. The jail cell seemed to be on the outskirts of the town. She could make out a hillside and what looked like the horde coming closer. Her eyes widened in surprise. Had Hordak sent a rescue team? There couldn’t be any other reason for this attack to be happening right now.

As she was trying to process everything she saw a green light approaching her, and she had just enough time to jump down and out of the way before a stray shot from a tank hit the side of the building. The wall exploded and turned everything into rubble. Luckily for Catra, her bed had been blown back by the explosion and managed to shield her from the rubble of the blast.

She was left with her ears ringing, sitting between the bed turned sideways and the bars of the cell, now left dented from the bed slamming into it. She took a moment to pinch the section of her nose right between the eyes while she waited for her now spinning head to clear.

Once her spinning head and ringing ears faded, she popped up to see that there was now a giant hole blown open in the back of the jail cell. It seemed fate would be good to her today, allowing her a means to escape and return to the Horde. She quickly jumped up through the rubble and onto a nearby building to get a better look at the battlefield in front of her.

There was indeed a battle going on alright. The Horde’s forces were stationed on a distant hill. It consisted of a few tanks, a line of soldiers with rifles, and waves of bots moving in. Closer to the town, was a group of rebellion soldiers led by, who else, Shera, who was out in the middle of the battlefield slashing up bots along with Scorpia.

Catra took a moment to consider her options. She could help out with the battle, maybe even take on Shera, or she could make her way to the command tank to get back to the Fright zone as soon as possible. As much as she wanted another fight with Shera, it might be too reckless to go out of her way to fight her when the Horde was most likely attempting to rescue her. On top of that, the rebellion had confiscated her whip from her, so she was down one toy that would help her keep pace with Shera in a head to head fight. Plus, the thought of fighting Shera strangely felt different now. Catra couldn’t quite explain it, but it felt like a bad idea.

Hoping down off the roof, she made her way to the fight. With her speed she is there in no time and is able to surprise a small group of Rebellion soldiers. Catra leaps into the air and knocks one of the soldiers to the ground. Before the others have time to process what is happening, she is quickly on them. One gets a swift kick to the abdomen, and is knocked back a few steps, before Catra brings a hard knee to his head, knocking him out. Dodging an attack from the third, she trips them up and knock them to the ground. Just like that, the group is down before they even know what hit them.

Catra took a moment to catch her breath, but one soldier manages to get up and hook their arms over her head.

“Nice try.” the soldier says. The voice obviously belonging to a man “But your coming with us.”

“Not on your life.” Catra responds. A swift backward kick to his knee frees herself from his grip. From there she extends her claws and slashes open the soldiers throat. The soldier brought a hand up to try and stop the bleeding, but fell helplessly to the ground. Within a few seconds, he stopped moving as the life drained from him. Blood now oozing from his new wound to form a puddle of red around him.

Catra took a moment to observe what she had done as she catches her breath. Despite ordering battles that had likely gotten others killed, this was the first time she herself had killed someone. It should have made her feel accomplished, instead, it just makes her feel sick, and she has to look away.

What the hell is wrong with you? She thinks, berating herself. If you can’t handle this shit then you really are weak. She takes a minute to steady herself, taking a couple deep breaths. Once she felt better, she continues in the direction of the command tank.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shera continually slashed up bot after bot that came after her. Scorpia, fighting close by, is doing the same. The battle has been going on for some time now. Shera found it hard to believe that the Horde was able to spare the resources for another assault like this, especially if she strangely thinks the reason is for what she thinks it is.

Eventually a small group of soldiers with rifles approach her, and begin to fire. Shera is just barely able to block a shot with an arm brace and duck behind the remains of a ruined bot. Taking a minute to regain her breath, she peers out from behind the bot. There are four soldiers, all armed with rifles shooting at her. Alright, nothing I can’t handle, she thinks to herself. Shifting her sword into a shield, she charges after the nearest shooter.

She rams into him hard enough to send him flying. From there, the sword into a mace and turns to swing it at the next closest soldier. The first swing knocks the rifle out of his hands, the second knocks his helmet off, and the third knocks him unconsciously to the ground. There was blood now trickling down from the side of his head. Shera can't help but feel uneasy at the site.

However, there is no time to contemplate what just happened as the last two raise their rifles and restart their assault. One shot grazes her arm, and she is just able to turn her sword into a shield and duck behind it. Now pinned, the soldiers began to advance on Shera. Seeing no chance to move without getting hit, she focuses her magic into her free hand, and slams it into the ground, causing a small Earthquake to occur. It's enough to knock the shooters to the ground, allowing her to once again make her shield into a mace and take two swings at the two of them, knocking them both out cold.

There is not much time for a breather, as she hears Scorpia scream out for help. She turns to see Scorpia pinned under a bot, and a soldier nearby raising their rifle at her. Shera quickly springs into action, turning her weapon back to a sword and using it slash the soldier’s gun in two. They have barely any time to react before a swift kick knocks them off their feet, and the blunt end of her sword comes down on them, knocking them out cold.

Then she goes for the bot on top of Scorpia. Hopping on top of it, she sends her sword straight through it. From there, Scorpia is easily freed as Shera pushes the bot aside.

“Thanks for the assist.” She says.

“Don’t mention it.” Shere responds, holding out a hand for her. Scorpia hooks Shera’s arm with her claw and allows her to pull Scorpia to her feet.

“Look out” Scorpia says seconds after the two are up. Scorpia is just able to push Shera out of the way, as a shot from a tank, lands inches away from them.

Shera landed with her back on the ground with Scorpia on top of her. “Um” she said with a light blush now on her face. “Thanks.”

Scorpia now had a light blush on her face. “Uh.. yeah.” She said sticking a claw behind her to rub the back of her neck. “What are friends for right?”

After a short moment, the two stood up and dusted themselves off, and push on to the rest of the fight. They fought on through more waves of bots. The two easily tore through each one of them. Scorpia easily shreads through each one with her claws, while Shera alters her weapon between a sword and a shield as needed to block shots and slice a bot clean in two.

As the remainder of the bots seemed to come to an end, the one person Shera never wanted to see comes running by along the side of the battlefield, making her way toward the rest of the Horde forces. Catra. How she had escaped, she wasn’t sure, but she knew that she needed to stop her. If she made it back to the horde, it would only mean more people would end up getting hurt.

“Catra!” Shera shouted as she ran after her. That got Catra to stop and turn her head in Shera's direction. A glare was plastered over her face. She seemed more nervous than willing to fight. Before Shera could get any closer, a shot from a tank caused an explosion a few feet in front of her. Bringing up an arm, she turned her body to shield herself from the blast. Once the dust settled, she saw the tank that had fired at her. Its laser cannon was charging up for a second shot.

Without much time, Shera turned her sword into a shield and braced for impact. The tank fired and scored a direct hit on the princess of power. It pushed her back, but she was able to stand her ground. Seizing an opportunity, she charged the tank, slicing off the cannon, then jumping on the top and stabbing her sword right in its energy core. She then jumped clear as the tank exploded behind her.

Shera looked back to where Catra was only to find her gone. There was no other choice now but to rejoin the rest of the battle. Maybe she could catch up to her in time. As she approached the next group, she shifted into a combat ready stance, only to be surprised by what she saw. Horde troops and bots stopped for a moment, and then all of a sudden, began a retreat. Shera stood there confused as to why the sudden shift had happened. While the Horde was being successfully held back, they had not suffered severe casualties.

That was when she saw the reason back by the command skiff. She was too late. Standing out on the deck of the skiff was Catra. The Horde had gotten what they came for. The two fighters locked eyes. A stern look in Catra’s eyes, matched an angry one in Shera's, but the level of anger and bitterness behind it didn’t seem quite as strong.

Despite that, she had failed yet again. The Horde had gotten what they had came for. Once again, Catra had the power to hurt those she cared about, and once again, they would be in danger.

————————————————————————————————-------------------------------------------------———-

Catra ran off with Shera distracted by the tank. She could have stayed and fought with her, but getting back to the Horde felt the right decision. Somehow, a fight with Adora just made her feel uncomfortable.

Shaking off the feeling, she continued toward the captain’s skiff in the middle of the tank battalion. Upon reaching the line of tanks, nearby Horde soldiers began to turn and face her. They seemed to quietly discuss what to do with her arrival. They were not even saluting her, which was strange.

Upon arrival at the command skiff, she climbed up onto the deck. There were a few soldiers and with the as the force captain for the mission was-.

“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” Catra gave a low growl as she looked over to see Octavia. The bigger force captain was standing back by the door into the skiff.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Catra responded. “But I did happen to survive.”

Octavia wore a scowl on her face as she reached for her communicator. “Unfortunately” She said. “Although, this turn of events should please Lord Hordak.”

She paused, taking everything in. Had Hordak really thought well enough of her to order a rescue mission? Catra couldn't help feel that something was off about this though.

"Commander" Octavia’s voice boomed into her communicator, snapping Catra from her thoughts. "What's the current status of our forces?"

“We're currently at a stand still force captain” A voice came back through in response. “Everytime we try to push forward, we keep losing more forces.”

“Very well.” Octavia responded. “The target has been acquired. There is no need to waste more resources. Have everyone regroup and retreat.”

“Yes force captain.”

Catra looked out from the deck to see the Horde’s forces begin a retreat as the command skiff become to pull away. Catra was confused at first, but thinking about it, the move made sense. If her retrieval was the mission, then there was no more need to waste resources.

After a moment, Catra spotted Shera and the two locked eyes. The look on her face reminded Catra all too well of how she looked at her after the portal incident. It wasn't quite the same glare, though. It held about as much anamosity, but also a hint of worry. Despite the fear that came crawling into Catra, she did her best to give back a stern look of coldness. Although, it did not come across with as much anger and pride as she had hoped. A part of Catra had to laugh at herself internally. She had a win against Adora and she didn’t even feel happy about it.

When the skiff pulled far enough out of view, Catra turned around and made her way inside, trying her best to shake off the feelings that had come up once again. With everything that was happening the past day and a half, she needed to reestablish some control, no matter what it took. Getting back to the fright zone and shouting out commands felt like a great way to do that.

Catra made her way over to Octavia. At least in the meantime, she could have some fun toying with someone.

“So Hordak made you come after me huh?” Catra asked, prompting Octavia to turn toward her. “What did he tell you? Something like ‘Go and rescue Catra. We can’t win the war without her.’” She said doing her best impression of Hordak. “Its about time he saw what I am capable of. Maybe I'll finally get to boss you around again for once.”

Octavia just smirked back at Catra. “Yea, he said something like that.” Octavia proceeded to snap her fingers, causing the surrounding soldiers to raise their weapons at her. Catra’s pulse instantly began the spike as she observed what was happening around her.

“What the fuck?!” Catra stated. “Octavia, what is this?” But as she turned back toward Octavia, she was met by her fist roaming hard into the side of her face. Catra instantly fell to the floor, her head now spinning from such a hard hit. She turned her face up to see Octavia standing over her.

“Well, he may have wanted you a little less... alive.” Octavia said, grinning. "But I'm sure he'll be fine making an exception." The next thing Catra felt before blacking out was a swift kick to the head from Octavia’s boot.

Chapter Text

“YOU LOST HER!”

Adora had to practically brace for impact when she heard Glimmer yell at her. She had just explained the whole scenario from earlier that day that had caused Catra to escape.

“That was our best fucking chance to bring her in, and you lost her!”

It was unusual to hear Glimmer swear, but to be honest, she understood why Glimmer was angry. She was just upset with herself for letting Catra get away.

“Hey” Adora responded back, trying to be reassuring. “No matter what happens, we will find her again, and this time I’ll be ready for her tricks.”

“And what if you aren’t Adora?” Glimmer asked rather harshly. “Don’t pretend like Catra doesn’t know just what to do to push your buttons. With how things are, next time you might just let her walk out.”

Adora was taken aback at that. Adora wanted to do her best to take down the Horde. Hearing her friend’s opinion about her relationship with Catra just stung to hear. Catra had chosen her side. Adora understood that there was nothing she could do for her former friend.

“Glimmer, you know I wouldn’t-“ Adora started but was cut off.

“Save it Adora. I don’t want to hear it.” And with that Glimmer teleported away. Leaving Adora to her own thoughts.

Adora went and walked back to her own room. She wasn’t even sure how long she had been walking for. She was so lost in thought that it didn’t even matter. Her failure of earlier events being thrown back into her face. Catra was free once again to rain down terror.

Sitting down on her bed, Adora brought a hand up to the marks on her jaw. Shera's abilities had healed the initial cuts, but strangely the scars of the wound had remained, like the ones on her back. Somehow, Catra always seemed to have that extra touch of reminding Adora of just what she was capable of doing.

Adora brought a fist down on her bed in frustration. Maybe she should have listened to Glimmer. Maybe they should have killed Catra when they had the chance. The thought brought a tear to her eye. She really didn’t want to have to do it, but after everything that had happened, it felt like it had too. Catra had shown just how much of a monster she was now. It was now her or Etheria.

Adora turned to lay down on her bead, and began to cry. Not only had she failed herself, but she had failed her friend. Exhausted from the day’s events, she curled up on her bed, and cried herself to sleep.
————————————————————————————————---------------------------------------------------------———

“I don’t care what it takes. We are opening that portal! NOW!”

“NO!! I have to tell Hordak. He’ll understand!” Before Entrapta could flee however, Catra took out a shock button and stunned Entrapta, causing her to fall to the ground. A brief moment of panic sets in for Catra as she realizes what she just did.

Panicking, she screams out an order to her lackey’s from the waste to move her, but looks up from the body on the floor only to see another version of Entrapta staring back at her.

“What did you do to me?” She hears her say. The question sends a wave of panic coursing through her.

All of a sudden, the scene changes to Adora standing in front of the portal. It boots up in a sickly red color behind her.

“WHY DID YOU DO IT?” Adora yells.

Catra didn’t have time to answer as she found the portal sucking her in. She has to latch onto the floor with her claws to try to hold herself in place, to no avail. Her claws scraped against the floor, and eventually give way as the portal sucks her in.
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Catra woke up with a gasp, sitting straight up and wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to calm down. That was when she noticed just where she was, or rather where she wound up back at.

There were green walls all around her, a force field was trapping her in the room, her arms were cuffed to restraints attached to the wall. There were scratches on the wall that had been used to signal how many days the person was there. Most importantly, no possible way of escaping.

Of course. Of fucking course she was back in Shadow Weaver’s old cell. For the second time in as many days, things seemed to be looking up for her, only for the world to come and give her a swift kick right back to the bottom of the dog pile.

Her anger seething, Catra began to take out her frustration on a section wall toward the back of the cell. All the terrible feelings from when she first popped up in Shadow Weaver’s cell had come back in full force. The feelings of being cast out once again, feelings of not equating to anything, of being a failure. She was not even sure how long she was at it before she stopped to catch her breath. Tears were streaming down her face.

“Boss!” The words startle Catra out of her thoughts and she quickly whips her face. She turns around to see Kyle 2.0 and her lizard companion staring back at her.

“Yeesh, you don’t look so good.” Kyle 2.0 said, observing the new bruises on Catra’s face and arms. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” She turned toward the panel beside the cell. “Um, you know the code for this thing?”

“Please, why are you even trying?” Catra started causing Kyle 2.0 to look up at her. “You two are just as useless as anyone else around here.”

“Boss we’re-”

“You know what just leave. Everyone else already did, and it's about the only thing you two would probably be good at.”

Catra’s newest lackeys looked at her, unsure of what to do. They obviously wanted to save her, but were clearly hurt by her sudden outburst.

When they didn’t move, Catra’s anger only got worse. “I SAID GO!!” With that, the two ran off, now in a state of disbelief and fear.

With the two of them gone, she curled up on herself. Her thoughts drifted back again to Adora’s and Scorpia’s words in the makeshift prison. How it was because of her that she was all alone, and that everyone she had cared about had left her heartbroken. She tried to shake off those feelings. If anything it was Shadow Weaver’s fault. That bitch had turned into this fucking monster. But despite how much she told herself that she was beginning to have the slightest doubts about her predicament. She was beginning to wonder if maybe, Adora was right.

She wasn’t sure how long it took before Octavia and a group of guards arrived at her cell.

“No one left to help you now is there?” Octavia spoke breaking Catra out of her thoughts. Catra just cleared up at the force captain as she switched off the force field and shifted modes on her cuffs so that both arms were connected to each other instead of the wall. COctavia have all the fun though. As the bigger woman went to grab her arm, Catra quickly moved her arms and sunk her claws into Octavia’s flesh. The big force captain cried out in pain before she brought her free hand up to punch Catra in the stomach.

“Fucking bitch!” Octavia cursed. “Oh I hope Hordak sends you through the wringer.” With that, she hoisted the feline onto her feet. The fight may have continued had Catra not had the wind not been knocked out of her.

After some time, they arrived in the theater room where Catra had first been banished to the to the Crimson Wastes. Octavia threw Catra to the ground in front of Hordak.

“Hello.. Force.. Captain”. Hordak spoke in an ominous tone.

“What the hell do want?” Catra asked angrily.

“Did you really think that you could get away with lying to me again?” When Catra raised an eyebrow, he continued. “I know about Entrapta.”

Catra’s nerves became heightened instantly. He couldn’t possibly know what she did. She kept her expression as calm as she could. “What the hell are you talking about? Entrapta was a traitor. That’s all there is to know.”

Hordak began to glare down at her. Catra could feel herself sweating now, but kept a mask of anger on her face. Just when she was about to speak up again, another voice cut into the silence. One all too familiar to her ears.

“Hey Catra” Walking out from behind Hordak is none other than Adora. Catra becomes equals amounts surprised and angry that she is standing where she is walking free, with no one yet to take her head off.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE DOING HERE?!” Catra screams. Looking around she sees everyone acting normal, before eventually locking eyes with Hordak. “Are you fucking kidding me? Are you seriously listening to HER after she betrayed all of us?

“Ahhh, what's the matter.” Adora asked. “Your not happy to see your best friend kitten?”

Catra was now even more perplexed. Not only was Adora here, but something about her seemed off. What really freaked her out was what happened when Adora blinked. Her eyes closed sideways. That wasn’t normal was it. Before Catra could wonder any further, Hordak spoke up.

“Allow me to introduce our newest agent. A shapeshifting spy from the Crimson Wastes who offered us their services to feed us critical information about the rebellion.”

As Hordak spoke, Adora, or so Catra thought, began to turn a shade of black. Her figure changes into a lizard looking person dressed in black.

“A pleasure to meet you.” The new figure says. “The name’s Double Trouble. I hear your quite the performer. As a performer myself, I’m honestly quite impressed. What did you think of my current character?” They said excitedly. "I was only able to see her a few times while I was in Brightmoon

Catra took a good look at Double Trouble. She had never seen or heard about them being in the frightzone before. Another way Hordak didn’t trust her, she supposed.

“Double’s latest report.” Hordak continued on. “Was one I found quite… intriguing. Would you care to share with the rest of us.”

“Gladly” Double Trouble said with a smirk so wide it could have been pulled off the sides of their face. “My latest mission was to gain intel on what new technology the former Horde Scientist, Etrapta, had been providing the rebellion. Only, I arrived to find out that she wasn’t even there. While gathering intel on her absence, I learned that Catra here had apparently had her sent to Beast Island.”

A murmur broke out amonst the crowd and Catra instantly began to sweat. So that’s what this was about. She kept her cool though. If she remained composed maybe she could fool him into thinking she was innocent.

“I must say” Double Trouble continued. “I had a hard time believing you were even that good of a performer. You tell whatever lie you want to set up your perfect stage.” They knelt down so that they were on Catra’s level. “It’s a shame really. You're such an intriguing character. I would have loved to get to master your character."

An actor huh. Catra thought. It gave her an idea of how to potentially salvage the situation. She put on an angry expression and spoke. “What? Your just going to take their words at face value? How do you know their not another person trying to deceive you?”

Hordak’s expression turned into a glare, and she soon after got her answer when she heard yet another familiar voice.

“Did you really send Entrapata to Beast Island?”

Catra looks up to see Hordak’s imp with its mouth open, replaying her last conversation with Lonnie.

“So what if I did?”

Catra shifts her gaze to look back at a now very angry Hordak.

“I! TRUSTED! YOU!” He screams at her.

The anger begins to return as Catra speaks again. “So why did you waste your time with me then huh?” Glaring right back at Hordak, it really begins to serge. “I am that dangerous that you need to make sure I’m dead? You could have easily let the rebellion deal with me!”

“And allow you the chance to blab vital information about the Frightzone?” Hordak responded back angerly.

For a moment, Catra can’t decide what feeling should overrule the other. The one where Hordak felt she was dangerous enough to take out, or the one that suggests that as a prisoner she would absolutely give away key information. The onslaught of anger helps her decide.

“You know what I think?” She starts. “I think your actually scared. You’re afraid that I’m actually a better leader than you, so you took the first good excuse to get rid of me.” Hordak begins to glare, but she ignores him. “I mean I could run this show better than you. You’re just a defect. A mistake.”

She could see Hordak begin to snarl at her, but she kept going. “Well you know what? You better just kill me now. If you don’t I’ll come back and show you what I can really do. I don’t Adora. I don’t need Scorpia, Entrapta, or any of those goons, and I certainly DON’T NEED YOU!”

Now that certainly did it. Hordak finally lost his temper as he backhanded her, knocking her down to the cold hard floor. This seemed to prompt Octavia to run up to assist him.

“My apologies that that had to happen Lord Hordak.” The force captain said. “I’ll make sure that this bitch gets what she deserves.” She hoisted up Catra and began to haul her away, but she didn’t get very far before Hordak stopped her.

“No” He said, causing Ocatavia to stop in her tracks.

Hordak walks over to wear Catra is now standing at, and cups her cheeks with his cold hands.

“Death is a mercy this putrid animal doesn’t deserve.” He says glaring coldly at Catra. “Take her to the pit. I want to make sure she suffers. In fact... ” He pauses, a smile now beginning to form on his face. “When she is finished, arrange for a jet to have her dropped off at Beast Island.

Catra’s eyes went wide. There were two punishments that Hordak would save for worst out of those who crossed him. Now, he was about to send her through both. She was about to put up a fight as Octavia began to haul her away, but then she stopped, thinking more about the whole scenario. Hordak had deemed it necessary to her both of his most gruesome punishments. She had truly been deemed that dangerous.

She began to laugh as Octavia lead her to the pit. Hordak had really just shown that he believed that she was dangerous enough to put an end to. Soon enough she would show him how big of a mistake he was making in keeping her alive.

——————————————————————————————————-----------------------------------------------——-

After Catra was dragged off, everyone dismissed before making his way back to his sanctum. Catra had really begun to become a massive thorn in his side. It was about time he got rid of her. Good riddance, he thought.

“Our little kitten is a real curious one.” Hordak looks over to his side to see Double Trouble had now joined in walking beside him.

“The look on her face when she realized she had been discovered. Not too mention how everyone reacted to discovering. Only she seemed to take the punishment as an honor. Just when I thought she couldn't get more interesting she adds a new layer of complexity to her character.”

“Double Trouble.” Hordak said, cutting the shapeshifter off. “I have no interest in what that animal's character is like.”

Double Trouble pouted. “Not one for a good performance I take it? A shame really. You should really learn to have a little more fun.”

“I’ll allow myself to have fun,” Hordak starts. “When the rebellion has been crushed beneath my own boot. Now if you would, I believe you should be getting back to Brightmoon.”

“Pish posh” Double mopes. “All work and no play. Very well then. I’ll just be collecting my payment and I’ll be on my way.”

Hordak glares at Double Trouble, but ultimately relents as he grabs a sack of money and tosses it to them. “Now if you would.”

Double Trouble smirks while looking at the money bag. “I live to serve, my lord.” They say with a bow before walking off in a different direction.

Upon arriving back in his sanctum, his eyes were drawn to a pile of machinery strewn up on a nearby table. It was a series of excess parts from his portal project. Looking at them, he couldn’t help but think of Entrapta. And now, he would most likely never see her again.

Rage sparked up in him, and with a growl, pushed all the metals off the table, scattering them onto the floor. Entrapta had been the closest person he had come to care for, and thanks to Catra, she was gone. If Catra had sent her back when before the portal had gone off, the chances of her surviving were very slim. Not to mention, the transport ship had never arrived back, which meant that it was possible that it was attacked and likely sunk.

Hordak leaned against the now barren work table, mourning the loss of his dearest friend, and for what felt like the first time ever in his life, he cried.

Chapter Text

The first thing Catra notices when she regains consciousness was how bad her head was pounding. She can just make out the sound of jet engines. It took a minute to realize where she was. She remembered Hordak yelling at her, then Octavia dragging her away as Hordak had sentenced her to…

Oh. That was right. She had just been sent through the pit. That explained why her head and just about everything hurt like absolute hell. Just about every type of torture had been thrown at her there. Everything ranging from beatings, electrical shocks, to everything just bad enough fucking hurt but not kill you. Now she was on a jet en route to beast island because who knew where the fuck the normal transport was.

Her weary eyes are slow to open, and the room for once was not engulfed in blinding light. She seemed to be laying down in what appeared to be the jet's loading dock. Upon trying to move her hands she discovered that they were tied together. She tested her binds to find that it was just a simple rope. She couldn’t help but laugh at that.

As best as she could, she slowly works herself to her feet. Everything seemed to scream in agony with each movement. Once on her feet, a sudden rock of the jet had knocked her back down, as it took a sudden turn downward. Catra sunk her claws into the floor to keep from rolling, and eventually the jet came to a stop. Catra took a moment to recoup, then sat herself up. There was barely any time to wonder what was going on before a door to the pilot’s room opened.

Octavia came walking out from the door. She smirked when she saw Catra was awake.

“Well, well, looks like the cat’s up.” Ocatvia said smirking. “Good. I want you to personally witness the only thing worse than your own personal hell.”

The force captain goes over to a control panel and pushes a button, causing the cargo hold door to open. Catra felt her nerves spike but she kept her cool. Octavia hoisted her up and dragged her to the open door.

“Not going to cut my restraints?” Catra asked.

Octavia looked back with a smirk. “I think you can figure it out.” She held Catra in front of the open cargo door. “Welcome to Beast Island.” And with that, she pushed Catra out of the jet.

Catra started falling, and fast. Where normally her agility would be a huge advantage in helping her, the restraints on her hands prevented it from being useful. She tries her best to adjust herself, but ends up crashing into a tree on the way down. She hits a few branches before eventually colliding face first with the ground.

“Ow” Catra exclaims. Although, the jet was low enough so that the fall would not be life threatening, it didn’t mean that it still fucking hurt. She works her way into a sitting position, shaking off the foggy vision from her fall, and getting her first good look at her surroundings.

So this was Beast Island. Everything about it just looked… wrong. Nothing about it was natural at all. Everything in the land seemed mutated and integrated with what looked like some sort of tech. The abnormality of everything sent chills down Catra’s spine.

Slowly but surely, she works herself to her feet. First things first, she needed to get the ropes binding her hands cut free. She tried to see what maneuverability her hands had, and found that she had enough to move a pinkie finger. As she began walking, she begins to work on her restraints. The process was slow, but better than nothing.

There were so many sounds to be weary of. There was the soft rustle of the bushes, the distant growls of creatures she is sure she has never heard before, and also a strange humming noise. Something about it made her extremely uncomfortable. Catra tries to get a sense of where it’s coming from, but as she tries to listen to it, her mind starts to fill with thoughts and emotions from recent events. The moments where she got into an argument with Lonnie, and drove away her squadmates, and when Scopria had told her she was a bad friend, and when--.

She shook her head and chase the sound away. Whatever that was it was nothing good. She had a really bad feeling that staying here for too long would end up driving her mad. She walked on, looking for whatever she could to help her survive.

Her survival training instantly kicked in from there. She needed shelter and a good supply of food and water. Her environment wasn’t helping her much. The landscape didn’t provide great terrain for a shelter, and at the moment, the only food source would be very tricky to catch.

After walking for a little while, she freezes, hearing a rustling from a nearby bush. With her hands restrained, she was not in the best position to defend herself. She had only managed to get halfway through one bind of the rope. There was still a long ways to go.

Suddenly, three little small creatures emerged from the underbrush. They stood no taller than maybe her knees. A single red glowing eye sat in the middle of their heads. Catra snorted. How could something that looked this cute survive here? This thing should have been dead by this point.

Before that question could be further contemplated, the three creatures screech and show their fangs. So much for looking adorable.

Now on high alert, Catra begins to slowly back away. When one of the creatures lunged at her, she quickly leaps out of the way to avoid it. This was only to be met with another one coming at her. Ducking backward, she barely dodges the attack as the thing flies right over her. This process continued on for a little while, with one creature dodging and Catra having to leap out of the way or move her body to dodge.

Eventually, one latches on to her hair, sending panic shooting through Catra as she tries to shake it off. Her hair flings wildly, but the creature holds on to the end. In the meantime, a second one latches onto her leg, and she is just able to move her leg wildly enough so that it cannot get a firm hold. She tries everything, but the things on her just don’t seem to want to let go.

Luckily, she manages to catch site of the third. An idea forms in her head, and she turns her back toward the creature. Catra is very nervous that this won’t work, but at this point, fighting crippled is clearly not going to work. Moving her restrained hands into the path of the creature, it shreds off the rope holding them together. With her hands now free, the two latched onto her are easily grabbed and thrown clear.

Catra smirks as she unsheathes her claws. She was now in a stare down with the three creatures. With her arms now free, she could feel her confidence returning. She had every tool in her arsenal now available to her. Well almost everything. If only the rebellion hadn’t taken her whip.

All three creatures charge her at once. Catra squats down, readying herself to counter their moves. The first one lunged at her leg, but was very easily dodged. The second and third ones jumped for her head. Using her hands, she swats one to the side, and grabs the other one with her left hand. In its attempt to get free, Catra's left hand is bit and she yells out in pain. However, it doesn't stop her from taking opportunity to gut the thing, slicing its head cleanly in half with her claws, causing guts to drip down its body. It falls to the ground lifelessly.

Her hand now has a gash in it, and she has to apply pressure to slow the bleeding. There is barely enough time to avoid another creature lunging at her again, and she just narrowly leaps out of the way.

The fight continued on with a series of back and forths, with one side going in for a strike, and the other dodging the attack. Eventually, Catra has her back to a nearby tree, waiting for the creatures to make a move. Once they jump at her, she uses the tree launch herself up in the air and lands behind them. Quickly, she runs up to the tree, extends her claws, and sinks them into the flesh of the closest creature. While it tries to get free, the last one takes the opportunity to attack her. With her hands occupied, she waits for the right moment and swings her foot at the thing. It hits it’s mark and the thing lands a few feet away. It recovers and looks back to study Catra. Appearing to decide this is a losing battle, it turns and runs into the underbrush.

Turning back to her front, the creature in her hands is now found lifeless. As she takes its body in her hands, she cannot help but cackle. One that starts low and turns maniacal. Despite not spending much time on Beast Island, it already felt like a joke to her.

“IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!” She screamed at the sky. In the moment, it truly felt like she had what it takes to survive here.

She looked back down at the corpse in her hands. This was currently the best source of food that she had, so why not take it. She sits down and lifts the creature up to her mouth and bit into it. It's not as good as the rebellions prison food, but defiantly better than ration bars. She figured that it would be important to take whatever she could get out here. Another rustling from the bushes interrupts her meal Almost instantly, she scurries off into a nearby tree and waits to see what would emerge.

A much larger blue colored crab like creature emerged from the underbrush. It had two large front claws, a set of small hands, and two small back legs to go along with two big blue eyes. It eventually wandered over to the tree Catra is perched in, causing her to tense up. Luckily, it only began to munch on what was left of the remains of the half eaten corpse. Catra breathes a sigh of relief, before examining the new beast below her. She debates on whether she could take it on or not. It could provide a good source of meat if she killed it, but there are factors that are unknown. Its size could be a factor, as well as its skin, and speed. Some of those are completely unknown. In the end, she decides against it. She still feels winded after the fight with the small rodent sized creatures anyway, and two fights in a row is probably not a good idea. She would need to be one hundred percent if she needed to take something like that on.

Quietly, she maneuvers away through the trees. Once sure that beast is out of hearing range, she stops to examine the damage on her hand. It’s bleeding and there is a good tear in the glove on her hand, but the gash in her hand does not appear to be anything significant. Removing the glove off her left hand, she wraps it around the wound like a bandage, and follows by wiping off the excess blood. She takes a moment to examine her work. It’s not the best medical work, but it would have to do. She continues on through the tree line, proceeding to explore the rest of the island.

Her thoughts begin to turn back to Hordak, and anger surges up in her. The moment she gets off this island, she is truly going to make him pay for keeping her alive. She’ll take over the Horde, and then she’ll show everyone just what she can do. She is fully capable of leading the Horde all on her own.

On top of that, she couldn't help but think about how she was possibly a princess. It feels strange, because Hordak, could not have possibly meant her, but who else could he have been saying he should not trust. It makes Catra want to puke. Princesses were just given their power, and Catra was nothing like them. If anything, she would feel even more upset if she found out she was one. She wanted to show the world just what she was capable of doing all on her own, how she could rise to the top without the help of anyone else, and she would stop at nothing to do it.

Leaping from tree to tree, she can’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline. It strangely feels like she can easily move toward the top of the food chain here. Catra is so confident, she can survive here. It strangely feels like she is meant to be here, like this place is a home.

Catra has to stop for a second to shake the thought from her head, and then that she notices the odd humming noise again. This place was actually trying to get inside her head wasn’t it. She would have to make sure to get off as soon as possible. If she stayed here too long, she would likely either want to stay here, or drive herself insane.

It was starting to get late now. Sleeping out in the middle of nowhere was probably not a great idea, so Catra begins to look for a place for shelter. After a while, she comes across a hollow cut out in a tree, so she jumps down to investigate further. It seems fairly well covered. There are no random holes, and no openings other than the entrance. On top of that, it appears to be spacious enough to curl up in. It should be good enough to hold up in for the night.

Before moving in, she takes as many roots and leaves from a nearby bush as she can, and cuts them free with her claws. Once acquiring a sufficient amount, she moves back to the opening in the tree. Taking what she has collected, she covers up the entrance as best she could, so that it looks like there is no opening. Once done, she sat back to examine her work. The hole was now significantly covered, but left a few spots that would allow Catra to could look out and observe the surrounding area if necessary.

Before climbing inside, she notices a small spider like creature crawling along the base of the tree. Well. Catra thought. Might as well grab whatever food I can. Unsheathing her claws, the thing is snagged instantly. It squirmed around for a moment before it eventually stopped and hung lifelessly.

With a meal secured for the night, Catra went inside her newfound shelter, and began eating. It was not much better than a ration bar, but it was better than nothing. She can’t help but think back to the last time that she actually had a good filling meal. She was sitting with Scorpia in that ship in the Crimson Wastes. Her new lackeys had given them some food they had never seen before, and they were absolutely delicious. Catra and Scorpia had an absolute blast.

Scorpia. Catra has to set her meal down for a moment as she feels herself start to tremble. Fuck, that was a whole other mess. While in the Horde, Scorpia had become one person that she could constantly rely on. Catra had thought that Scorpia would be someone who would always be there for her. But now, she had left her as well. At least she had the decency to say goodbye, unlike Adora.

Ugh, Catra couldn’t believe it, but she was honestly beginning to miss the big lug, no matter how annoying she tended to be. Now, Scorpia had not only left her like Adora did, but she had called Catra a bad friend. Had she really been that bad to her that she couldn’t stand Catra anymore? Did she really just have herself to blame?

Losing her appetite, she tosses the scraps of her meal as far as she could from her shelter, then curls up and tries to get comfortable. The humming sound begins to pick up again, and she covered her ears and tried her best to block it out. However, she couldn’t stop two simple words that seemed to be playing on repeat in her head.

Your fault.

Chapter Text

“Hmm. Beast Island. That name sounds familiar.”

Adora and Scorpia had come to Bow’s dads’ library in search of answers on Beast Island. They were currently talking to George, while Lance was looking for whatever information he could find on it.

“If I remember correctly, it is something related to the first ones.” George continued. “What peaks your interest in it anyway?”

Adora paused. She really wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell Lance and George why exactly they were trying to go there. She remembered how the two had been leery about the group traveling to the Crimson Waste. It felt better to keep as much information on the down low as possible.

“Well..”

“One of our friends got sent there.” Scorpia said, cutting off Adora. ”The Horde uses it as a place to exile prisoners.”

“Oh?” George raised an eyebrow at that. “They just leave them to fend for themselves?”

“Y-yea.” Adora said. “The Horde had stories about the place to scare you, but until now, we were never sure they were true.”

“Looks like I found something.” Lance had chosen that moment to come to the table they were sitting at and drop a map and two books on the table. “I couldn't find much, but it appears to be something related to the first ones.”

After taking time to observe their findings, a location for Beast Island was learned, as well as some other interesting facts. Turns out, it was a waste disposal island for the First ones, used to dispose of hazardous or unnecessary materials. However, there was no info on what exactly got disposed of there.

The creatures on the island appeared to be a form of security system. A way of hunting out any materials that the island could not naturally process itself. Adora couldn’t help but become curious about how this process is carried out.

George looked up from the map to look over at Adora and Scorpia.

“So,” He said rather curiously. “You said your friend was sent here. How long she has been there now?”

“A few weeks now probably.” Scorpia responded.

Adora could see the eyes of the two go wide at that statement. They look at each other for a moment before turning back to the two princesses.

“Adora” George started rather worriedly. “I know that this is a good friend of yours, but are you sure this is a good idea to go to this place? This place sounds very dangerous.”

Adora was taken aback by the question. They couldn’t be suggesting just leaving Entrapta there could they?!

“Look.” Lance continued before Adora could respond. “We know she must be a good friend of yours, but we’re just worried something might happen to you two or maybe even Bow.”

“Plus she has been there for quite a while now.” George continued. “It could be possible that-”

“George” Lance said calmly, interrupting him, causing his husband to look over to see a worried expression. Adora already knew what he was about to say.

“Look.” Scorpia started again. “I get this place could be dangerous, but this person is a really good friend of ours. If there is even a faint chance that she is alive, we have to take it. We can't just not do anything.”

The two men looked at each other before eventually sighing.

“Alright. We understand” Lance said. “Just promise us you’ll be extra careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Adora siad. “We will.” As Adora got up, a thought crossed her mind. “Hey, mind if I borrow a book or two on Shera.”

“Sure” Lance responded. “Just be sure to give it back when you're done”. He grabbed a few books off the shelf and gave it to Adora. She slung them under her right arm, and the group said their goodbyes.

On the way back, Adora couldn’t help but let think back to recent events. First of all, she was very surprised to learn that Glimmer had organized a mission to retrieve Mara’s spaceship. It was lucky that the rebellion was able to snag it, but Adora had gotten upset that she had not been included. She was afraid Glimmer could have gotten hurt, but apparently she didn’t need a personal bodyguard around her all the time.

Secondly, Glimmer was strictly against anyone doing anything to rescue Entrapta. Apparently, it wasn't worth rescuing a "traitor". It made Adora feel really bad that she was going behind her friend’s back just to do this. With how the Horde had been winning recently, it just felt like another way that she was disappointing everyone.

Adora peered down at her left wrist, where the sword of protection now sat as a bracelet on her arm. Ever since her last encounter with Catra, she started to wear it like that. It just felt more secure that way. That way she could more easily avoid any instance that could cause her to lose it. She couldn't lose it. Loosing it meant that she would not have the power to protect those she cared about.

It felt like she wasn’t doing enough to succeed. She really needed to step up her game, and maybe rescuing Entrapta was just the way to start off.

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Catra sat on her throne in the Fright Zone. It was finally hers now that Hordak was dead. A select group of people to fill out her personal guard were kneeling in front of her. Scorpia and her old squad mates were among them. She smirked as she began to address them.

“You have all been chosen for the skills that you can provide for the Horde.” She started. “I expect nothing but complete loyalty to me and commit to your-.” She paused, now noticing the looks on each of their faces. They contained mixtures of hatred and pure disdain.

“What the hell?” She asked. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Catra instantly began to feel nervous. They couldn’t all hate her, could they? She was giving them all a position of power. They were practically second to her.

“Isn’t it obvious Catra?”

Looking up from the faces in front of her toward the stairs. Another version of herself was walking up them, only this one was corrupted like she had been in the portal. Half of her face was covered in black, along with her right arm and upper chest.

A sense of dread instantly reeled up inside Catra. She tried to move, but found herself stuck to the throne, groveling in sheer terror as her corrupted self continued to walk up to her.

“They can just see passed you lies.” Her corrupted self continued, stopping in front of her thrown, bending down and using its hands to lean on the arms of the throne. “And see you for what you truly are.”

What are you talking about? She tries to ask, but finds herself unable to utter anything. Before she knows it, her corrupted self extends its claws and takes a swipe at her.

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Catra jolts awake with a loud gasp. Looking around, she saw that she was still in her outcrop she had fallen asleep in the other night, but that didn’t stop her body from shaking so badly. It was just a nightmare, but she couldn’t even remember a time it felt this bad. Shadow Weaver never even instilled this much fear in her.

Get a hold of yourself. She thinks, hugging herself while working to calm down. You’re perfectly fine. There is nothing you did wrong. Strangely though, she can’t help but think that she is more responsible for her current situation than she wants to be.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, she manages to steady herself, and once calmed down, she notices light trickling in from the entrance to her hideout. There is now light coming from past the trees, but it appears to be very early in the day still. After her nightmare, there is way too much nervous energy in her system, so she brushes by the underbrush in front of her hideout and performs some stretches.

Catra hops up into the treeline. There was no good source of water to be seen the previous day, so she decides that's the first thing she needs to find.

While hopping from tree to tree, the feline couldn’t help but let her mind wonder. Specifically to one argument she had in captivity with a certain blond. Adora has been quick to make bold claims, such as say she was just like Shadow Weaver.

Her anger begins to flare. Adora should know better. Catra is nothing like that old fucking hag. But the more she thinks about it, the more doubt begins to creep in. Adora does actually have a fair argument. After all, what kind of person would hurt her own squad mates? Why else would Scorpia, one of the kindest people she ever met, leave her and call her a bad friend? Adora couldn’t have actually been right, could she have?

The storm of thoughts causes her miss a branch and go into a free fall. She hits the ground, and skids a few feet through a patch of mud. The humming sound practically turned into a ringing in her ears.

Come on Catra, get your head in the game. She sits there for a moment, rubbing her head when she hears what sounds like running water.

Shaking her head, she starts to work towards the sound and eventually reaches a clearing with a small stream. Aside from the abnormal looking trees, it looks almost like something you would possibly find in a forest like the whispering woods.

Catra kneels down on the side and leans her head down to take a sip with her tongue. There is a strange metallic taste to it, but other than that it seems like it is fine to drink. Besides, it’s not like there are any better options right now.

After taking her fill, she leaped back into the treeline, heading back in the general direction of her hideout. Along the way, her thoughts begin to drift again, this time to Scorpia. Scorpia had accused Catra of treating her more like rubbish than an actual friend. Come to think about it, maybe she had been right. Catra never really did treat her fairly. Scorpia has gotten more of the treatment of an everyday goon more than an actual friend.

Catra tries to shake off her thoughts. It wasn’t her fault. She had to do it. It was either kill or be killed in the horde. Catra knew truly how to survive. It was Scorpia’s fault she broke the norm. Her head feels like it starts to spin as her feelings start to get more anxious.

Catra has to stop for a moment to calm herself down. There is so much wrong right with her right now. On top of her heightened nerves, her head is spinning, she is feeling nauseous, and… Shit! She doesn’t feel so good. Was there something wrong with that water? Despite her best attempts to avoid it, she ends up leaning over the side of the branch and vomiting, emptying out her stomach to the point she has to dry heave.

Once Catra feels better, she takes a few moments to breathe, before looking down at the spot where her vomit had landed. All her hard work that had gone into geting food survival, now reset to square one. Just like all her hard work in the Horde had gone to waste.

You know who to blame for that.

Catra jumps up as she tries to look for the owner of the voice. There’s noone down on the ground and there is no one else up in the trees with her. What was strange about it though, was not only did it seem to come from all around her, but it sounded like her own voice. The only difference is that it sounds distorted, as though she was in the portal.

And she is right here on this island.

This time, the voice causes her to jump back, and she falls right out of the tree. She lands on a large rock and rolls down to the ground.

“Ow” She wasn’t sure what hurt worse now at the moment, between her stomach from having to vomit her insides out, or her back and head from the fall.

Her head jerks up at the sound of something moving near her, and she sees one of those bigger crablike creatures that she had encountered before that had interrupted a meal. Turns out it wasn't a rock that she landed on.

Shit. Catra thought. Well isn’t this just my fucking luck.

The thing charges in and moves to attack with its larger claws. Catra begins dodging its attacks. Not only is this thing big, but it was fast. There are few attacks that are barely dodged.

Eventually, her back is up against a tree. The creature swings a claw at her, which is countered by a jump up and over it, as Catra lands its head. It let out of yell of distress as it tried to shake Catra off. It was actually hard to stay on it. Catra was trying to use her claws to secure herself, but the creature’s hard exoskeleton made it near impossible.

In an attempt to gain the upper hand, Catra extended her claws and and swings for the creature’s now shut eyes, only to be surprised as there isn’t even a scratch afterward. In fact, the only thing that felt injured now was here hand, and Catra is in complete shock. She has never seen anything with this hard an exoskeleton. It instantly heightens her nerves.

Before there is a chance to react, a large claw picks her up and tosses her. She lands with her back against a tree and just about everything letting out a jolt of pain. The creature uses a claw to pin her to the tree.

Shit. She was stuck now and no matter how hard she tried, she could not wrestle herself free. The creature moved to its free claw to swing at her. Luckily, there was a small branch hanging off the tree with a couple thorns hanging off it. As quick as she could, Catra ripped off the branch and threw it at the creature’s eye. It somehow works. The creature shrieks out in pain, and drops Catra to the ground.

While the creature is shaking off its pain, it allows Catra to work herself upright. This thing was going to be an absolute bitch to take down. Any hope of winning this fight relied on her finding a weak spot in its hard exoskeleton. There was one place where she could still try to attack. Peering at the creature’s underbelly, it appeared less protected than its top side.

When the creature is capable of fighting again, it proceeds to charge her, and Catra once again proceeds to dodge its attacks. Eventually, Catra slides under one claw in an attempt to make a swipe at the creature’s underside. Just when she's about to land a hit, the thing’s small arms manage to grab her, and toss her to the side. She rolls a few feet away, crashing into a few stray roots along the way.

A few grunts of pain later, and she is back on her feet. Seems it would not be that easy to take this thing down. She have to find somewhere where she could get an easier shot at its underside.

This time when the creature charges, Catra takes off running, working her away across the landscape, between trees, and collections of vines. At one point, it catches up took a swipe at her. She jumps to dodge, but the attack connects with her back, causing a yell of pain as she flies off course, landing with a thud against a tree.

It takes more effort than normal to bring herself to her feet this time because, shit, it feels like she landed bad on her shoulder. She takes a good look at the environment around her, and notices the groupings of vines. A smirk comes to her face, realizing this will work perfectly. As the creature continues its strikes, she performs her best move to dodge each attack. A couple of times, she has to take it a hit, either receiving a new cut, or getting knocked back in a nearby tree.

Eventually she stops to take a look at the creature. It tries to take a another swing at her, but its claw stops short. It was now caught up in vines, with its underbelly exposed. Now was her chance. She takes one swipe at the creature’s underside, and finds that it is much more softer than its top side. Her claws leave a nice oozing red gash, as the creature yells out in pain. A couple more swipes leaves the creature’s underside a red mess as it struggles to break free.

Finally, Catra leaps into the air, and manages to sink her claws into one of the creatures eyes. It yells in pain as Catra lands back down on the ground before it eventually goes silent. Catra falls onto her hands and knees as she looks up to admire her work. Man, this thing was a bitch to take down, but she managed to do it.

She hadn’t seen anything with a hard exoskeleton like that. The closest comparison was.. fuck it was Scorpia, that big lovable dumb idiot Scorpia. Despite everything she does to prevent it, she can’t help the memories come back. Memories ranging from how Catra mistreated Scorpia, to how Catra was called a bad friend. It tears to fall down her face. She shook her head, trying to focus on anything else to distract her.

Opening her eyes, she looked down to see just how much of a toll it took to take the beast down. She was covered in cuts and bruises, her body ached, and-. Looking around her, the reality of her situation settle in. Fuck, she was now incredibly lost. Who knows how long it would take to get back to her hideout, if at all?

She works herself to her feet and begins walking. There is too much pain to leap through the trees right now. Despite her best efforts, she spends the better part of an hour searching for a way back to her shelter, and has no luck. Growing more and more annoyed, she slides down and sits at the base of a tree, and groans.

She is not sure how long she sits there for, but by the time she looks up again it’s starting to get dark. Guess she would have to find a new place to rest now. Before getting up, she notices another small bug creature. Her stomach takes the moment to remind her that it has nothing in it now after vomiting up her insides. Despite not quite feeling up to eat something, she quickly skewers it with her claws and begins to eat it. Something now is better than nothing later.

Once finished, she considers her options for a new camp site. Around here, there weren’t any particularly good options either, but when she looks up at the tree above her, she gets an idea. A branch wasn’t the most comfortable use of a temporary bed, but it would have to do.

She stands up slowly and works her claws into the tree’s bark to climb up. She is arguably not in the best condition for climbing. It takes longer than she would have liked, but she is able to work herself up on a branch shielded by some foliage. It’s the best thing she has to work with, and she works herself into the most comfortable position possible.

It’s funny how everything had changed. The previous day, she felt like surviving here would not be so hard. Now, it felt like even more of a challenge, like how much of a challenge it was to keep her position in the Horde. Getting off this island may not be so simple after all. She shuts her eyes and works herself into the most comfortable position possible, hoping that sleep could come more easily.

Chapter Text

“You were so awesome out there.”

It was a stormy day in Brightmoon. Adora, Bow, Glimmer, Scorpia had been tasked with escorting a supply convoy to Plumeria along with Flutterina, the newest member to join the rebellion. The Horde had ambushed them and ransacked a portion of the supplies, but regardless everyone had managed to fight them off.

“The way you destroyed the bots as Shera and helped Bow, Glimmer, and Scorpia with their fights. You were just so amazing!!!”

Adora had to admit that Flutterina could get a little too excited. She was honestly a bit much to handle at times. Regardless, it felt nice to receive some praise for her work she put in. At least there was somewhere she was being helpful as of late

“Come on.” Adora responded back. “I can’t take all the credit. Everyone else played a big part.”

“Yea they were cool too” Flutterina said. “but you have to admit you that it's you who carries the team. Those bots didn’t stand a chance against you.”

Glimmer took the moment to chime in with a rather sarcastic comment. “Yea, I’m pretty sure she could have done this all by herself too.”

“Glimmer-“

“Maybe we should honestly stop bringing you on these missions Adora.” Glimmer said angrily. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the reason the Horde is everywhere we go is because they're tracking you. Besides, maybe it will do you some good to just sit down and see how good of a team player you are.” And with that, she teleported away.

The three of them look on before Flutterina eventually speaks up. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I think she’s just stressed out.” Bow responds. “I’m going to go check on her. I’ll catch up with you guys later.” He walks off in the direction of Glimmer’s room.

Adora and Scorpia part ways with Flutterina and make their way to their respective rooms together.

“So,” Scorpia begins to talk. “Did you notice how she wasn’t there again?”

“Yea, I did.” The person not there was a certain feline force captain. For the last two battles against the Horde, Catra had been MIA. Ever since the Horde's rescue attempt for her, she had never been seen on the battlefield. It was strange considering Catra rarely missed a major battle. Come to think of it, there was no trace of her former horde squadmates either. It was all very weird.

“You don’t think something happened to her, do you?” It was clear that despite everything, Scorpia was still worried about her former friend. Honestly, Adora couldn’t blame her.

“I don’t know.” Adora couldn’t help but feel worried herself, even after everything that happened to Catra.

“Do you think that she’s just running things from the fright zone now?” Scorpia asked. It sounded more like she was trying to put out a source of hope.

“I thought of that too, but it just doesn’t sound like her to do things like that.” As much as Adora wanted to believe it, it just didn’t sound right.

“You don’t think,” Scorpia started again. “That Hordak did something? Do you?” She sounded really nervous. “I mean maybe he just doesn’t trust her in the field anymore.”

“I don’t know.” She didn’t want to admit that the idea that Scorpia didn’t say out loud sounded like the most reasonable. “I kinda tired right now. This is exhausting to even think about. I’m going to get some rest in my room.”

“Well, ok. I guess I should get some sleep as well.” Scorpia responded nervously. “Good to be ready for the next battle.” With that, the two parted for their rooms.

As soon as Adora got back, she just sprawled out on her bed, letting her thoughts run wild. She wasn’t sure what had happened to her former best friend. They hadn’t seen each other since the Horde’s apparent rescue mission for her.

That’s when she starts to really think about what Scorpia had said. What if had Hordak had done something? In fact, what if that mission hadn’t been a rescue? They really weren’t something on the Horde’s forte.

It makes another thought pop into her head that really shakes her to her core. What if she’s dead? She knows that she is supposed to be trying to kill Catra herself, but the idea still brings pain to her heart.

Laying down on her bed, she can’t help but look at an object on her nightstand. It’s Catra’s whip that she confiscated from her during their last encounter. She really should just toss it in Glimmer’s make-shift armory, but she can’t seem to part with it. She’s not quite sure what the reason is, but she just doesn’t feel comfortable handing it over to Glimmer. Man that was a whole other story. Glimmer didn’t even know about this. If she found it, it could further strain their friendship.

Adora closes her eyes and tries to rest. She was hoping to get some rest, but it seemed that sleep would come just as restless as always.

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Catra finds herself on a high platform overlooking a courtyard with a small crowd of Horde soldiers. She is in the Fright Zone, with her hand on a lever, ready to pull it to execute two prisoners in front of her. Their heads are currently down, and cloaks hide the features on their face. Her mind is generating questions about all off this. She wants to know what is even going on, but her body acts against her will and pulls the lever anyway. A guillotine comes down and chops the prisoners heads off.

The heads roll down in front of Catra and that’s when the panic sets in. The faces on the two heads belong to none other than Scorpia and Entrapta.

No, she thinks. She can’t have killed them! She would never agree to kill them! No matter how annoying they were at times, they were people she cared about.

“What’s wrong Catra?”

Looking towards the source of the voice, she finds her corrupted self staring back at her from the first row of the crowd. All of a sudden, she feels even more scared.

“Don’t look so surprised. You would have had them killed sooner or later.”

Catra eyes go wide. Would she have had to? If she had gotten a high power position with the Horde, would it have eventually forced her hand? Would she… have enjoyed it? Before she has time to consider the possibilities, she hears a loud noise and looks up to see another guillotine barreling down at her.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Catra awakes with a loud gasp as a crack of thunder sounds throughout the landscape. It spooks her enough to fall off the branch she was sleeping on, only to start hanging midway to the ground. She looks up confused to find herself hanging from a stray vine her right foot.

How the fuck did that happen? She thinks. She doesn’t even remember getting a foot tangled up when she curled up to sleep the previous night. If it did happen, she would have gotten it untangled almost immediately.

Groaning in annoyance, she works to lift herself to reach and cut the stray vine, tying her best to ignore the pain coming from the rest of her body. At one point, it’s too much, forcing her to abort her attempt and take some time to breath. On the second try, she beats out the pain and cut the vine, causing her to plummet to the ground, landing with a thud.

Just about everything hurt. Her frustration was beginning to build. Where at one point, she felt at the top of the food chain here, she now felt like she was at the bottom of the barrel. Ha. How funny. It was just like everything else that seemed to happen to her in life.

Only there’s no one else to blame is there?

The voice startled her once again, causing her to fall back to the ground. It sounded like it was coming from all around her. Was there someone messing with her?

“WHERE ARE YOU?” She shouted hoping for an answer. “SHOW YOURSELF YOU FUCKING COWARD.”

It was quiet for a good minute. Catra groaned in annoyance, unsure of what to expecting. This all felt like it was just in her head. Maybe this island was driving her crazy.

She got up, using a hand to steady herself against a tree, and wrapped the other around her waist as she walked on. After the events of the previous day, swinging through the trees did not feel like a good idea. Her body was still too sore. She really wanted to though. This storm was an absolute killer. Her fur and hair were getting drenched, and the ground was turning into a muddy mess. This day was starting off on the wrong foot already.

Her stomach growls, reminding her of how little she had to eat yesterday. Today would have to be dedicated to hunting food. Sniffing the air, she tries to get a gage on what scents are around her. There is frustration rising after a few minutes, but it is just then when she catches a whiff of something. As best as she can, she picks up the pace to chase it.

When the scent is strong, she ducks into the underbrush nearby, and notices one of the small creatures she fought before, with one red eye. Catra crouches down. In her current condition, she would rather avoid a fight. She is about to pounce, when a large claw comes down and kills the thing instantly. The carcass is then lifted into the mouth of one of the bigger crablike creatures.

Catra instantly freezes, hoping not to get seen. Getting into a fight in her current state will leave her as good as dead. Luckily, the thing ends up walking right by her, prompting a sigh of relief. She’s alive, but with nothing to eat.

Walking on, she can’t help but turn her thoughts to the words of that voice. Is there really no one else to blame but herself now? The idea starts to make her head hurt. Was that really the reason everyone left her? Was it all because she was a bad person?

Catra has trouble shaking off her current thought process , but luckily, the sound of running water pulls her out of it. She’s in another clearing with a stream, and thirst begins to catch up to her. She heads up to the side of the stream, but stops short of scooping water. Drinking from the water on this island the last time made her sick. She could try to make a fire to boil it, but she is not sure how well that would go with the current storm, but there has to be something to try.

She looks around and finds a spot under a tree that looks rather dry and covered from rain. She takes some random vines and leaves from a bush and places them there in an attempt to make a fire. Despite each of her attempts, the result is still the same. There is no fire to be had. The materials are far too wet. With a grown, she flops herself back against the tree. This day has so far been among the worst ones in her life. Everything seems to be going against her today.

“Ahh, is our little Catra feeling a loss of control?”

Catra opens her eyes at the voice, and this time there is a face to go along with it. Crouched down in front of her, is an exact replica of what she looked like corrupted in the portal. Her eyes are wide, now frozen in fear.

“You- you’re not real. You can’t be real.” She manages to stammer out.

“I’m as real as your mind thinks I am. Hard to believe someone like you can stammer so low. What happened to our big bad kitty? Do you not feel proud at your accomplishments anymore?”

“Shut up.” Catra says, now holding ears.

“You know, I’m honestly disappointed. You had all the power in the world as the bad guy. You could take whatever you want.” The corrupted Catra smirked. “Hurt whoever you want.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP.” Catra tried to swipe a claw at her corrupted mirror image, but her attack ended up going right through it as it fased it smoke around her and disappeared.

“You should really learn to be more angry at those you consider your enemies.”

Catra was left sprawled out in the mud, trying to collect her breath after what had just happened. She had just seen a darker version of herself, that was disappointed she wasn’t more angry. She can’t help but feel angry about everything right now, but at the same time, it just feels so wrong.

She begins to ponder if her anger leads her down this series of recent events. Sending away Entrapta, threatening Scorpia, hurting Adora. It allowed her to hurt whoever she wanted alright, but is it worth hurting those who meant something to her. As much as Catra hated to admit it, she really didn’t like how hurting them ended up making her feel.

Catra shakes her head. There’s no time to think about that right now. It’s only going to slow her down, and cause her trouble. There is still a need to find food. She gets up and walks on into the forest.

The mud starts to get slick, and at one point, she has to hold out her arms and walk slowly just to keep her balance. Eventually, she spots one of the small spider creature on a low hanging tree branch that appears to be asleep. A sense of relief washes over her at the prospect of finally finding food.

She makes her way towards the tree. Despite being as careful as possible in the slick mud, she losses her footing and falls, hitting the ground with a yelp, and fear that the thing was scared off sets in. Relief floods over her when it appears it is still asleep. She continues the rest of the way in a crawl.

Upon reaching it, she begins a slow climb and onto the branch. The thing is just sitting a few feet away now. Catra grins and licks her lips, the prospect of food making her mouth water and her stomach growl. As soon as the noise erupts from her, she freezes. The insect in front of her was now awake. Her belly obviously was loud enough to wake it up.

Catra lunges at the thing tying to snare it, but it quickly moves to the underside of the branch to escape, and all she gets is a face full of mud. Once again, with no food.

Catra turns and lays flat on her back with a groan.

“You couldn’t have waited another minute to do that?!” She yells down at her stomach. As if to answer no, it growls once more, prompting a loud groan of annoyance.

Can this day get any worse? Just about everything else seemed against her today, now it seemed like her own body was against her now. She wasn’t quite sure what day was worse: today, or when Adora left the Horde.

A thought begins to cross her mind. Does she actually deserve this? The idea has more truth than she wants to admit. It was starting to become apparent what people saw in her after everything she had done. Before pondering further, her thought process is interrupted by another voice.

“Hey Catra.”

This voice was different from before. In fact, Catra knew it all to well, turning toward the source to find none other than Adora. How the fuck she got here Catra would never know. Adora was here to rescue her, which she couldn’t decide if she was angry or relieved about. Leave it to Adora to always have to play the hero.

”Couldn’t stay away from me could ya?” Catra says as she gets up and walks to her. However, she begins to get leery at the smirk on Adora’s face.

“The fuck are you so smug about?” Catra asks. Venom dripping from her voice.

“You know” Adora starts. “I was going to rescue you, but I could put help but feel amused at just how pathetic you looked.

“What did you say?” Catra’s blood was starting to boil. Was Adora for real now?

“You heard me.” Adora said with a smirk. Oh there was no way she was getting away with that.

With a snarl, Catra pounced and knocked Adora to the ground. Now on top of her, she extends her claws and repeatedly slashes at her, feeling so so angry right. If Adora came here to watch Catra suffer, than Catra can just as well return the favor. Who gives a fuck if she was hear to rescue her?

After a solid minute of slashing at Adora’s face, Catra stops for a moment to catch her breath. Once she is ready for a second round, she raises up a hand, only to get a good look at the person below her. Her face was now practically covered in cuts and blood to the point where you almost could not recognize her. Her expression had changed from a proud smirk to one of absolute fear.

The sight should have made Catra feel accomplished. She had just taken down her worst enemy. Now, it only makes her feel sick. With a hand to her mouth, she gets up and tries to puke over by a nearby tree, but with nothing in her stomach, all she does is dry heave. Afterwards, all she can think about is how she came so close to killing her.

“What wrong Catra?” A much familiar voice now asks. Catra tried to look around for the source, but finds none. It is coming from all around now. “Isn’t this what you always wanted? To kill your greatest enemy?”

“I.” She looks back down at the bloodied face of Adora. Where once she could find an answer, there doesn’t seem to be one anymore. She wished so badly that to feel happy at bringing Adora harm, but even with so much attempted convincing, looking at the body in front of her, there was no enjoyment to be found. Now, all it did was fill her with regret.

When Adora’s form shifts to one with black covering them though, the feelings instantly shift to panic.

“Come on Catra. After recent events, I thought this would be the best way for you to regain control.”

“Shut up.”

“Don’t tell me your going soft now.”

“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!” With that, Catra snapped. She swiped at her corrupted form, only for the attack to pass right through and hit a tree. Well, at least what appeared to be a tree at first, because it seemed to squeal and move as her attack landed. The final confirmation was the form slithering away, and then moving around to show itself more clearly.

It appeared to be a giant green lizard with horns, only its head had a derpy smily face on it. Catra almost wanted to laugh, but she remembered how the smaller creatures had fooled her. As if on queue, its head opens up to reveal a black more dragonesque head. Shit, these things really knew how to draw in their prey.

Catra quickly jumped as the creature lunged at her. The attack just barely missed its target. As the fight went on, Catra notices how her attempts to dodge were just barely met with success. Despite her best attempts, she could have been hit if she was a fraction of a second slower. As much as she hated to admit it, this fight would not go well in her current state.

Her worst fears are realized when the creature rams her with its guarded head, sending her slamming into a tree. There is barely enough time afterwards to get up and dodge a wack from its tail.

With a chance to go on the attack, Catra climbs up the tail and works her way toward the head. When the thing launched its tail in the air to throw her off, Catra takes advantage of the situation, leaping into the air. She was about to land on its head, but then it peeled back its protective shell and showed its teeth. It leaned its head back, looking to get her to land in its mouth. Catra’s nerves are instantly heightened, but she just manages to snag a claw on the things nose.

There is a moment where she thinks she can get the upper hand. One good swipe at an eye or somewhere on the thing’s face could gain her the advantage. The creature then begins to shake its head violently. Catra sinks her claws on its nose, hoping that to stay attached until it tires itself out, but then the creature lowers its head, and begins to charge headfirst at a tree. Taking the brunt of the impact would not be good, so instead, Catra flings herself off to the side, and rolls away through a batch of mud.

The creature manages to shake off the impact and put its protective cover back on, but Catra notices the bloody cuts now on its snout. She knows just where to hit it now. The trick will be finding ways for it to expose its weak spot.

With a roar of anger, the creature charges once more, and Catra begins to dodge again, moving her way through the forest as she does so. She wants to find a spot to lull the creature into bringing down its protective guard.

Once again though, she is caught by a bull rush that sends her tumbling forward. She tries to avoid a swing from the tail, only to slip in the mud and fall. The tail comes down, and with a good wack, Catra goes flying into a nearby tree at an incredibly high. The fall to the ground afterwards hurts also.

Picking herself up is more painful than it should be, because, fuck her arm feels like it is broken. Looking around gives her enough information to see that she is backed into a corner with the creature now cutting off the only easy route. This might be a good chance. She attempts to act more helpless, attempting to lull the creature into a false sense of security.

It doesn’t take the bait. The creature simply lifts up its guarded head to take a swing at her. Catra attempts to climb up the trees to escape, but with only one good arm, she isn’t fast enough, and is smacked into from behind and falls back to the ground.

This time, everything hurts so fucking bad and she can barely even move. Flipping on her back, the image that greets her is one of the creature looming above her. It uncorks the guard around its mouth and shows its fangs with a roar. It seems to know that Catra is practically done for.

So this is it huh. She thinks, closing her eyes. It’s fucking going to end like this. She thought it would have ended more gloriously in the heat of battle. The universe instead decided to feed her to some creature on a mysterious island. In all the ways that life had decided to take a shit on her, this was among the worst. Closing her eyes, Catra waits for the inevitable.

However, it seems life isn’t quite done with her yet. Just when the creature goes in for the kill, a blast of magic hits it in the face. Catra opens her eyes just in time to see a strange figure jump down from a nearby tree. The man simply has a cloak over his face and some pants, but no shirt.

The man doesn’t let up his assault. He flings blast after blast of magic at the creature, until it eventually brought up its guard. It tries to slam into him, but he brings up a shield that prevents the attack from connecting. A sudden surge pushes the thing back to prevent it from breaking through. From there, it backs off, seeming to decide that the kill is not worth it.

With the creature now gone, the man turns around and lowers the hood on his cloak.

“Are you alright?” He asks, extending his hand. From what she can now see of the man’s face, he has likely been here for even longer than her. His hair is long and rowdy, and his beard does not appear groomed.

Catra doesn’t know what to think of him. She is leery to even trust him, but as soon as she is ready to say something, her vision begins to spin and she blacks out.

Chapter Text

“WHY DID YOU DO IT?”

The words cause Catra to awake with a gasp. It was the dream with Adora and the portal again. It wasn’t the same as the other dreams she had while on Beast Island, but still tended to leave her shaking afterwards.

“Hey it's fine, nothing can hurt you here.”

The voice startles Catra. She looks up to see the man who had saved her before. Looking around, she notices she is inside of a magical barrier. It only serves to scare her even more.

“Who the hell are you?!” She asks in a frenzy. “Get away from me!!” In the process of trying to get up and run, her leg and arm explode into pain. She falls back down without taking so much as a step.

“Easy.” The man says. “You still haven't completely healed.”

The man tries to approach again, but Catra only tries to back away. Finally, seeing that all the magic seems to be what is scaring her, he lets the magical field fade.

“It’s alright.” He says rather calmly. “I won't hurt you.”

Catra stays silent, observing the person in front of her for any signs of a trick, with nerves heightened to the max. He seems genuine enough, but she’s been fooled before. Suddenly, the man seems to get an idea. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the corpse of one of the little spider creatures.

“You hungry?” He asks. “I know it can be hard to find food around here.

Catra snarls. She practically wants to shove this offering back in the man’s face. To just say fuck off, I'll find my own food, I don’t need to be treated like a baby. Her stomach, on the other hand, has other ideas. A rather loud grumble causes Catra's face to go red with embarrassment. She just snatches the dead creature’s body with a snarl and begins eating.

“So your a magicat huh?” The man asks, causing Catra to stop eating. “I honestly can’t believe it. I mean, after what the Horde did I thought that you were none of you left.”

“Woah, Woah. Hold on now?!” This guy was a bit too energetic to start off with, and to top it off now what he was saying now made her even more confused. “Magi-what? And what do you mean none of us left?”

“Wait.” the man said, clearly confused himself. “Do you not know what happened or what you are?”

“No I don’t” Catra was starting to get mad now. “And for starters, what would you know about the Horde?”

“I know just what destruction and evil they are capable of doing. They’ll continue to conquer Etheria until there is nothing left.”

It was obvious just from that answer just what type of person Catra was dealing with.

“Fuck, of course your from the rebellion.” She said, her words filled to the brim with venom. “Well in case you haven’t realized old man, I’m from the horde, so whatever you're about to say, I don’t want to hear it.”

The man seems surprised to hear the words out of Catra’s mouth. He didn’t get much time to contemplate though, as Catra once again tried to get up, only for her injuries to knock her back down.

“Easy.” The man said. After a moment, his hands began to glow. “Just hold on, I can help you.”

Catra only became more frightened. “No. Stay away from me.” She began to crawl away, but her back eventually hit a tree.

“It’s alright.” the man said, with his hands raised. “I’m not going to hurt you.” As he reached out his hand, he noticed how Catra's hand was wrapped up. "Is your hand injured? I can heal it for you." He tried to reach for her hand, but Catra swung it at him, claws extended. Her claws sunk into the man's skin, causing a yelp of pain, but the man took the opportunity to work his magic. His hand glowed for a moment, scaring Catra. By the time she had pulled it away, the man simply looked at her with a small smile.

"It should be fine now." he said. Making Catra pause for a moment. She undid the makeshift bandaging on her hand to find that the cuts that had existed there were now completely gone.

The man simply smiles, taking a moment to use his magic to heal the cuts left in his own hand. "I can make sure you leg isn't broken also." He says as he reaches down for it.

Without much getting away, Catra shut her eyes, afraid of whats about to happen. As much as she wants to run as far away as she can, her injuries prevent her from doing so. She is so tense when she feels the man touches her. There is a moment when she waits for pain to shoot through her, like when Shadow Weaver used to punish her, but she is instantly confused when the pain currently in her leg begins to subside. In fact, it actually feels kinda.. nice.

Opening her eyes, she finds the man's hands sitting on parts of her leg. Her leg is glowing as well. After a moment, the man lifts his hands away and the glowing stops.

“Is that better?” He asks.

Catra takes a moment to flex her once broken leg and finds that there is no more pain. Her leg was now completely healed like nothing happened to it.

“If you are more comfortable now,” The man says. “I can heal your arm as well.”

Catra is still leery to let anything happen at first, but after a moment shifts her body around so that her broken arm is easier to reach. She still can’t help but tense up, waiting for a shot of pain to shoot down her arm though. It disgusts her how vulnerable she is being right now, but if it means not having broken body parts on an island full of deadly monsters, then so be it.

Once the process is done, she sits up and moves her arm. Just like her leg, there is no pain, but now it is all replaced with confusion. This man has to be a part of the rebellion, right? So then why in the hell would he help her? Did he even know who she fucking was and what she was capable of?

“That appears to be everything major. Just avoid anything strenuous for a little while and they should be fine.” He states. “If you’d like, I can heal the rest of your cuts.”

Catra looks down at herself to observe the other cuts on herself. There were still some on her stomach as well as her.., yea fuck that. She’ll be dammed if she’d let him touch her there. Arms and legs were one thing, but touching her there?

Catra’s gaze shifts back to the man and goes stern. “I can handle it. Thank you very much." She said with some snark in her tone. "Who the hell are you?” If the person in front of her wasn’t intent on being hostile, maybe could be a time to get some answers.

“Oh, excuse me. Where are my manners?” He begins. “It’s been a while since I really talked to anyone, let alone a magicat. My name is Micah.”

Catra thought for a moment. Despite being the type of someone from the rebellion, that name didn’t ring any bells with her. She figured it might be better to play nice though. If Micah could get fight off one of the bigger creatures on this island, it might be good to have him around.

“Catra.”

Micah extended a hand to help raise Catra to her feet. She took a moment to brush the dirt off her outfit.

“So,” Micah starts again. “What brings you to Beast Island?”

Catra looked up at Micah, her gaze, a blank one of stone. “What’s it to you?”

“Just curious,” said Micah. “It’s been a long while since I saw anyone, especially a magicat. After what the Horde did, it makes me wonder what happened. If you're from the Horde, why Hordak decided to spare you?”

Catra froze. “Spare me?”

Micah sighed. “Back when the horde first arrived on Etheria, there was a kingdom that was very well known for its contributions to technological advancements. That kingdom was Halfmoon. Home of the magicats.”

For once, Micah actually had her attention. She couldn't quite explain it, but this feels like something necessary to hear. “What happened to them?”

“Hordak discovered a secret back way into their kingdom. I have a sneaky suspicion about who told them. ” Micah stopped and looked down at the ground. “He slaughtered them. Those who had managed to survive were taken back to the Horde. They were either tortured, or trained as soldiers.”

Catra just looked on in amazement. Could she have been among the group taken back? If so, had she really been helping the group that had been responsible for destroying her own kind? Everything she was listening to gave her so many more questions?

Micah continued on. “When the rebellion learned what happened, I prepared a team to liberate them. We didn’t expect them to be ready for us. We walked straight into an ambush, and although we fought valiantly, we.. well..” Micah paused. “You can see how that panned out for me.”

Catra didn’t know what to think about Micah had just told her, or whether she should even believe him. Somehow, it made her feel even worse about herself. All of a sudden, a loud laugh sounded around, causing her to hold her ears and shut her eyes. It was followed by an all to familiar voice.

“You not only betrayed your friends. You betrayed your people.”

“Catra, don’t listen to it.”

Catra opened her eyes again to find Micah knelt in front of her. As she brings her hands down, she is just able to hear the mysterious humming noise that she had heard from time to time.

“You alright?” Micah asked. “So you hear it too huh. When I saw you like that I was worried-”

“I’m fine.” Catra said cutting him off, using a hand to swipe Micah’s hands away. “What the hell even is that stupid humming noise anyway?”

“It's a signal from the island.” Micah answered. “This place is a mass of tech, and something at the center of this island never stops signaling.”

A signal. Catra was starting to get curious. “So what is it doing. Is it trying to bring here?

“Not bring something here. Keep us here” Micah answered. “It weakens your resolve and taps into your insecurities.” He paused, peering over to a nearby structure. “Eventually you just become part of the island.”

Catra followed his gaze to see what looked like a giant animal carcass. There were large vines holding it to the ground. The sight brings her back to how she woke up on the tree before with a vine around her ankle. How close had she been to giving in at that moment?

"Speaking of which, and I won’t if your not comfortable.” Micah started. “I won’t if your not comfortable with it, but I can do something so we can rest without worrying about it. I saw you weren’t comfortable with it before so if your not ok with it I won’t."

Catra paused for a moment, not sure what to make if Micah’s proposal. She wasn’t sure why he was being kind to her in the first place. Her options are between sitting in a magical field that she is not sure what could do, and sitting with nothing protecting her, becoming subject to the island’s torment. As much as she really doesn’t want to subject herself to something magical, the alternate option feels like so much worse.

“I’ll be fine, just do it.” Catra says. Micah takes his signal and draws a symbol on the ground. When he was done, the magical field they were in before was back. Catra grew tense again, but managed to take some steady breaths. If it meant another day of survival, fighting her fears would be worth it. It’s not like she hadn’t done it several times before.

“So enough about me.” Micah continued once he was done. “What about you?”

Catra gaze turned cold. “What about me?”

“Oh you know. How’s your day been? How’s the war been going?” He paused. “You know come to think about it, I never thought about what life is like in the Horde. Do they have things we do in the rebellion? What are the commanders like? How many friends do you get to—?“

“It sucks as a matter of fact.” Catra interrupted. “You train constantly. Your forced to compete with others only to be told you're nowhere near as good. Your recieve punishment if you so much as step out of line, and none of your superiors think you mean something unless your fucking perfect, and in the end, your just cast off to an island full of deadly fucking creatures.” Upon saying those last words, Catra took a swipe at the large animal carcass beside her in utter irritation. Although, letting out some anger helped to take her mind of the magic currently surrounding her. “But I guess you never thought about it huh?”

Micah just had a sad look in his eyes. “I... wasn’t sure what it was like. I would have never guessed the conditions were less than standard.” He said, his hands beginning to clench.

Catra just snarled. “Of course not. You rebellion types are all the same. All you think about is yourselves, and you think less of anyone who doesn’t meet your standards.”

“I’m sorry.” Micah said back. “I should’ve figured it out, especially after Halfmoon.” His fists clenched noticeably. “If only we had gotten news sooner. Maybe I could have helped Cyra.”

Catra raised an eyebrow, her attention shifting to what Micah has said. “Cyra?”

“The queen of Halfmoon.” Micah responded. “And a good friend. You remind me of her in a way.”

Catra couldn’t help but bristle at that. How could he just compare her to a queen? Her mind racing back to how Hordak's insinuation that she was a princess.

“If you don’t mind,” Micah started again. “Maybe you’re not the person to ask, but have you heard anything about my family. My wife Angella and my little girl Glimmer.”

“Wait,” Catra said. “Wouldn’t that make you-”

“Brightmoon’s king? Yea it would.” Micah said finishing for her. “It’s been so long since I saw my wife and daughter. I know your from the Horde, and that might not care, but it would mean so much for me to hear they were doing alright.”

Catra looked at Micah. Normally, she wouldn’t even care about humoring him, maybe even tell him to fuck off, but there was something about how he was pleading. It didn’t sit right with her to not answer.

So instead, she made the choice to humor him. “Yea, I’ve had some run ins. That sparkly princess girl of yours is a pretty good fighter to be honest.”

“Wait, she’s fighting in the war!” Micah responded, sounding surprised. “At her age?! Brightmoon can't have grown that desperate.”

A part of Catra was confused, while the other took offense to what Micah said. “What? You find a problem with that?! I’m fighting in the war, and I’m one of… was one of the Horde’s best fighters. I shouldn’t be fighting in the war just because I'm barely an adult?”

Micah seemed taken aback. “I don’t understand. I mean, you I would approve of fighting, but Glimmer she’s..” He paused for a moment as realization smacked him right in the face. “My Glimmer’s not a little girl anymore, is she?”

That made Catra stop for a moment. Did he really think her royal highness sparkles was younger than her? Wait if he thought that then-

“She’s about my age actually.” Catra responded, before chuckling. “Pretty good fighter too. Would you even believe that she’s actually the queen now?”

“She’s the queen?!” Micah said, with an even greater amount of surprise. “But that means?!” He turned his gaze to the ground as he began to tear up. “Angie!”

The sight in front of Catra really should have been a victory. She crushed someone from the rebellion emotionally to the point of breaking them. She didn’t even have to raise a weapon. It should have made Catra feel proud.

So then why did it feel nothing like a victory?

“How long were you on this island?” Catra couldn’t help but ask.

“I don't even know anymore.” He paused, taking a moment to catch his breath. “The last time I saw Glimmer, she was just a young child. It’s.. It’s my fault I got captured. I failed them and Cyra.”

“Hey, look at me” Catra said startling him. She wasn't sure what came over her, but she felt the urge to help, to do something different for a change. “You want to fix this don't you? Let's get off this island then. You're not just going to give up, are you?. What are you, some sort of fucking quitter?” She picked out her words in just the right way to light a fire under him. To be honest, maybe his help would be just what she needed. If she pulled the right strings they could form a team. Although, maybe that wasn’t the only reason to team up together.

Micah looked up at Catra to see a look of steely determination. It was the kind of stubborn look that said that she wouldn't give up until she had won. The kind of passion that had a tendency to rub off on others, to help pick them up when they felt down.

Micah couldn’t help but laugh, himself. “You even sound like Cyra.” He stood up, shaking himself off. “Alright, you got yourself a deal.” He said extending his hands.

Catra couldn’t help but smirk as she shook his hand. Somehow getting this man so fired up just felt so good to her. She couldn’t quite explain it, but she felt proud of what she had done, even if it was something completely different from what she used to do in the Horde.

A distant roar interrupted them. “We should get moving.” Micah said, dropping the magical field around them. “It’s not good to stay in one place for too long.” And with that the two of them were off.

As Catra walked alongside Micah, she couldn’t help but look up at him. Something about him seemed strangely familiar, like she had met him already. It made her feel capable of putting her trust in him. It was strange. There was no way she could have met him before. Plus, everything she learned told her to ditch him at the first sign of a problem. He was a member of the rebellion. Why should she trust him?

Catra shook her head. If she had to do something, she would cross that bridge when she got to it, even if it didn’t feel right for some reason. For now, she would just focus on the present. Getting off of Beast Island.

Chapter Text

Adora found herself on a balcony in Brightmoon. It was a rather peaceful night with a beautiful sunset. One could honestly forget about the war with how calm and serene it was was ever happening. A very relaxing site.

Unfortunately for Adora, the moment felt anything but peaceful. A few days had past since she had first realized that Catra had randomly gone MIA. She had fought the Horde a few other times since then, and the feline still had not appeared once. Even during another major attack on Thaymor, she still remained off the radar. She couldn’t keep her mind off of the feline. Hell, even the sunset in front of her reminded her of all the sunsets they saw up on the Fright Zone rooftops.

Adora didn’t want to admit it, but she was worried about her former friend. Even after all the events that have happened, and all the people hurt because of her, Adora still couldn’t bring herself to let go. She knows it's not really her fault, but she can’t help but feel she could have done something more, or been stronger for friend. She just wanted to be stronger, whether it be supporting her more and giving her more opportunities, or helping protect her better from Shadow Weaver.

Shadow Weaver. Fuck, just thinking about her former caretaker made Adora sick to her stomach. The one person responsible for all the abuse that she and her best friend had suffered through was here in Brightmoon. Worse yet, Glimmer was treating her like the best fucking thing that ever happened. The queen was always taking lessons from the going to the sorceresses for lessons, and always telling Adora that there is nothing to be concerned about. Did Glimmer not even realize what the fuck Shadow Weaver was capable of. The whole subject provided a whole series of arguments between Adora and her friend.

Adora sighed. Things with Glimmer had become exceedingly strained. It made Adora feel that she was failing Angella. The more she tries to help protect Glimmer, the more she just seems to be pushing her away. She doesn’t understand it. She just wants Glimmer to be safe, and being around Shadow Weaver constantly is just asking for trouble.

“Adora?”

The voice drags Adora out of her own thoughts. She turns to see Flutterina staring back at her from the doorway looking concerned.

“Oh, hey Flutterina.” Adora said, turning back to the sight in front of her.

“What's wrong?” Flutterina asked, sounding genuinely concerned, as she walked over to Adora.

Adora wasn’t even sure she wanted to go into that whole discussion, nor did explain all the things bothering her at the moment. Flutterina probably wouldn’t even understand what she was going through.

“Glimmer getting to you again?” The fairy lady asked, a touch of amusement in her tone.

“Part of it I guess.” She responds, getting an eyebrow raised from Flutterina. Adora pauses for a moment to consider if she should continue. It would be nice to speak what's on her mind, especially to someone other than Bow. Although, Flutterina likely wouldn’t be one to understand the whole Catra situation. The fairy would probably think she’s an idiot for feeling something for someone who hurt so many people.

“There’s.. a friend of mine I haven’t seen in a while.” She starts, phrasing her words carefully. Best not to reveal who she is talking about. “I’m honestly beginning to miss her.”

“What happened?” Flutterina asked.

“We.. got into a fight.” Adora continued. “Multiple actually. There were times one of us did things the other didn't agree with.” She sighed. “It’s been a while since I’ve last saw her now. Even after everything, I.. I still miss her.”

Somehow, just saying all that made Adora feel drained. Just bringing up a sore subject was a bit much for her.

“You two were good friends, weren’t you? Flutterina asked looking peaceful, causing Adora to turn towards her.

“Yea, we were.” Adora answered. “We used to be practically inseparable.”

After a few moments, Flutterina spoke up again, this time with some pep in her voice. “Don’t worry Adora. I’m sure you two can talk it out. Maybe you'll both come to an understanding and make up.”

Adora paused to think about what she heard. She wasn’t sure, she believed it, but maybe if they truly talked about it. “Yea maybe we could.”

“Besides, your Shera.” Flutterina continued. “If anything, once she sees that, she’ll practically came racing back to you. There is nothing you can’t do.”

Somehow, those words only made Adora feel worse. Shera was practically driving the wedge in between them. Plus right now felt so fucking hard to get anything to go her way, or in any favorable direction. It felt like another set of unrealistic expectations put on her. Regardless, she didn’t really want to make her new friend worry. So instead, she just put on a fake smile.

“Yea, thanks” She said, even though her tone suggested she wasn't fine. “Its getting late. I think I’m just going to get some shuteye. I’ll see you tomorrow Flutterina.” And with that, she turned and made for the door, scooting past the fairy.

She honestly didn’t want to see the look of concern that Flutterina was likely giving her, but with her back to the fairy now, she failed to notice the smirk that was now on her face, or how her eyes closed sideways and turned green.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Things had been rather strange for Catra ever since her team up with Micah. For one thing, he was acting a little coocoo, although what did she expect from someone who spent so long alone. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure how he could handle it. He has spent years alone, and Catra was having trouble lasting a few days.

What truly made the experience strange was his random acts of kindness. She didn’t understand it. Why should anyone give someone from the Horde kindness?

It started out small. Micah would occasionally catch a small bug, but would offer it to Catra. Catra pondered if he wanted something in return, but he simply stated he was being nice. There was no other motive behind the action than just helping out his companion. Catra was skeptical at first. Even after accepting it, it felt strangely wrong, like she didn’t deserve it after everything that happened.

The things he did with his magic were a whole other story. Once when they passed a stream, Micah scoped up some water with a makeshift cup. Catra thought he would just drink it, but instead, she saw him applying magic to it.

“You thirsty?” He asked, turning around and offering the cup to Catra. “I know it’s been a while since I drank something myself.”

“No way.” After learning all of Shadow Weaver’s tricks, Catra had no intentions of drinking that water. “A. That water made me sick the last time I drank it. B. I am absolutely positively not drinking that with whatever the fuck you just did to it!”

“Oh. Don’t worry.” He said. “I simply boiled it. It shouldn’t get you sick now.” He says it so nonchalantly. As if Catra didn’t have to worry about any side effects.

Even after some reassuring words, Catra didn’t budge. If there is anything that Shadow Weaver taught her, it was not to trust anything magical whatsoever. All magic ever did was cause her harm.

Micah seems to sense her weariness. “If you’re not comfortable with this, I won’t force you to.” He takes a few steps toward her, and sets the cup down on the ground. “Here.” He says, backing away from it. “If it helps, I’ll let you determine what choice to make.”

Catra is still not sure about Micah’s intentions, but she approaches the cup anyway. She is still not sure about trusting him, but if Micah wanted to cause her harm, Catra would most likely be suspended in the air by now. That either means he is really good at manipulation, or he is trying really hard to show that he doesn’t want to hurt her. Again, why he wouldn’t makes absolutely no fucking sense.

She squats down next to the cup to observe it. Nothing appears to be out of the ordinary. It’s just a normal cup made out of random materials from the local trees. There appears to be steam coming off of it. Catra leans her head and takes a good sniff. It has no discernible smell to it. Maybe it is just steam.

Finally, she picks it up and takes a small sip. It appears to taste fine. There is no metallic taste to it like last time. Before she can think better of it, her thirst gets the better of her and she downs the whole thing. It’s still somewhat warm, but other than that there is no problem with it.

When she finishes, she looks over at Micah and sees that he is smiling. Catra can’t help but feel embarrassed.

“If I have to puke again I swear.” She says. Despite the clear frustration in her voice, she can't bring her gaze to meet him.

“Don’t worry.” Micah responds, taking the cup to take a scoop of water himself. “I made sure that it boiled long enough to remove any impurities.”

Catra wasn’t sure she believed him at the time, but lone and behold, she never got sick. Not even once did she have the urge to vomit.

Now, she found herself sitting with Micah in one of his magical protection barriers under an outcropping of bushes. Although the two were preparing to call it a night, Catra could not help but ask the question that was on her mind the last few days with Micah.

“Why do you keep helping me?”

The question seemed to catch Micah off guard.

“I’m not sure I understand.” He said, confused. “Why wouldn’t I help you?”

“Because I’m from the Horde.” Catra responded. “I admitted to fighting your daughter, and you don’t even know any of the other stuff I’ve done.”

Micah sat back for a moment, pondering what he just heard.

“You were forced into the Horde weren't you?” He asked.

“Well.. yea?” Catra responded. She presumed she was anyway. She wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this.

“And you regret what you did, right?”

“I.” Catra couldn’t seem to come up with a good response, simply lowering her head. Did she?

“Then the harm that came to my family was the Horde’s fault, not yours.” With that, he began to make himself comfortable. “Better, get some shuteye. You never know what to expect here.”

As much as Catra wanted to continue the conversation, she didn’t know how to go about it. What was she supposed to say? She was Hordak’s second in command. She was the leader of most of the assaults against the rebellion that resulted in members of his family getting hurt. What made things strange is that it felt so wrong to say. Where once she would feel proud to admit what she did, just thinking about those accomplishments made her feel so hollow. It was like each feet of destruction was eating away at her from the inside out.

And as much as she hated to admit it, Micah was beginning to grow on her. It felt wrong to even admit, since he was a former member of the rebellion, but it was true. She wasn’t sure if it was this strange familiarity with him was getting to her or what. It made her scared of losing him.

With Micah now sound asleep, she decided to follow suite, making herself as comfortable as possible. She hoped that for once to avoid having a nightmare, whether it be because of the signal or her own psyche getting back at her.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“These are some big ones.”

Micah had helped to catch two rather big sized bug creatures for food. Despite that she was having a meal, Catra didn’t find herself too hungry.

“You alright?” Catra looked up to see Micah looking at her with concern. “You haven’t eaten too much.”

“Just… thinking.” Catra said in response. It was true. She had been doing a lot of that lately.

“Hey.” Micah said. “If you wanna talk about it.”

“I don’t”. Catra said, interrupting him. Even if he had been overly nice to her, the last thing she would ever do is be vulnerable and for him to take advantage of it. No fucking way was that happening.

“Look”. Micah said. “I don’t know what it’s like in the Horde, but it’s not bad to talk about these things. You might even-“

“Fuck No!” Catra interrupted. “I’ve had enough experience in the Horde to know what happens, so take whatever mumbo jumbo you're about to say to make me spheal, just keep it to yourself!”

After that, all Catra could see on Micah’s face was a mixture of pity and sadness. Eventually, her gaze simply falls to the ground.

“Alright.” Micah responded after a brief moment of silence. “I won’t force it out of you. Just know that, if you ever need to talk about something, I’m open to providing an ear.”

Catra didn’t really know what to think about that. Adora had been the only person willing to listen to her when things got out of hand, and Catra trusted her not to go and blab it to someone else. Now, someone she had only known for only a few days was offering her support. It didn’t make any sense to her.

Catra ended up eating about half before she lost her appetite. She settled for throwing what was left into a nearby bush when Micah had his back turned.

When they started walking, Catra couldn’t help letting her mind drift yet again. Having a companion helping her out, almost felt like the times with Scorpia. The only difference was that things had not escalated as far. Fuck, just thinking about Scorpia made her feel awful. She really wished for any sort of distraction to help keep her mind on the present.

As if reading her thoughts, a rustling of the bushes caught her attention. Micah had stopped and held out a hand in front of Catra to stop her. The two waited cautiously to see if anything would approach them. After a moment, a creature emerged. It was one of the things that Catra had fought when she first arrived, only it looked bigger than those ones. Catra felt a sense of confidence wash over her. This might just what she needs to get herself out of her current funk.

Micah on the other hand, didn’t seem so confident. “Careful. It’s a pooka.” He said, fear seeping into his voice.

“Please.” Catra said boastfully. “I took on three of these things without a sweat. Just one should be easy.”

“That doesn’t seem right.” Micah said, peering at Catra from the corner of his eyes so that he could keep an eye on the creature in front of him. “Pookas always travel in packs and work to box their prey in. If there is one here, there are assuredly lots more.”

“Wait. How many more?” Before Micah could answer, he fired a blast of magic into the outcropping the pooka had come out of. The resulting flash of light proceeded to answer Catra’s question. There were more than just three this time. There were dozens.

“Any ideas?” Catra asked, finding her nerves heightened as the two slowly backed away.

“Yea.” Micah said. “Run!”

As much as she hated to admit it, that seemed like the best option. Three she could fight. This many, it was only a matter of time before she was torn to shreds. The duo turned and just kept running. She wasn’t even sure how long they were running for. The pookas were just about on their tale the whole time.

Eventually, they reach a clearing. Catra is so caught with running that she stubs her foot and something metal, causing her to trip and fall. She turns toward the object in question and immediately wishes that she didn’t.

Her eyes go wide and she brings a hand to her mouth. She’s seen the object in front of her on the face of one of her closest companions. The object in question is Entrapta’s welding mask. The mechanical princess carried it around with her on her head so much that it was practically a part of her. Seeing the item here now, can mean so many things. None of them are good for the former Horde scientist, which only add to Catra’s heightened sense of dread.

Fuck. Catra thinks. She’s dead because of me, isn’t she? Considering who sent Entrapta here, there aren’t too many options to blame. There is only one conclusion that can be made. I.. I killed her. She was a friend and I fucking killed her. There are tears practically streaming down Cata’s face with the admittance. She had sent Entrapta to Beast Island, and the evidence in front of her wouldn’t let her dodge the truth any further. She truly was becoming an awful person.

“Catra!” Catra barely even moves when she hears Micah’s voice. “If we want to stay ahead of the pookas we have to-.“. He stops when she notices Catra’s current expression. “Catra?”

“Did that belong to someone you know?” Catra turned just enough to see the look of empathy on Micah’s face. Her hand finally falls from her face as she gives a small nod.

Micah takes a moment to think, and then goes over and grabs the mask from the ground. “We should have a proper reading of rites.” Catra wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but maybe it was a good thing. “We need to go before the pookas catch up.”

That’s right. In all this mess, she honestly forgot that she was on the run from a swarm of deadly creatures. Picking herself up, she does her best to compose herself, even if its not by much. When she opens her eyes, there are no signs of the pookas around them. It scares her. She tries to listen for any sings, and get a read on where they are. Although, she ends up hearing something much more unnerving.

It’s quiet. Way too quiet. Looking around, there still isn’t a clue to where the things could be around her. Micah seems to notice the same thing too, as he mirrors her movements on the opposite tree line.

That’s when it happens. The signal starts up again, but this time it’s so much louder than all the previous times she has heard it. The duo find themselves having to hold their ears just to try and muffle the sound.

“They lead us into a trap.” Micah shouts. “The signal is even stronger than normal here.”

As much as Catra tries to stay strong, her resolve is reaching its breaking point. All the things that happened because of her start to flood her mind. All the feelings she had to deal with as a result hit her like a fucking tank laser blast. She tried everything she could to think of to fight them off, even thinking of something as a counter.

They all left me. She tried convincing herself. Everything that happened is because of them. Shadow Weaver never cared. Adora left me. Hordak never trusted me and sent me here. It’s..it’s.

“It’s all my fault.” Her hands fall to her side as she finally breaks. “I hurt so many people.”

“No Catra, don’t listen to it.” Micah yelled out, trying to get to Catra, through. “Whatever, you did in the Horde, it’s not your fault.”

“You don’t get it do you?” Catra said back. Her tone clearly broken. “It was all my fault. I wasn’t just some random foot soldier taking orders from someone, I was a commander. Hordak’s second in command.”

The conversion made Micah’s eyes go wide. Tears begin to drip down her face.

“And on top of that,” Catra continues in a very defeated tone. “I even hurt my own friends. That mask we just found belonged to one of my good friends. She’s here because I sent her here.

“You.. what?!” Micah says. He doesn’t seem to know how to process this news. His hands fall to his sides as well.

“And you know what?” Catra asked. “I’ve kidnapped and hurt your daughter so many times out of spite. In fact, the former queen is dead because I opened a portal that almost destroyed the world.”

At this point, tears are streaming down Micah’s face. Vines from the island begin to slither their way towards them.

“All I’ve done is destroy whatever I touch.” The signal is so loud now that it is practically a ringing in her ears. “I’m the type of person that belongs on Beast Island.” Her tears have turned into rivers running down her face. She’s about to admit something that she never truly dared to admit herself.

“A Monster.” It hurts to even admit it. Everyone she ever cared about left her because she couldn’t even find it in herself to return their care, even going as far as to treat them even worse.

Micah’s gaze just falls to the ground. Catra’s admission seems to have gotten to him as well. The vines from the island begin to snake around them, but Catra can’t bring herself to care at the moment. She doesn't even care about what sounded like a larger approaching beast, or the sounds of the pookas running off. Her focus is now completely on the new face of her corrupted self kneeling in front of her. A smirk on its face, the vines obstructing her vision as it speaks to her.

Welcome home.

Chapter Text

“Subject appears to be exhibiting signs of being alive, and does not appear to be a result of any island based hallucinations.”

Catra wasn’t sure what was happening when she heard that voice. Her head was pounding like a fucking drum. To be honest, after what just happened, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to hear anything again.

A coordinated set of beeps only further aggregate her headache. It followed by a light poke on her arm that she is not too fond of.

“Well, it appears you can interact with it Emily, so that confirms the subject is not a hallucination. Although, the island did also appear to interact with them.”

Wait Emily?! Catra had to have died right? The island made her a part of it, and now she is in some sort of fucked up afterlife. One that would punish her for all the shit she pulled in the Horde. There is no way she could be listening to who she thinks she is.

Slowly, she works her eyes open, only to be met with two different faces looking back at her. One is that of a horde bot, that appears to be fairly standard except for it's core glowing purple. The other figure is wearing a purple mask with two glassy blue eyeholes. The figure has on greasy overalls and two purple pigtails.

Wait.. No.

“Ooh, she’s awake.” The figure launches into Catra’s face causing her to yelp and fall back. “Subject seems to be capable of being startled, and very capable of responding to external stimuli.” Catra is now really confused, but when the figure raises her mask up and pulls up a recorder, her eyes go wide with shock. No. No way.

“The identity of subject one has now been confirmed.”

“Entrapta?” This has to be in her imagination, right? Entrapta is not only alive, but in front of her right now.

“Hi, Catra.” Entrapta says turning back to the feline. “I saved your life.” The scientist begins to walk by, but turns back to give Catra a pat with her hair. “Again.”

Catra can’t help but just stare in shock. This can’t be real. She has to be dead right? Entrapta can’t be alive right now. She’s just being tortured in her own personal hell. Something will probably happen and then she’ll be talking to either Scopria or Adora next. Even if Entrapta was alive, there was no way she would go our of her way to save Catra.

A groan from beside her stirs her from her thoughts. Looking over, she finds Micah sprawled out on the floor beside her. Catra crawled over to him and helped him to sit up.

“What.. happened?” He said rubbing his head.

“It appears that Catra is fully capable of interacting with Subject number 2.”

“What in the world?” Micah said, jumping back as Entrapta jumped in his face. Ok so maybe this is real if Micah can see her.

Entrapta takes the moment to poke at Micah with her hair, causing Micah to recoil. “Hey what are you-?”

“Subject 2 also appears to have a physical mass that can respond to touch.”

“Hey wait a minute.” Micah begins to shout. Anger was now noticeable in his voice, making Catra nervous. “You're the one that stole my rations the other day.”

‘Hmm.” Entrapta stops to look at Micah. She seemed to be processing his words. “Oh yea, I remember. They were delicious.”

Well, at least Entrapta seems to be acting normal. Catra thought. When she notices that Micah is still stewing, she puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey it’s fine.” She said to him. “She’s a friend. That mask we found belongs to her actually.”

Micah turns toward Catra, but the look he has shows no friendliness in it at all.

“The one you sent here?” He asked. It makes Catra go numb. Gone was the gentleness from when they had been together on the island. In its place was anger, and betrayal, and sadness. Feelings Catra knew all too well. Her gaze shifts to Entrapta, and she can’t help but feel everything insider her go hollow.

“Beast Island log. Tide cycle 37.” Entrapta begins talking into her recorder again. “I have confirmed that the outside world still exists. I found people from the Horde. Well, one person at least and her companion.” Entrapta stopped for a moment and turned toward Catra, bringing a finger to her mouth in thought.

“What?” Catra asked.

Entrapta stepped closer. “Doesn’t Scorpia normally accompany you?” She asked. “It would make sense considering you would likely come here to bring me back to the horde.

Catra froze. Why did Entrapta always have to be so observant? “She’s.” Catra’s first instinct was to lie, but now, just thinking about doing that left an awful feeling in her gut. “She.. left the horde actually. She’s with the rebellion now.”

Entrapta seemed confused. “Why would she-?” Her eyes went wide as realization seemed to hit her in the face with a sledgehammer. She turned toward Catra with a nervous expression.

“Is" She started hesitantly. "Is this related to Adora’s accusation that you falsified data about being our friend?”

The pit of awfulness in her gut just became even deeper. Of fucking course Adora would get brought up into this. Even worse, Entrapta had to bring up a way that Adora was right about her.

Catra didn’t answer, instead, averting her gaze to the floor. What the fuck was she supposed to say? That even though she acted like their friend at times, it was to help convince them to work for her. To help convince Hordak and Shadow Weaver, that she was a better commander than she was given credit for!

Well, it was just part of it to be honest. Over time, the scientist’s presence had begun to grow on Catra. A part of her really liked having Entrapta around, but just admitting that felt like admitting a weakness. It was like admitting you depended on someone else. The feline never could bear to admit something like that.

“Did”. Entrapta started again, appearing to get the hint. “Did you come here to bring me back?”

And of course, she just had to make it worse. The feeling in her gut was now threatening to break her. There really wasn’t any good on lying here. Entrapta would figure it out eventually.

“No.” Catra responded. “I didn’t.” She was afraid to look back up at Entrapta for how she would look. It was another friend she let down. Another person she found a way to just stab in the-.

“Well, that's a relief.”

Catra looked up to see Entrapta brimming with a mixture of excitement and relief.

“You're not.. upset?” The feline asked.

“Upset? Are you kidding?” Entrapta started up again. “An island full of technological monstrosities, each more deadly the next. IT’S PARADISE!” To show her excitement, Entrapta flung her arms and pigtails into the air. “Coming here has done so much for my research. A rescue mission would have set me back so much time! I can contact Hordak once I’m finished!”

Catra wasn’t sure what to think about that. She was glad that Entrapta was being her typical self. So much in fact, that she was bold enough to claim that Adora was wrong, but Catra knew better. She couldn’t help but feel bad that she helped separat the scientist from even her good friends.

“Are you fine living on your own like this?” Catra asked. It was a fair question considering how much the feline herself struggled with being on her own. “What about Hordak, and Scorpia?”

At this, Entrapta’s expression saddened and she flipped her new mask down. “It’s.. no big deal.” She starts. “I’m having Emily fix the ship. Once that’s done and I complete my research we-.” She pauses for a moment, appearing hesitant to finish. “We can go back.”

Wait, where did she find a ship! It was then that Catra took a good look at her surroundings. There were green walls, as well as a conglomeration of computer terminals. With the far window pane, it looked an awful lot like-.

Wait a minute. Catra towards the window pane to get a good look outside, and she realized where she was.

Of course. The missing transport ship. No wonder it went missing, it never left Beast Island. She can’t help but feel fortunate for this turn of events. The disappearance helped to prevent her from making another huge mistake, and provided excellent shelter at the moment.

“I’m sorry about Emily by the way.” Entrapta said, causing Catra to turn back to her. “If it wasn’t for her, the ship wouldn’t have been damaged in the first place.”

Well, that answered her question as to what happened. She watched as Emily and Micah walked over to the scientist. The robot raised one of its legs to show comfort while Micah mirrored the expression with a hand.

“It’s alright.” He said. “I doubt they’ll need it anyway.”

Catra begins to make her way over to, but when Entrapta notices, she instead shrinks into herself. It makes Catra’s heart ache. After all, it was her fault Entrapta was in this mess in the first place.

“Entrapta.” As soon as Catra tries to approach her, Micah shoots her a look. It’s one with so much disdain and a clear message to back the fuck off. It might be for the best anyway considering her track record with friendships. So instead, she begins to wander the halls of the ship.

She doesn’t really pay attention to where she goes, she just walks on, letting her mind wander. Entrapta is alive, but because of Catra, the scientist was stranded here on Beast Island. She seemed to be alright, but Catra already knew just from her short time here how hard it was to survive.

Everything is starting to make sense now with how her Catra life has turned to shit. The reason she is alone isn't because of everyone else. Well, they did play a part in it, but the source of all her problems is none other than herself. People didn’t leave her because they thought she was pathetic, or that she wasn’t enough to them. It was because Catra was nothing more than a piece of shit. She was the lowest scum of all of Etheria, so low that she would be burning in the planet's core

She was starting to see the truth, one that Shadow Weaver and Adora saw a long time before she even did. Catra was in fact, just like Shadow Weaver. She can’t deny it now. She’s spent too long pushing those closest to her away, hurting those that gave her nothing but kindness.

Destruction. It’s all she ever seems to be good at. All she is an animal looking to sink its claws into its next victim, to sink her teeth into it and eat all of its flesh and then toss it aside once there is nothing left. Fuck, she already let it happen with Entrapta, and Scorpia. Adora seemed like the only smart one, getting away while she had the chance.

The more she thinks about it, the more she ponders why Adora actually left. While it still seems to have been at the prospect of a better life, the main drive behind those actions doesn’t seem accurate. Once it felt like Adora was making the cruel choice of abandoning Catra for the prospect of a clearly better life. Now, it feels like the blonde was smart to leave. Maybe she saw signs of what the feline truly was under the surface. Maybe, she wanted to get away, to find less volatile friends, before Catra could drag her down, and devour everything good about her as well. Honestly, Catra couldn’t blame her.

Catra is so ingrained in her thoughts, that she doesn’t notice the wall right in front of her. Shaking off the collision, she finds herself in one of the ship’s spare bedrooms. A wave of exhaustion sweeps over her, but now, she can’t decide if someone like her, even deserves a bed. Instead, she simply curls up in the corner of the room.

It feels like Hordak had found the perfect punishment for her. After all, what better place for a beast than Beast Island. At this point though, she felt more content to wither away than to live with her fellow animals.

“Hordak’s Second in command huh?”

Peeking up at the sound of the voice, she is met with Micah standing in the doorway with Emily peeking around the corner. A fierce look in his eyes told her just what he wanted to do. Maybe she could wither away faster than she originally thought.

“So what exactly was your plan? Trick me into getting you off the island, taking you back to Brightmoon so that you could destroy it from the inside?” He pauses to give Catra a moment to answer. While not the original plan, she has to admit, it would have been a rather good one.

When she doesn’t answer, he continues. “Well the only place you're going to in Brightmoon is a cell.” He said coldly as he walked toward her. “From there, I hope they give you the justice you deserve.” With that he turned to walk out.

It left Catra wallowing in confusion. He clearly wanted revenge, so why didn’t he take it? What was to gain from being the bigger man? He was just delaying the inevitable.

“You want revenge don’t you?”

The words stop Micah in his tracks. He turns around to face her once again. “Why are you-?”

She doesn’t give a chance to finish. “So what are you waiting for?” She asks. “Do it.”

Micah is clearly taken aback with her request. “You.. want to die?”

Catra gives a slight nod before going into an explanation. “My whole life, I just wanted to prove to people that I was more than just my best friend’s pet. I wanted to be someone respected, someone who got shit down. All I did was make everything so much fucking worse.”

All the anger seemed to drain away from Micah. His current expression was a mixture of pity and uncertainty.

Catra shrunk more into herself. “All I’m good for is destroying everything I touch.” It pains here to make her next admission, but after everything that happened, she felt willing to now. “Adora was right.” Catra had been fighting so hard to prove that wrong, because if it was true, then by extension, it meant something that she never ever EVER wanted to be true.

“Shadow Weaver was right.”

Tears were now streaming down Catra’s face. All her hard work, all that time she spent with the Horde, and all she did was make shit worse. It was all proven true with the admittance of one sentence. She pushed away her friends, extracting their usefulness until there was nothing left. There is no other fate that Catra deserves, than to wither away and die on this island.

“Shadow Weaver?” Catra looks back up at Micah to find him in a state of shock. “You.. knew her too?”

Catra is honestly surprised. “You know her?”

“I do.” Micah says, sitting down on the bed so that his side was now toward her. “A little too well to be honest. Before she even joined the Horde, she was a teacher at Mystacor named Light Spinner.” Catra lifted her head up somewhat from her position against the wall as Micah managed to snag her curiosity. “She’s the one that taught me magic.”

If Catra’s eyes could go any more wide, they would have formed a wall in front her. Micah not only knew Shadow Weaver, but learned from her?! “What was it like? Learning from her, I mean?” She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“It was a little frustrating at first.” Micah started again. “I was always eager to learn, but she always thought I should have patience. I shouldn’t rush things.” He paused. “But then she started to recognize my potential, even took me on for some special private lessons.”

Catra now had her gaze completely on Micah. So Shadow Weaver had treated him like another Adora. She couldn’t help but feel hurt by that. It made two people that the hag had treated like star studded pupils, compared to her, the pet that did nothing but fuck things up.

“But then, things changed.” Catra was now fully drawn back to Micah.

“What happened?” She asked.

“She tried to get Mystacor to take action in the war, but they weren’t having it. She was upset. She felt like after everything she did for Mystacor, the high mages would never trust her, that they just wanted to hold her back.” He paused for a moment, sighing. “Now though, I think I am beginning to understand that maybe she never warranted their trust to begin with. She tried to cast the spell of obtainment with my help. I didn’t realize until it was too late just how evil the spell was. She killed a number of mages, but.” He paused “She actually spared me.”

Catra wasn’t sure what to think now. She had just heard all she needed to further prove that Shadow Weaver was right about her. The sorceress's words from back when she was imprisoned in a fright zone cell coming back to her.

“Years had passed since then, and I never thought I’d see her. That is, until the rebellion went to liberate Halfmoon.” Micah’s gaze turned to the floor, as his expression changed. “She was the one leading the Horde forces.”

Catra’s eyes went wide. She should have known. She should have fucking known that Shadow Weaver was the one responsible! That bitch not only had the gall to make Catra’s life a living hell, but the guts to remove her from what was likely a place where she could have had a happy life. The worst part of it, if Catra hadn’t been sent here, she likely would have done the same thing if it came down to it.

“And then I made the worst mistake of my life.” Micah continued. “I tried to make her see the light. Next thing I know, I’m on a transport here.”

And there it was. The reason that she had ended up in the Horde in the first place. “You had a chance to stop her didn’t you?” She could feel the anger swelling up in her as she stood up. “You had a chance to stop her and you fucked it up didn’t you?”

As he took her words in, Micah couldn’t help but realize just how true they were. “I’m sorry.” He said, as he hung his head in shame.

Seeing Micah’s change in expression, suddenly made Catra back off. It gave her flashbacks to Scorpia and Entrapta. Even if it was warranted in a way, it still left her feeling empty inside. She knew just what damage her anger was capable of.

“I guess that’s how she got her hands on you huh?” Micah said, keeping his gaze on the floor.

“I guess so.” Catra said her own gaze shifting to the floor as he back slide down the wall. “And she continually made my life a living hell. My best friend was her golden pupil, and I was nothing by the lowly animal that was holding her back.” She curled up back where she had been. “She even said, I was just like her. And you know what? She was right.” Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. “All I ever wanted was for her to say I was good enough, that just one time I was better than Adora, but I guess we were both fools in that department.”

“I guess we were. Weren’t we?” Micah shifted his gaze back to Catra, with a mixture of both pity and shame. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. I wish I could have done more to prevent it.” He got up from his position on the bed and began to walk out.

“What are you doing?” Catra asked. “You know you’re just wasting time right? You already know what needs to happen.”

Micah paused for a moment by the door. He sighed. “No I don’t. I think that will be better determined at BrightMoon.” And with that, he walked out, leaving Catra alone in the room.

Well, not quite alone. Emily had rounded the corner from where she had originally been hiding and approached Catra. The feline looked up as she saw the bot approach her.

“What do you want?” She asked, attempting to sound bitter, but not really succeeding.

Emily made a series of aggressive sounding beeps. Catra was honestly taken aback by how angry she sounded.

“What? You threatening me?” She couldn’t help but chuckle darkly. “You think I wanna try and use her again? News flash you dumb bot. I don’t even think Entrapta would be dumb enough to fall for that one.”

Emily turned around and starts playing a video. The screen shows Catra interacting with Entrapta. It was a decision that Catra wished she would never have to relive.

“I don’t care what it takes.” She hears herself say. “We are opening that portal. NOW!”

Even now, Catra isn’t ready for what comes next. Entrapta tries to go warn Hordak, only for Catra to zap her. She tries to block out the words that come next, but they still manage to strike a blow to her heart.

“Put her on the transport to Beast Island!”

But just when she thinks she saw the worst part. The image on the screen turns around to address an off screen Scorpia.

“You wanna be next?!”

And that's when the tears begin to fall down Catra’s face. She is truly scared, because she can’t even recognize the thing that is on the screen. All she sees is a monster, driven by rage, that only knows how to destroy.

The screen fades, and Catra can hear Emily continue her tirade of angry beeps. It is likely supposed to be a threat against her if something like that happens again, but Catra practically toons it out, too focused on what she saw play in front of her. It was a choice she could honestly call one of her worst mistakes ever made.

“Get out.” She says in a low angry tone. Emily just takes a step back. Her beeps turn from angry sounding to nervous.

“I SAID GET OUT!” This time, Catra claws at Emily to make her point clear, leaving marks on her. This time, Emily scurries out of the room.

Catra just stands there for a moment, breathing heavily. Now that she is alone, her emotions finally catch up to her. She throws her headpiece over into a corner of the room with a scream. From there she simply bends down, and with her head in her hands on the floor, she cries.

Catra had thought that when Hordak had stripped her of her ranks that she had truly lost everything. Now, she realizes just how wrong she was. On top of losing her dream, she lost her family, friends, and everyone else she every cared about. The worst part. She knows now that there is no one else she can blame.

Because it is all her fault.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Micah wasn’t sure what he felt as he walked away. When he first heard of what Catra had done for the Horde, and how Angella was dead because of her, he wanted to see her dead. However, he wanted to wait. He wanted to take her back to Brightmoon and give her a fair trial. He wanted to enact fair justice instead of just doing it now for revenge. Just seeing how she looked put a stop to all that.

It became clear as day that the feline had been experiencing one particular emotion, one he was all too familiar with after his failure at Halfmoon. Guilt. Just like him, the feline seemed to wish so badly for things to play out in a more happier manner.

Had Catra really come to regret all the things she had done? Did she really feel like she deserved death after what she did, with no other outcome? Whatever the case, where Micah once felt that the former horde commander should meet her fate, he wasn’t sure an execution was the right idea anymore.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Catra wasn’t sure how much time had passed after she had fallen asleep, or why she even decided to get up. She figured she still had a fear of being alone and wanted to find someone, even if they didn’t want them around. She starts to walk again, headpiece held in her hand instead of on her head.

Eventually, she finds herself back on the ship’s command bridge. Entrapta is tinkering with Emily while Micah is looking out the window. She cautiously walks out into the room, fearful that someone would rather throw her head first off the ship.

Entrapta is the first to spot her. “Oh good! You're still here.” She seems excited, but Catra doesn’t miss the nervousness in her tone. “There’s one last portion of my research I’m still recording data on. I had visited a place on the island where a strong first one’s energy signature resided. Unfortunately, I was unable to retrieve much data. I was hoping.” She paused for a moment. “To go back to retrieve, m-more data. And... I could use help.”

Catra was honestly surprised that Entrapta still thought well enough of her to ask for her help. Hearing about the first one’s intrigued her. Was this whole island of first one’s creation? Maybe helping Entrapta would not only help make up for what she had done, but learn just what makes this island tick.

“Yea, sure.” She said. “What exactly are you researching?”

Instantly Entrapta went full on excited. “Oh. It’s one of the biggest secrets the First ones kept! It’s a superweapon called-.” Entrapta pauses, using her hair to grab Catra's shoulders. The feline could practically see the sparkle in the scientist’s eyes.

“The Heart of Etheria.”

Chapter Text

“We should be there any moment now.”

The group had been traveling for some time now, all squeezed into Entrapta’s newest creation. A large sentient bot made from parts on Beast Island. Catra didn’t remember what Entrapta said its name was.

She couldn’t help but be reminded of old times. It was like the time she had gone to the Northern Reach. They were going into uncharted dangerous territory in search of first one’s tech. The memory brings a smile to Catra's face. Even though she wouldn’t admit it, she actually used to enjoy these little excursions. The thought of them never happening again actually pained her.

She took a look over at where Micah was currently sitting. It had taken some convincing to get him to come along. He felt that venturing that close to the center of the island was asking for trouble. Catra had made the argument that maybe they could find something to help them get off the island. Eventually, Micah relented, and the group set off.

Catra couldn’t help but feel nervous at the prospect of what they would find. Entrapta had mentioned that she was collecting data on a first one’s super weapon. Just what would they learn about it when they arrived? Would they find the weapon itself or a way to control it? Just the thought of it made Catra’s mind wander. A weapon like that could give Catra the power to do anything. She could defeat the Rebellion singlehandedly. She could go back to the Fright zone and take out Hordak, getting control of the Horde like she wanted. She could-.

Catra shook her head. Just entertaining that line of thought now after everything that happened felt so wrong. Such a long time of destruction had wrought away at her core. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but going back down that path didn't feel like a option anymore.

Then there was Micah. The man in question looked back at Catra with a stern unreadable look. After a moment, he shifts his gaze back in front of them. Their relationship had entered an awkward phase after their discussion on board the ship. Despite the lack of anger now on Micah’s part, Catra couldn’t help but feel like she had gone and fucked up something else that was good for her.

Catra was thrown from her thoughts quite literally as Entrapta brought the mech to a stop. Looking outside, she could now see a strange structure in front of them.

“We’re here.” The scientist said with excitement. The bot opened up and the trio climbed out, allowing Catra to get a good look at the structure. It looked similar in appearance to the first one’s structure in the whispering woods. Could this be another ruin?

Catra brought her hands to her ears as the signal rang out again. It was louder than any of the other times she heard it. Her nerves were instantly heightened when she heard the sound of her own distorted laughter.

“Entrapta.” Catra started to say. “I hope you know where you're going because that signal is stronger than normal here.”

“I hate to admit it, but she’s right.” Micah said. “It’s not a good idea to be here. No one comes back from this part of the island.”

“Don’t worry about the signal.” Entrapta responded. “It’ll get better once we’re inside.”

“Inside where?” There was no door or passageway in sight. If she didn’t feel so deserving of it, she would have yelled at Entrapta for leading them into a death trap. The scientist in question however, ducked behind the underbrush, only to pull it back to, in fact, reveal a hidden passageway.

The group walked on, and eventually walked into a much bigger room with a central terminal. Catra couldn’t help but again compare this to the structure in the whispering woods. Was this a first one’s ruin? Did that mean that this whole island was of first one’s origin?

“I was here before.” Entrapta started again. “But unfortunately, I couldn’t acquire much data before the local fauna drove me off. You have no idea how much I wanted to come back here.” She began running over to the terminal. “The first ones tried hiding their secrets by dumping them on Beast Island. The answers I’ve been looking for. They’re all here.”

So basically a trash dump huh. Catra couldn’t help but feel disgusted at the prospect. And it became one for the Horde too.

Entrapta began to interact with the terminal. Multiple screens appeared, as the main computer powered up. The main screen only showed a streamline of data in the first one’s language.

“It’s all making sense now.” Entrapta continued on as she worked with the computer terminal. “I knew the first ones had retrofitted the planet with tech, but I just didn’t know why. They were actually mining the planet for its magic, using it to power their weapon. The Heart of Etheria!!”

“So it just runs on Magic?” Entrapta, for one of the few times in their relationship, actually had Catra intrigued. She actually wanted to know more. “How would you get it to work then? What even turns it on?”

“It’s powered by the combined magic of the princesses and their ruin stones.” Entrapta continued on. Catra couldn’t help but feel the anger coming on again at just the mention of them. “They’re all a part of it. Here. Let me show you.”

As Entrapta interacted with the terminal again, a circular image to appear on the main screen. Five mysterious symbols surrounded it on all sides. Catra figured that each symbol likely refers to a princess's runestone. She can’t help but check each one individually. There is the black garnet, as well as one for each princess in the rebellion with powers. The discovery makes her curious. Was Hordak lying when he said she was a princess? Then again, Entrapta is a princess without a runestone. If it was the truth, it could be possible that she doesn't have one.

“The heart draws its power from the magic of the princesses.” Entrapta started, pulling herself up with her hair for a better view of the screen. “It needs all of the runestones activated for it to work.” It was then that a new image appeared in the center of the circle. One Catra was far too familiar with. “And Shera is the most important piece. The key. She channels the weapon's power, and focuses it.”

Of fucking course. It just had to be all about Shera. Now she had her own superweapon to wipe out the Horde with. She would get worshiped even fucking harder than she currently was.

A screen behind her began to show footage. There were people handing a sword, Shera’s sword, to an individual before her body lit up with first one’s symbols. She recognized the individual from the hologram Adora watched out on the ship in the Crimson Wastes. The process she was undergoing seemed painful as her skin and eyes lit up. Catra almost felt bad for her.

“Shera is the only being strong enough to withstand the destructive power of the heart.” Entrapta continued. “So the first ones created the sword to control her. To use her.” Catra pauses for a moment as Entrapta’s words sink in. It seems Adora just went from one controlling system to another. “When the Heart is deployed, Shera will raise the sword, AND FIRE IT!”

So the first one’s aren’t that different from the Horde, huh? Catra could see it now. Adora activates the heart, only to find out the truth, and then try to stop whatever the first one’s true plans were.

“So let’s say Adora tries to activate it then.” Catra started, interested in seeing just what would happen if the weapon was activated. “It uses the runestones and just,.. what fires some energy blast, explodes?“ She could try to gain control of it herself, but she is not really sure what she would want to do with that power.

“No one could control it.” Entrapta responded. “Not even the first one’s could. That’s why they left.” Catra really didn’t really like how that answer made her feel. Was there no way to stop this thing if it went off? “Adora is the only person capable of handling all that energy. When the heart activates it will channel all of its power into her. Even if she wanted to, she doesn’t get to refuse.”

The blood in Catra’s veins turned ice cold. Adora didn’t have a choice in the matter? She didn’t even get a chance to be the hero?

Why should I care? Her anger prodded. She’s the one who left. She’ll turn it on and wish she wasn’t so perfect for once.

A different side of her however, pushes away that anger with something truly terrifying. Does she even get control over activating it? Was it even her choice to leave? It now feels like a really good question, considering what she just learned. It makes her pause. Was I mad at Adora for something she had no control over? She’s not sure she wants to know the answer.

“Wait a minute”. Micah said, bringing Catra out of her head. He pointed at the symbol with all the runestones. “Why is one blinking red? Does that mean it’s offline?”

Catra looked back at the screen. There was indeed one link that was blinking red.

“Yes Actually.” Entrapta responded. “There is no one connect to the Black garnet right now, so it is currently offline.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Micah continued. “Shadow Weaver had a connection with the black garnet. Why would it be-?”

“Actually.” Micah looked over to Catra as she spoke. “She’s not with the horde anymore.” She didn’t even want to think about what she was going to admit. It just helped dig up bad memories.

“What do you mean she’s not with the Horde?” Micah asked. “Where else would she-?”

“She’s with the rebellion.” Catra responded, earning a wide eyed look from Micah. “Hordak imprisoned her. She tricked me into setting her free. Believe it or not, she’s actually helping them, as crazy as it sounds.”

Micah takes a moment to let what he just heard. Then finally he speaks. “We need to get back to Brightmoon.” He says. “We can warn them about this. Then we can find out whatever Shadow Weaver is doing and put a stop to it.”

“Not happening.” Catra states. “I don’t care what could happen, I am not setting one foot near Shadow Weaver, or any of the princesses for that matter.”

“If Shadow Weaver even knows about this, it could be bad.” Micah responded. “We should hurry back and warn them.”

Catra just continued to glare at him and growled. The princesses were the last thing in the world that she wanted to deal with right now, Shadow Weaver problems or not.

“Look, you don't have worry about what happens. If things end up getting bad I can help you out.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Catra had to take a minute and see if Micah had his head screwed on straight. Things were guaranteed to be bad. She was someone who had killed the queen of Brightmoon, and spent so much time hurting all the princesses. It would be so much better to waste away here than to go back and face them.

“Maybe you forgot what you said earlier.” Catra continued. “If I so much as take one foot inside BrightMoon, I’ll get my head chopped off. The princesses will want to kill the beast that terrorized their home.”

“I know things like this can be scary,” Micah said. “but if there is something going on, we need to warn them. We can help each other out until then.”

“What makes you think I want your help?” Catra continued to argue. “What even happened to wanting justice? To kill the monster that hurt your family? Besides I know the princesses hate me. There's nothing for me there, so why should I go back?”

“I don’t know if I believe that.”

Micah’s response had caught Catra completely off guard. She was a monster. Why would he think she could find something in Brightmoon?

“Look,” Micah continued. “I never said justice shouldn’t be served, but sometimes the obvious decision isn't the right one. There could be more complex parts to the problem. For now, we need to get back to Brightmoon. Everyone there needs to know what dangers this could possess. Please.”

Catra wanted to argue back, to say anything that would change his mind and not bring her anywhere near those stupid princesses. Something about how he looks at her though, makes it feel wrong to say no to him. She didn’t even know how to explain it. That strange way that Micah seemed familiar to her was making the choice harder then it should have been. He felt like someone she could trust, someone who was important to her, someone she shouldn’t let down. Even now, the pleading look he had gave her a sense of displeasure and tied her stomach up in knots.

It reminded her of her times in the Horde, when Adora would give a similar look in the Horde. The blonde would end up pouting as a final attempt to get Catra to do something with her that the feline considered rather dumb. More often than not, the guilt trip would work. Catra would end up enjoying her time with Adora though, not that she would ever admit it.

“Fine.” Catra says, eventually relenting. “But don’t expect much once they get their grubby little hands on me.”

“Thank you.” Micah says with a smile. It felt like one of the most heart warming things she had ever seen. For once, Catra doesn’t feel like such a fuckup.

The two turn to make their way outside. After a moment though, Catra realizes that Entrapta is not walking with them. She turns back towards the scientist.

"You coming Entrapta?"

“No thanks, I'll be staying here.” Entrapta responds, much to Catra's confusion. “I can have Emily and Lisa fix up the boat to get you back.”

“What the hell are you talking about?" The scientist only ignored her, keeping her focus on the screen in front of her.

“This place is filled with so much information.” Entrapta instead says. Only thing is, it only helps to set Catra on edge.

That’s when she sees it. Vines from the edges of the temple making their way down toward Entrapta. Catra’s eyes go wide with horror, and it is then that signal starts up again. This time, it is slow loud she can barely hear anything else. She has to hold her ears to block it out. The voice of her corrupted self begins to scream in her ear.

Congratulations. You got your friends back just to drag them to their deaths.

No. This can’t be happening. She is struggling to maintain her sanity, when she manages to catch the site of Entrapta. The vines are now slithering around her feet. No. I’m not letting her die. With enough sheer willpower, she somehow manages to shake off the signal and make her way over toward the scientist.

“Everything back there was just so,.. confusing.” She hears the scientist say, causing her to slow to a stop. “With you, Hordak, and the princesses. I wasn’t cut out for friendship.” Entrpata began to turn around. “I belong here.”

Catra had never felt so scared in her life when Entrapta turned around. The scientist’s eyes appear completely devoid of life as the vines come down to ensnare her.

“No, No, NO!” She has to do something. She can’t just sit here and do nothing. She can’t be the reason that a good friend of hers perishes, so she runs forward and cuts the vines with her claws. She even frantically kicks one to the side as it tries to attack her like a snake. Eventually, the scientist is cut free, and the two begin to make their way out.

The two safely make their way outside, where they meet up with Micah. Catra’s level of fear soars even higher, when she sees that there are a plethora of pookas cutting off their path toward Entrapta’s mech.

“Fuck.” Catra exclaimed. Micah is doing his best to fight them off, but they just keep coming. Catra would help if she wasn’t holding Entrapta. So instead, they take the ridge they are forced to run on. Just when Catra thinks they can make some ground, Entrapta tries to push herself away.

“Entrapta, cut it out.” Catra retorts. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

“Just let me be.”

Just hearing those words come out of the scientists mouth pains Catra. Entrapta is in pain and wants nothing to do with Catra. It’s all because of the feline’s role in sending her here. Something that could have Catra could have avoided doing if she had simply let go of her damn pride regarding the portal. But of course, she just had to go and fuck things up.

All of a sudden, Catra bumps into Micah, dropping Entrapta in the process. Looking up to see what’s wrong, brings her a terrifyingly new revelation. They’re surrounded. Both sides of the ridge are cut off, with nowhere to go. That leaves only one option in hopes of survival.

Catra looks down to see Entraptra out cold, and Micah in front of her with a spell ready to go.

“I can handle this side.” He says.

Catra gives him a nod, then turns to face the group behind them. She was determined to keep her friends out of danger.

“Fine. You want a monster?” She says, extending her claws. “You got yourself a monster.”

With that, the pookas launch at her. Catra meets them head on. She swats some away, while others she slices up with her claws. All of it is done with about as much anger as when she fought for the Horde. This time though, something feels different about it.

On the other side, Micah uses a flamethrower spell to push the pookas back. All seems to be going well, until one is able to bite him on the leg. He screams out in pain, but manages to yank the thing off and toss it aside. Although, Catra’s attention has now shifted to him.

“Micah!” She yells, running over to him. He is down on one knee. There is now a discernible bite mark on his leg.

“I’m good.” Micah says back. “Worry about her.” He uses his hand to point to where Entrapta lays motionless on the ground. Two pookas are sitting on top of her

Catra quickly goes over and swats them off with her claws. Once she is sure no other ones are close enough, she picks up Entrapta’s body and retreats back to Micah.

The pookas now have them pinned in on the ridge with no way out. Both sides of the ridge are surrounded. Catra sets down Entrapta once again, and readies her claws. She’s preparing to have the biggest fight of her life.

All of a sudden, one of the bigger lizard-like creatures rises up and looms over them. It retracts its protective guard and roars.

Oh for fuck's sake. This was really starting to turn into one of the worst days of her life.

The giant lizard then proceeds to slam into the ridge. The ground gives way, causing the trio to tumble off. Catra is quick to catch Entrapta before the two collide with the ground below.

Micah is just able to raise a shield in time to block one of the lizards from smashing them. Catra however, noticed he was struggling to keep it up. Her attention was drawn to the bite mark on his leg, raising her concern. Was it poisonous?

Her attention shifted back to Entrapta when she heard the scientist stir. Her eyes still look just as dead as the island’s vines wrap around her. All the while, she is just sitting there, intent on letting it happen.

“Cmon Entrapta.” Catra says to her. “Snap out of it. If the island is affecting you, we won’t be able to get off.”

“No, you don’t understand.” The scientist responded. Catra was about to argue, but she continued on. “That’s ok. No one understands me. I tried to be a good friend, but I don’t understand that either.”

“Entrapta.” Catra didn’t know what to say to the scientist. She was admitting that she did not really have a great life. Entrapta is now beginning to remind Catra of herself.

“Besides.” Entrapta continued on. “Everyone always leaves me behind, so why should it be any different now.” She paused, then looked up at Catra with what the feline could call the saddest expression she has ever worn.

“Even you left me.”

Catra’s eyes went wide. Fuck, she really had left Entraptra didn’t she. All this time, she never realized that she had done to Entrapta what others had done to her. She had just convinced herself that Entrapta was choosing to leave her. Just the thought of it made her blood turn ice cold. It was right then that Catra decided that things should change. Maybe this could be a change to help for once instead of hurt.

What? You really think you can save her? You?! Since when are you good at saving people?

The voice was right. Catra wasn’t good at saving people, but for once she, didn’t want to be another reason someone would meet their doom. Even if this was their last moments, she didn’t want to be the same person the scientist had previously known. She wanted to end things on a high note.

“I get it.” Catra said back. “Everyone always leaves me too. I always thought that they had a problem with me, but maybe it was me.” She paused to take an unsteady breath. “Maybe I just don’t understand how to be a good friend.”

Entrapta seemed to have her attention now. The scientist seemed fully engrossed in the feline’s words, waiting for her to continue.

“Entrapta I—”. Catra paused. She had personally sworn off saying that word for how weak it made her sound. Just wanting to say it woke up those voices in her head. The ones that warned her against being vulnerable. Now though, it felt like the only right word to say. So despite what those voices said, she pressed on.

“I’m sorry.” Catra finnally managed to say. “If it means anything, I may have been bad at showing it, but I always saw you as a friend.”

“You.. saw me as a friend?” Entrapta questioned now perking up. Her voice sounded hopeful now.

“Yea.” Catra responded. “I did.”

A loud yell from Micah drew her attention. He had now fallen to his knees. The forcefield he had made was beginning to fade from the large lizard creature’s repeated attempts to smash it. This was the end, wasn’t it?

“You know” Catra started. “Maybe if I wasn’t the worst person ever things could have been different. Maybe the rebellion would let us live happily in Brightmoon. Maybe they could let you work with all the First One’s tech from that ruin you could get your hands on. Maybe we could have all been friends.

“All the tech I could get my hands on?!” Catra was shaken out of the moment by the returned excitement in Entrapta’s voice. She covered her ears when Entrapta screeched. “That would mean so much for my research. Do you think they would still let us?”

It was then that Micah’s strength gave out and the forcefield faded. “Hate to break it to ya.” Catra siad, turning her attention back to the monsters they were running from. “But we have quite a few monsters preventing us from doing that.” She went over to Micah and dragged him backward.

Once again, Catra suspected that this would be the end. All hope of surviving seemed to be lost, but at least she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She readied herself in a fighting stance, but it was then that Entraptra whistled.

All of a sudden, Lisa dropped in and roared at the beasts in front of them. Even Catra had to admit, she was rather impressed. Lisa charged the large lizards and began her attack, using her hands to wrestle them to the ground and toss them away.

After snapping herself back to reality, Catra went over to Micah. He was now down on his hands and knees. Catra did her best to help him to his feet, but even she was struggling to guide him along.

“Entrapta.” Catra said. “Hate to break it to ya, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to make it at this rate by just walking. Do you think your bot- err, Lisa could help out?”

“Right. I suppose that would allow us to make good time escaping." The scientist said, before waving down Lisa, who had now had the creatures at bay. She ran over to the trio, and opened up her cockpit. Entrapta hoped in, and helped Catra lift up Micah. Once they were all safely inside, Lisa tore off, heading in the direction of the transport ship.

“You were amazing back there.” Entraptra said to Lisa, giving her cockpit platting a pat. “Thanks girl.” Lisa responded with what sounded like an affectionate low growl. Catra couldn’t help but think of the times that Entrapta had thanked her for performing a random task. Catra wished she could have done more than just brush her off.

Inside of Lisa, they waste no time getting back to the transport ship. With creatures in hot pursuit though, there is no time to lose. Entrapta tells them she could work to override the terminals in the command bridge to start up the engines, so long has Emily has finished up with repairs.

Upon rushing inside, they set Micah down against a wall in the bridge and go to check on Emily. The bot's work on the engines had just recently finished, so Entrapta goes over to the control terminal. From there, she removes a lower panel, and goes to work rewiring it.

Unfortunately, the process is taking time. With a thousand deadly creatures on their way, they need to act quickly. Catra doesn’t doubt that Lisa is strong enough to handle the beasts of the island, but even she wouldn’t be able to hold them off forever.

It’s then that Catra gets an idea. Fighting the beasts might not be the only things that Lisa was strong enough for.

“Entrapta?” Catra says turning to the scientist. “Do you think that your b… that Lisa might be able to push us off the beach?”

“Lisa could do that in no time at all." Entrapta responds, not even looking up from her work. "She is built with some of the strongest metals that I was able to find. Both from the ship and from the island.”

"Uh." There is a moment where Catra is afraid she may have removed something important. Entrapta seems to pick on this and interrupts before Catra can speak up.

“Don’t worry.” Entrapta says. “I only took off plating from some of the bots below deck. The ship shouldn’t have any problems once we are in the water.”

“There were more bots downstairs?!” Entrapta doesn’t get a chance to answer Catra’s question as she takes a moment to poke her head out a window to give instructions to Lisa.

Peering out the window in the bridge, Catra finds Lisa moving over to the beached section of the boat. The bot positions herself at the front of the boat so that her rear feet are on the island. From there, it starts to push the boat. The resulting motion makes Catra lose her balance, and she has to grab onto the nearby railing to avoid falling over.

When she’s back on her feet, she can see pookas emerging from the forest.

“Entrapta.” Catra says, once she’s down with the scientist on the main deck. “Do you think we can hurry this up? There are a large number of pookas about to jump us.”

“This is a process that is really hard to speed up Catra.” Entrapta responds. “This takes a lot of focus, and one wrong move could cause a major setback, or even worse-.”

“Yea, do whatever needs to happen. Just hurry.” Catra interrupts as she begins to head outside. “I"m going outside to lend a hand.”

Catra scurries outside, hoping to reach Lisa in time to help to fend off any attackers. All the while, the pookas are getting closer and closer. When she gets there, a couple have already managed to climb onto Lisa. forcing her to stop and attempt to force them off.

Extending her claws, Catra starts by swinging at the pookas biting down on Lisa’s hull plating. Once they’re gone, she turns back to Lisa, balancing on her back.

“Keep pushing the boat.” Catra says. “I’ll keep them off of you.”

Lisa responds by holding a thumbs up, and returning to work.

Catra shifts her attention back to the pookas in front of her. Planting her legs on Lisa’s back, she focuses her attacks mainly on pushing them back, wanting to keep them off of Lisa so that the bot’s work can be done uninterrupted.

Eventually, a few manage to overwhelm her, knocking her down to the ground. Just as she is getting back up, they are all on her. Catra tries her best to shake them off, but it’s to no avail.

It’s then, that she sees Lisa manage to push the boat free. As much as Catra is afraid of being left behind, she becomes overwhelmed with a sense of.. well she is not really sure what. Regret? Sorrow? Peace? Staying here strangely feels like the better option. They get to go back to normal life. They shouldn't have to bring along the bad friend. Beside, who knew just what she would fuck up if she ended up going with them.

I'm so sorry. She thinks as the fight drains out of her. Just when it seems like it's all over, all the pookas are suddenly swept aside. Catra looks up to see Lisa looming above her. Before Catra has a chance to move, she gets swept up in the bot’s hand and placed inside her cockpit. Lisa then turns to face the boat, now a small ways out in the water.

“Not that I don’t trust you.” Catra says. “But are you capable of actually making it there and not sinking straight to the bottom?”

Her response sounds like a disappointed grunt. Afterwards, Lisa proceeds to run into the water. Catra just closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable. When she opens them though, Lisa is, in fact, staying afloat. Catra is honestly impressed. The moment she feels woozy though she closes her eyes and steadies herself.

Lisa shakes for a short while, the whole time Catra keeps her eyes closed, taking some steadying breaths to prevent herself from getting sick. All of a sudden, Catra can feel her rise up in the air. Opening her eyes, she finds Lisa climbing up onto the boat, causing it to teeter somewhat in the process. Regardless, the bot is able to safely pull itself up onto the ship with no problems. Only then is the bot’s cockpit opened so that Catra can jump down.

Catra steps forward to the front side of the boat, as Lisa goes to meet up with Entrapta. As she watches the island slowly begin to shrink, she can’t help get excited. She actually did the impossible. She had braved all odds and actually escaped Beast Island. She can finally go home.

The excitement soon fades as a new question begins to arise.

Where exactly was home?

Chapter Text

Catra joins Entrapta as they head inside the ship. Recent events have left the feline quite unsure about how to feel. Escaping Beast Island is the equivalent of achieving the impossible, but all she can think about is how there is nowhere to go.

Sure, she agreed to go with Micah to Brightmoon, but was that really the best idea? Ditching him was always an option. The moment they got back to the mainland, she could just go on her own path. Fuck them right? They weren’t anything to be concerned about. The moment they got back to BrightMoon, she could just leave and go on her own path.

When Catra reached the bridge, her focus shifted to Entrapta, who was now kneeling down to observe Micah. Right, Micah. Somehow, just the thought of letting him down made her sick. It made no sense to her why she felt this way. Disappointing Shadow Weaver simply made her angry. That was because most of the reasons she got yelled at for were complete bullshit. Micah on the other hand, disappointing him felt like disappointing Adora.

She couldn’t help but recall those moments in the Horde where she would be angry enough to lash out at something or someone. The blonde would look so sad in those moments that any rage that Catra had would be snuffed out. Those days would either end up with the two sleeping in their separate bunks, or by talking it out and Catra repairing the damaged she caused. More often than not, Catra’s pride would cause the former to happen.

Catra shook her head. This wasn’t the time to get lost in the past. Instead, she went over to join her companions. Entrapta was knelt down at Micah’s side, using her hair to observe the bite mark on his leg. Micah looked to be awake, but his breathing seemed unsteady.

“How is he?” Catra asked.

“Well.” Entrapta started. “He seems to be in a considerably weakened state. It’s hard to tell without the proper tools, but he appears to be poisoned.”

The words make Catra freeze. He had been poisoned? Just from the look of it, he didn’t seem too good.

“He’s not going to die, is he?” Catra asked. No he couldn’t die, could he? A part of Catra pondered why she cared so much for him. She tried to tell herself it was just because she owed him a trip back to BrightMoon, but it wasn’t quite that simple.

“It’s hard to properly say with the proper tools.” Entrapta said. “But he does not appear to be suffering from anything fatal. From the state he is in, it appears to just have weakened his muscles.”

That was a relief at least. He wouldn’t die unlucky from some stupid bite. Come to think of it though, didn’t she get bitten as well on her first day here? She wasn’t in danger of dying was she?

“Hey Entrapta?” Catra asked. “I ended up getting bit by one of those things about a week or so ago and I was fine. How come I didn’t get poisoned?”

“Hmm” Entrapta sat in thought, bringing a hand to her chin. “This is most peculiar. Were there any differences between the one that bit you and the one that bit him?”

Catra took a moment to think. “Well, the one that bit me certainly was smaller.”

“Interesting.” Entrapta siad. “It appears that that ability might only be a trait in fully grown ones.”

“And that means?” Catra asked, a little annoyed with Entrapta’s usual tendency to talk with big scientific words.

“Oh sorry.” Entrapta responded. “I forgot you like to use the small words.” Entrapta paused for a moment so that she could phrase her wording. “Only the adults are capable of injecting venom.”

“Oh.” Shit. If that was the case, it meant that Catra truly got lucky on her first day on the island. If she had encountered adult pookas that day, it was very possible that things could have gone so much worse straight from getgo.

“Yea.” Entraptra continued. “It is likely that younger pookas either haven’t learned how to produce venom, or have not developed the glands to produce it yet. So if you got bit by a smaller one, I wouldn’t worry.”

“Thanks.” Catra responded. Although, she hardly felt any better. Catra gets up and walks over towards the window. She simply leans on the railing, letting herself look out onto the great expanse of ocean. Normally, doing something like this would make her feel sick, but being in a position so far away from the water seems to help.

“Can I question you about something?” Catra turns to find that Entrapta has now walked up beside her. The scientist appears curious, but nervous. It made Catra equally nervous about what she could possibly want to talk about.

“Sure.” Catra responded. “What is it?”

“Before the portal,” Entrapta started. “There was something Adora claimed about why I got left behind.” Catra almost winces at the mention of Adora’s name. “She mentioned the reason that I was left behind in the Fright Zone back then, was because they thought I was dead. She also said that you likely made up whatever you told me”

Catra should have known that this would have been something about Adora. In all honesty, she’s not sure how to feel for her former best friend after everything that has happened. Some resentment was still there, but now Catra wondered if any of it was warranted. Before she could go down that particular rabbithole, she shifted her train of thought back to Entrapta.

“I don’t get it.” Catra siad. “Why exactly would they think you’re dead? They ran out of the Fright Zone and you got left behind? You do the math.”

“Well, come to think of it.” Entraptra responded. “There was one variable that I hadn’t previously taken into account.”

Now Catra was just confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, on the way out, we made our way through the purging chambers. Emily got caught in the last one trying to hack open the door. I tried to help her but the door closed on us.”

“WAIT WHAT?!” Catra was in disbelief. “You got caught in the purging chambers?! How in the flying fuck are you still alive?!”

“Well it was simple really.” Entrapra responded in a much more chipper sounding voice. “Emily opened up her storage compartment for me to fit in. To be honest though, it likely wasn’t necessary. The positioning of the flames would have allowed for someone to simply step out of the way and survive with only minor burns. After that, we just traversed the vent system until you and Scorpia found us.”

Catra wasn’t quite sure what part of that statement stood out more. That Entrapta got stuck in the purging chambers, that said chambers actually suck at killing people, or that Horde bots had storage compartments. That last part she likely could have learned if she had attended force captain orientation. Regardless, it didn’t change the fact that Catra had made a decision that had hurt Entrapta. To be honest, Entrapta had been correct about the feline’s reasoning in the movement, but it meant nothing it her reasoning had not been correct.

“I’m sorry.” Catra said. “After Adora left, I just jumped to conclusions when I found you. Knowing all those lovable idiots, it doesn’t make sense that they would leave you behind intentionally. If Adora knew, she likely would have stormed right back into the fright zone herself to grab you.”

Catra couldn’t help but feel old resentment resurfacing. Even if her viewpoint has changed regarding Adora, she still can’t stand the thought of Adora running in and being the hero.

“I suppose you’re right.” Entrapta responded. “The other princesses haven’t given any logical evidence to being the type to just abandon friends. It makes logical sense that they thought that I had perished in the purging chambers. I likely would have made a similar conclusion if I had been them.”

Entrapta pauses for a moment and just stares. Catra remembers the look the scientist has from when she used to be deep in thought.

“Yes. That makes perfect sense.” She says, excitement returning to her voice. “Adora was wrong after all.”

Catra just sits in stunned confusion for a moment. She had never heard the words Adora and wrong used in the same sentence. She wasn’t sure that she ever would again.

“Based on the data you had,” Entrapta continues. “You came up with the hypotheses that the other princesses were not sufficient friends. Because of that, you thought that you could be a better one. All of the data was correct.”

“Woah.” Catra responded. “What data are you talking about?”

Entraptra turned to Catra, her hair and hands grabbing at the feline’s shoulders. “The data says that you’re my friend, and data never lies.”

Catra eyes go wide. A friend? Entrapta had honestly thought that Catra was a friend? Catra was too stunned to even think. Why would Entrapta even think that she was a friend? She was the soul reason for all the pain the scientist was going through.

“A friend. Sure.” Catra said, shifting her gaze to the floor. “A really bad friend.” Bad didn’t even begin to describe it. She was an awful friend.

Entrapta frowned. “Well, you have done some things that are not typical for normal friendships. Although, signs show that you were under the influence of trauma and harsh experiences. It is likely that you had intended to do something good, but feel victim to the emotions that came up as a result.”

Catra wasn’t sure what to think about Entrapta's response. Entrapta had just diagnosed a reason for her awful behavior and seemed completely fine with it. It wasn’t even a good excuse for how she acted.

“But, even if things weren’t always good.” Entrapta continues, looking at Catra with a huge smile. “I’m glad we’re friends.”

What?! Catra honestly couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Entrapta actually liked being friends with her. Her! The bad friend! The monster!

”Y-You do?” Catra asked.”

The scientist’s smile only seems to get bigger. ”Yea. I do.”

“Even after everything?” Catra asked again, now feeling tears begin to come to her eyes.

Entrapta simply nodded this time. As a further surprise, she comes forward and hugs her, wrapping both her arms and pigtails snuggly around the feline. Catra is stunned at first, unsure how to react. It’s the first time in a long while that anyone had actually hugged her. After everything that happened, this just felt so unbelievable to Catra. Her first reaction is to run, to listen, to those little voices in her head that warn her that this could be a trap. After a moment though, she finds the voices fading into the wind, and her arms coming up to return the embrace. For a short while, everything else is entirely forgotten about. Catra was just sharing warmth with a friend. She can’t help but feel all warm and bubbly inside

”I’m glad we’re friends too.”

After a short period of time, Entrapta is the first to back away.

“I didn’t mess up did I?” The scientist asked. “I didn’t really have a good chance to study these things before I came to Beast Island. If I did anything wrong I could make notes for-.”

“It’s fine, Entrapta.” Catra interrupts. “It actually wasn’t half bad.” And she actually means it. If anything, she feels regretful just for interrupting a study that could have helped do wonders for the scientist.

“Thank you.” The scientist said smiling, before turning to walk away. There was one more thing though that Catra really needed to get off her chest.

“Entrapta.” She said, getting the scientist to stop and look back. “I really meant what I said before.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “I’m so sorry… for everything. ”

Entrapta smiled once again, before walking back toward the feline. With one of her tool pigtails, she gave Catra a pat on the head, and said three words that she never thought she would ever hear.

“I forgive you.”

This time, Catra can’t help the tears that come to her eyes. She actually finds herself smiling. Entrapta had actually forgiven her, Maybe not all hope was lost. Maybe there was still a chance that better things could happen. After all, if Entrapta forgave her, what else was possible to happen?

‘Well,” Entrapta said. “We should probably move your friend to a room, he’d likely rest better if he slept in a bed instead of on the floor out here. Do you mind giving me a hand?”

Catra looked over to where Micah was against the wall. He looked to be awake now, but he had barely moved from the position he had previously been laying in.

“Sure, no problem.” Catra responded. With that, the two walked over to help Micah up. Upon closer inspection, Micah didn’t appear to be in any discomfort. He just appeared to be exhausted. Whether that was from the pooka venom, or the day's events, she wasn’t quite sure.

“Hey.” Catra said. “Are you feeling ok?”

“Well,” Micah responded. “Considering my day has consisted of running from huge scary monsters. I’d say I’m doing pretty good.”

Catra couldn’t help but chuckle. “How well can you walk?” She asked. “We figured you would be more comfortable in one of the ship’s actual beds.”

Micah took his staff and tried to push himself up, but ultimately stumbled and fell back down. Catra was just able to catch him before he hit the floor.

“Hey!” Catra yelled. “Don’t just stand up if you can’t do it!” Catra could feel some old resentment bubbling to the surface. Despite her concern, she wasn’t about to let this guy go around thinking he was more powerful than some creature venom.

“Sorry about that.” Micah responded. Catra’s anger faded as she was caught off guard. She expected Micah to deflect responsibility like Adora would. She wasn’t expecting him to just own up to doing something that would potentially hurt himself.

“Just.. be careful alright.” Catra said. “I don’t think anyone wants to see you get hurt because you were stupid.”

“I’m glad you’re looking out for me then.”

“Yea, whatever.” Catra replied, attempting to avert her gaze to hide a light blush.

Catra and Entrapta gradually helped Micah to his feet. From there, they roamed the ship until they came across one of the spare bedrooms. Once inside, they had him lie down on the bed, propping his back up against the wall.

“Thanks.” Micah says, once he is laid down properly.

“Don’t mention it.” Catra responds.

“It might be helpful if he could eat something.” Entrapta says. “Emily found some rations below deck in a storage room. I could bring some up and have a meal made for us.”

The thought of food makes Catra’s stomach growl. She brings a hand down to her abdomen, smiling. “Yea, thanks.” And with that, Entrapta leaves the room, leaving the feline alone with Micah. Even after Entrapta leaves, she still has a smile on her face. She actually feels happy that things turned out for the better with the scientist.

“You too seem close now.” Micah says from on the bed, causing Catra to turn to face him.

“Yea, somehow.” Catra responds. “What’s it to you?”

“It just seems like you want to make up with her.” Micah said in response. “I think you and my daughter would have made great friends.”

“Are you kidding me?” Catra can’t help but feel repulsed by the idea. Even though they were going back to Brightmoon, she still couldn’t find it in herself to like the princesses. “Last time I checked your daughter hates me. What even makes you think I would want to be friends with her anyway?”

“I’m not sure what you want honestly.” Micah says. “But I know you wouldn’t want your friends to get hurt, otherwise you wouldn’t have done what you did.”

Catra is taken aback by that. She wants to do anything to argue back, but he’s right. She would rather not have her friends get hurt. It’s one of the many reasons that she felt so much guilt over Entrapta in the first place.

“Tell you what.” Micah says. “Why don’t we make a deal? If you don’t like it in BrightMoon, I’ll let you leave.”

“You’ll just let me walk out?” Catra says, surprised. “Roam free, no catch, no problems?”

“That’s right”. Micah says. “You just let me worry about any troubles. I’ll only ask you to promise one thing.” Catra waits for his request, uneasy at what it could be. “Give Brightmoon a chance. After that, if you really don’t want to stay there, you don’t have too.”

Give Brightmoon a chance?! Yea right. Brightmoon is full of people who want to kill her. She should really just duck and run at the first possible chance. She looks back at Micah, all intent on arguing against him. It’s at that point though, that she finds she can’t, and she ponders just why it’s so hard to see no to him.

"Besides." Micah says. "After Halfmoon, I feel like I owe it to you to find something better."

Strangely enough, what Micah says doesn’t make Catra as angry as she should at that. For as much as he is currently acting like Adora, Catra can see that Micah actually was hoping that Brightmoon would actually be better for her. Maybe she could try and give it a chance. Entrapta forgave her, so maybe there are others that still would. Although, considering the people she will be attempting to ask, she is not sure how likely the chances are. Scorpia, that could probably work. Adora, possibly. Anyone else though, it didn't seem likely. Stranger things have happened though. Besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen? She turns into a princess.

“Alright.” She says with a sigh. “I promise.”

“Thank you.” Micah responds with a smile.

Once again, Catra can’t help but feel her heart warm at Micah’s gratitude. Maybe this was a sign that she was on the right path. She wants to get better, so maybe this is her chance.

That’s when she really starts to think. What does she really want? She’s not quite sure she knows anymore. She knows she doesn’t want to continue down the route she was going, but that’s about it. It raises a question that really scares her. Did the Horde truly have what she wanted? She’s not sure she wants to answer that question, because she knows what it truly means if she answers yes.

She stays quiet for the rest of the day as she ponders, even as Entrapta comes back with some ration bars and the trio eat together. The more she thinks about it, the more afraid she feels. If she wasn’t getting what she wanted in the Horde, was any of it truly worth it? She’s not sure she wants to know the answer.

Later that night, Catra finds herself laying awake on a bed in the crew’s quarters, unable to sleep with her mind so active. She is trying to think about what it is she wants, what she was trying to accomplish. In the Horde, she wanted to rise to the top, to show everyone that she was more than the cast off they all made her out to be. What better way to do that, then to be the commander responsible for the downfall of the rebellion.

If that wasn’t truly what she wanted, then what was? What else was there to want other than to be something in life? Well, she knows at least something that she doesn’t want. She doesn’t want to continue being the person she once was, or continue to hurt her friends.

Maybe Micah could actually help out with that. Catra doesn’t think he can tell her what she wants, but maybe she could gain a better understanding. Then maybe, she’ll be able to truly figure it out. Maybe things could end up better.

Catra chuckles to herself. The prospect of facing Adora had crossed her mind, and she can't help but think of their last encounter.

Alright Adora. She thinks. You told me I didn’t know shit about you, so let's see just what I missed.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
BrightMoon castle: One week later

Adora and Bow crept through the hallways of Brightmoon Castle. It was very early in the mourning, and they hoped they would be out before everyone else woke up.

“I’ve never lied to Glimmer before.” Bow said quietly, breaking the silence. “Well, I didn’t really lie. I left a note. Three actually.”

“We’re doing the right thing.” Adora responded. “We can’t let what happened in Mara’s time ever happen again. Glimmer’s going to be angry at us, but at least she’ll be around to be angry.” Adora has honestly become pretty fed up with Glimmer at this point. “Now come on, let's get Scorpia and get out of here.”

They silently walked down the hall until they reached Scorpia’s room. From there, Adora gives a light knock on the door.

“Scorpia, you ready?” Adora asks quietly.

A short moment later, and the door is open, and Scorpia is standing there. She has a bag thrown over her shoulders.

“Yep, all ready to-.” Scorpia says far too loud at first, before she was shushed by the two in front of her.

“Sorry.” She says, now much more quietly. “I’m all packed and ready to go.”

“Good.” Adora responded. “Let’s get going.” And with that the trio made off for the whispering woods. Soon they would reach the first one’s ship, and from there, they could go to Beast Island to rescue Entrapta. Hopefully they would be quick enough before something bad happened to the Scientist.

Hang on Entrapta. We’re coming.

Chapter Text

“Wow. That's so cool.”

Adora could see that Scorpia was impressed by the first one’s spacecraft. Adora could understand. She had felt a similar sense of surprise when she first saw it in the Crimson Waste.

“And this can fly us all the way there?!”

“Well, it should anyway.” Adora responded. “We haven’t exactly tried to operate yet.”

“Oh.” Scorpia said. “Well, I’m sure we can figure it out.” Despite the positive words, Adora couldn’t help but notice the nervousness in her voice.

“Yea, I hope so.”

“ADORA!” The group turned their attention toward the sky to see Swiftwind making his way toward them.

“I kicked down the last barn door I could and I am now ready to go.”

“Glad you could make it Swifty.” Adora says.

The group walks up into the spacecraft, and into the main cockpit. Adora sits down in the main pilot's chair, while everyone else stands at the front of the ship.

After sitting a short moment with nothing happening, Adora spoke up. “Should I be doing something?”

“I don’t know.” Bow responds. “Never really flown anything before.”

“I know.” Swiftwind says. “Just have it flap its wings. There has to be a flap wings button around here somewhere.” He tries to push Bow out of the way, hitting a button on the dashboard by accident. The ship begins to boot up, but after a short period of time, it shuts down again.

“Alert.” The ship computer warns as an alarm sounds and a radar appears in front of Adora. “Unknown entity detected. Activating security protocols. Please clear threat level in order to initiate launch sequence.”

“Oh great.” Adora responds, annoyed. “Nothing is going to make this easy is it?”

One transformation into Shera later, and the group runs outside. Upon reaching the far side of the clearing, they can hear the sounds like a large bot coming their way. From the sound of it, Adora can only guess that it is rather large.

She finds it is rather large when it steps into the clearing a few minutes later. Although, it does not seem like a normal horde bot. It consists of different shades of purple, rather than the normal green and grays. While it appears to walk on four legs, closer inspection reveals that it also possesses hands.

All of a sudden, the bot’s head begins to open up, revealing a cockpit. The group instantly goes into a battle stance, preparing themselves for anything. All of a sudden, a figure falls to the ground with a yelp.

“Ow” the figure says rubbing its head, with a voice that is all too familiar to Adora.

“Catra!?” Adora couldn't believe her eyes. The figure sitting in front of her indeed, is Catra. The one person she has not seen in a month and actually thought she may have been dead.

“Hey..Adora.” Catra responds from her position on the ground.

It takes a moment for Adora to shake off her surprise. When she does, she resumes her fighting stance. This must have been where Catra has been all this time. She was overseeing work on this bot in order to plan some sort of attack. Well, whatever happens it’s not going to work. Whatever Catra is planning, they were about to put it an end to-.

“Hi guys.”

It appears that Catra wasn’t alone either. Another figure popped out of the bot’s cockpit. One that also wasn’t expected.

“Entrapta?!” Scorpia exclaimed.

“Scorpia!” The second figure was indeed the scientist in question. Adora couldn’t believe it either. Here they were on their way to rescue Entrapta and she was right there in front of them. Adora found her jaw dropped, now utterly confused.

“You’re.. here?!” Scorpia continued.

“Where else would I be?” Entrapta asked.

“I mean, you’re here obviously.” Scorpia started. “But didn’t Catra send you to beast island.”

At the mention of what she had done, Adora noticed Catra’s ears droop. Did she actually feel regretful?

“Well she did.” Entrapta responded. “But with her help, the three of us all escaped.”

Adora has to do a double take. “She.. helped you escape?”

Scorpia was equally shocked, but asked a very different question. “There’s three of you?”

“Oh right. Thanks for reminding me.” Entrapta climbed back up into the cockpit, where she began to help out a third person down. This figure is shirtless and wearing a hood. Even with Entrapta’s help, he still seems to be having trouble.

“Almost thought you forgot about me.” The man says as he hits the ground. He tries to use his walking stick, but ended up falling. The action surprisingly stirs Catra into action.

“Hey, careful!” She yells. “Did you even remember what I said about taking help?”

“Sorry” He said as he was helped up. In the process, his hood fell over. The moment Adora saw his face, she once again, couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“King Micah?!” Bow exclaimed with a gasp.

Make that three unexpected people show up. This day had sure taken a turn from what Adora had expected.

“Wait a minute.” Scorpia said. “Isn’t he like, supposed to be dead? I’m pretty sure he was supposed to be dead. Like, it was covered in force captain orientation how dead he is!”

“Great.” Catra groans. “Something else Hordak couldn’t get right.”

Micah perked up at the group. “You know who I am.” He asked. “Are you all from Brightmoon?”

“Yes,” Adora answered. “We were actually all headed to Beast Island to rescue.. well her actually.” She gestured towards Entrapta.

”Since you’re all here now, maybe we can all have some apples together. Is anyone hungry?.” Swift Wind added.

“No thanks, we actually had some.. IS THAT A TALKING HORSE?!” Micah yelled.

Swift wind looked annoyed. “Yes, I’m Swiftwind.” He said posing.

”I mean, it even has wings.” Micah said, still looking surprised.

”Yes.” Entrapta added in. “It is most peculiar. Adora, did your abilities as Shera allow you to mutate this animal?”

”Well, I can tell this is definitely Glimmer’s dad.” Swiftwind commented, annoyed. He noticed that Catra wasn’t acting as surprised as the others. “At least she has some decency to not gawk.”

Catra shrugged. “Got my suprise out of me when I spotted you the last time.” She added, causing Swiftwind to groan and roll his eyes.

“Were you all on Beast Island? How did you all escape?” Adora asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

“Well it was simply actually.” Entrapta starts.

“We had a very large boat.” Catra says, interrupting her.

The action cause everyone to turn their attention on the feline.

“What?!” She says. “She would have used a thousand more words than necessary to explain it.

Well, Adora couldn't argue with that.

“Beast island was so amazing.” Entrapta said. “There were so many deadly monstrosities, and I learned so much about the first ones and the Heart of Etheria.”

Adora’s eyes went wide. “You know about the Heart of Etheria?”

“Yes.” Micah said. “We learned valuable information that will be useful to the Rebellion. They need to be made aware of how dangerous this is.”

Adora found herself relieved. Someone else realized how dangerous the Heart was. If Glimmer wouldn’t listen to her, maybe she would listen to her own father.

“The Heart is the first one’s most powerful and dangerous weapon. The rebellion will be able to see from our data that-.” Entrapta paused with a gasp. “Is that an actual first one’s space ship?” She asked excitedly.

Adora turned around for a moment and realized Entrapta was indeed taking about the ship that they had. “Well yes.” She said. “We were actually going to use it to-.”

She was promptly cut off by a loud squeal from Entrapta. “IT WORKS!”

“Well yes but-“ Adora couldn’t even finish that sentence before Entrapta stormed off inside.

“I should go grab her.” Bow said. “If you guys have important information we should let the rebellion know about it right away.”

The group readied themselves to leave, but it was then that Scorpia spoke up.

“Wait.” She started. “Are you coming with us Catra?”

Adora looked back towards Catra. Was she really joining coming with them to BrightMoon?

Catra nervously gave herself a one arm hug as she looked away. “Unfortunately.” She eventually said.

It was then that Micah spoke up. “She played a big part in helping us escape. Of course she’s coming back with us.”

Adora was at a loss for words. Catra was actually joining them back to Brightmoon? There had to be something up, some sort of trick. From what Adora could gather though, that did not appear to be the case. In fact, she seemed downright uncomfortable, like she didn’t even want to be here. It could be possible that the feline was putting on an extremely good acting job, but even Adora couldn’t help but feel somewhat happy at the revelation.

To top everything off, Micah was backing her. He seemed fairly confident that nothing bad would happen. Adora pondered if he even knew about Catra’s role with the Horde. It was likely he didn’t. She pondered if it was worth mentioning, but something shut her up. For some reason, it didn’t feel right to bring that up. If Micah had ordered Catra to leave and never come back, Adora wasn’t sure she could live with that choice, no matter what seemed right at the current moment.

“Alright then.” Adora said, while reluctantly turning her sword into a rope. “But we should take pprecautions just to be safe.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Micah said.

“With all due respect, your majesty.” Adora responded. “She is a rather dangerous Horde commander. We just want to be catious.” Adora wasn’t quite sure she could call Catra a Horde commander anymore though.

“What’s wrong Adora?” Catra asked. “Don’t trust me enough to roam free?” While it seemed like Catra wanted to sound teasing, the way she actually sounds suggests anything but.

“I think you gave us plenty of reasons not to trust you. Now turn around.”

Adora noticed Catra’s ears droop again as she broke her gaze. Adora wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

“Fine” Catra eventually said, turning around and positing her hands to make it easier for Adora to tie them. Adora didn’t have to put up with much trouble after that. Just seeing Catra submit so easily surprised her. After recent events, she would have imagined Catra captured after a big battle, not surrendering without a fight, especially not vouched by the king (former king?) of Brightmoon.

Once the feline is properly restrained, Adora takes a firm grip on Catra’s arm, making sure she can properly guide the feline. Catra gives a grunt of displeasure, but doesn’t draw attention to it.

“So?” She asks. “Where to?”

It was at that moment that Adora began to wonder what else this day had in store for her.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Catra actually believed that the next time she set foot in Brightmoon would be as its conqueror. Instead, it seems it will actually be as its prisoner, and willingly at that.

The group doesn’t head directly into the castle. Instead they take a detour through a group of medical tents. For a moment, Catra is flabbergasted as to why they would take her of all people on this detour. Even when they explain that they want to drop Micah off at a tent for treatment, she still wonders why an enemy has to be here.

“He’ll get better, right?” Catra feels the urge to ask after they part ways at a tent.

Adora scoffs in response. “Since when do you care about people?”

“I care about friends who almost die when they try to help me.”

“Oh, so you just care enough when they are useful to you?”

“I” Catra couldn't seem to find a good rebuttal to that. After all, Adora was right. Her relationship with Scorpia and Entrapta started off that way, and she still can’t come to explain why she cares so much about Micah.

“That’s what I thought?” Adora says as she returns to guiding her along. Catra can only give a frustrated groan.

Along the way, they pass a number of tents that are filled with large numbers of civilians. Catra can’t help but glance around. There are numerous levels of injuries, but the types seem to be consistent. They range from various levels of burns, to different blaster wounds.

“Are these really all the civilians we rescued?” Scorpia asked. “I never realized there were so many.”

“What-what happened to them?” Catra asked, despite being scared about the answer she might get in return.

Adora looked back with one of the fiercest gaze Catra ever saw. “Your little town burning crusades happened.”

It was as if all of Catra’s fears had come true. She had hurt all of these people. All of this pain was her fault. There were so many who had to spend time in misery now instead of living peacefully at their homes all because of her.

But somehow, it gets even worse. She is just able to catch a conversation between a kid and a doctor as they walk by.

“I don’t understand.” The kid said. “It’s been two days.”

The kid could not have been more than five years old. They were talking to a doctor in a white coat. Behind them was someone laying on a table. From the looks of it, it seemed that this person was a parent of the kid.

“W-well,” the doctor replied. “Her state of injuries left her really weak. She just needs a lot of rest.”

“But she should have woken up by now, shouldn’t she have?” The kid asked again. “Why isn’t mommy waking up?!”

Catra’s eyes couldn’t have gone more wide. Everything felt like it was spinning. She knew exactly why that kid’s mother wasn’t waking up. Not only had she hurt people, she had now ruined a kid’s childhood, taken away his family. It takes all of her willpower to not cry on the spot.

“Catra?”

Catra looked up to see Scorpia looking down at her. She actually looked worried for her. She even saw Adora looking at her looking concerned.

“I” Catra said, beforing pausing to steady her breathing. “I’m sorry.” It came up as barely above a whisper. It didn’t matter anyway, it meant nothing if she was sorry for something she couldn’t fix.”

“What did you just say?”

Catra looked back up at Adora, looking surprised, as if she had actually misheard.

Catra spoke up, but this time, she struggled getting the words out. “I. I'm-“

“Lady Adora.”

It looked like she wouldn't either. Everyone’s gaze had now shifted to the guard running up on them.

“Queen Glimmer would like to speak to you.”

Catra could see Adora get nervous. She had heard about relations between her and sparkles becoming strained. If she was still in the Horde, she could just imagine herself looking for a way to strain it ever farther.

“It seems you were able to capture a prisoner as well.” The guard responded. “And the Horde’s second in command at that. This is wonderful news.”

“Well then,” Adora responded, strangely not sounding too proud of the apparent accomplishment. “Lead the way.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Adora couldn’t help but think about what she heard Catra say on their way inside. She had just been able to hear it. She swears she must have misheard the feline. There was absolutely no way that Catra would say that she was sorry. Catra was the type of person that would hurt whoever she has to to get what she wants. Adora could even count on one hand the amount of times that Catra had said sorry when the two were in the horde, and none of them sounded genuine.

For some reason though, she is beginning to doubt that. Micah had vouched for her for a reason hadn’t he? What if Catra was actually sorry for what she had done? It wouldn’t fix anything, but it would give some hope that things could be different going forward.

She doesn’t have much time to think before the guard they are with directs them to the throne room. It’s when the door opens that Adora realizes that things could actually get harry. In the throne room is not only Glimmer, but Shadow Weaver. The moment the door opens, all eyes are now on the group.

“Well,” Glimmer states, clearly displeased. “Your trip didn’t last long.” Her haze shifts over to Catra. “At least you’re managed to do something right.”

Adora can’t help but cringe at that.

“Hello to you too sparkles.” Catra responds.

“Always as flippant as ever.” Shadow Weaver says in a disappointing tone. The effect is instant as Catra goes from rebellious to nervous. Even Adora starts to feel nervous.

“Perhaps now you can finally learn where your actions have lead you.” Shadow Weaver says. “After all this time, all you’ve done is brought yourself crashing to the bottom.”

“And now you’ll be facing justice.” Glimmer interceded, teleporting down from her throne. “So Catra,” she said smugly. “What’s it feel like to lose for a change? Maybe if you're lucky, we’ll actually give you a quick and painless death.”

“Taking the law into your own hands, Sparkles?” Catra asked. Despite how nervous she seemed to be, she was doing her best to put on a brave facade. “Just what would your father think of you?”

Uh oh. Even Adora knew the reaction Glimmer would give before it came. Glimmer came forward and punched Catra with an angry growl.

“Shut up.” Glimmer responded angrily. “You don’t get to mention him, Horde scum.”

“I should have figured we would get this behavior out of you.” Shadow Weaver started. “But I must say, this is a new level of disrespect. You even have the gall to speak ill of the dead. Perhaps we should even consider forgoing a trial.”

“Just speaking the truth.” Catra responded. “Plus, I believe it actually does matter when said person isn’t actually dead.”

“What are you talking about?” Glimmer said angrily.

Catra looked up toward Adora. “You wanna tell them princess or should I?”

Great. Catra just had to divert the attention off of herself. Both Glimmer and Shadow Weaver turned to her now. Adora instantly becomes way more nervous.

“What is she talking about Adora?” Glimmer asks, now focusing on the blonde.

Adora sighs. She’s not quite sure how to say this to Glimmer and sound believable. How exactly do you say that your dad that you long thought dead was actually still alive.

Well, she might as well just explain what happened. “When we found Catra,” She started. “She actually wasn’t alone.”

Adora could see the eyes of Glimmer and Shadow Weaver go wide at what she was insinuating.

“Where is he?” Glimmer asked. “If he’s actually here then show me.”

Well, that settled it. Without much hesitation, Adora informed Glimmer of the tent number where Micah was, and they all teleported off.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

They teleport right in front of the tent where Micah is, and they all head inside, Catra more wobbly than the others. From there Micah is laying down on the bed. Standing by his side examining him, is Entrapta, who turns towards the group once they all come in.

“Hi everybody.” She exclaimed.

Glimmer stares on for a moment before she turns back to Adora and Catra.

“So I guess she’s here too huh?” She says, obviously not pleased to see the scientist.

Adora couldn’t help but cringe.

“She has a name you know.” Catra responded.

Glimmer just ignored her though and walked over to the bed. Micah was sleeping, but appeared to be fine.

“Dad?” She asked.

After a moment, Micah stirred. “Glimmer?”

Tears formed in Glimmer’s eyes. She launched forward and hugged her dad with all her might. For Adora, it felt like she was seeing the old Glimmer for just a moment, the one before she became queen.

But of course, the moment isn’t meant to last.

“Micah.” Shadow Weaver said. Interrupting Glimmer and her father’s moment. “Is it really you?”

For a moment, Adora is surprised that such a surprised and caring voice could come out of Shadow Weaver’s mouth. If Adora didn’t now know better, she may have thought the witch was genuinely happy at the prospect of Micah’s return.

Micah on the other end, seems very displeased at her presence.

“I had heard that this traitor was here.” He said. “But I never imagined it was true that she would be allowed to walk freely.” He readies a blast of magic. Shadow Weaver prepares herself to defend.

“Dad, wait.” Glimmer says, grabbing Micah’s arm. “She’s not with the Horde anymore. She’s with us.”

Micah turns to look at Glimmer, shocked that his daughter would defend Shadow Weaver so easily.

“She’s been really helpful even.” Glimmer continues. “She’s even teaching me magic.”

“Glimmer,” Micah responds. “Are you really sure that’s wise?”

“What are you talking about?” Glimmer asks. “She’s helping me build my own strength. Why would that be a problem?”

“After everything she’s done for the Horde, you’re just letting her walk free?” Micah asks.

“She’s actually put in an effort to change.” Glimmer responds. “If anything,” She points over to Catra. “She’s the one that shouldn’t be free.” Adora can feel Catra bristle beside her at Glimmer’s words.

“Speaking of which.” Shadow Weaver says, she heads over and attempts to grab Catra’s hand.

“Don’t touch her!” The sudden outburst from Micah surprises everyone, but Glimmer and Shadow Weaver appear the most star struck.

“Dad, what are you doing?”

“Look Glimmer,” Micah starts. “Hear me out, ok? Whatever punishment you’re going to give her, don’t let it be death.”

Glimmer looked shocked. “What are you even saying? Do you even know who she is?”

“It’s clear that he doesn’t.” Shadow Weaver cut in. “It’s obvious what Catra is doing. She’s trying to manipulate him to help gain our trust. It’s something I won’t let happen.”

Shadow Weaver walked toward the end of Micah’s bed. “She never did tell you her role with the Horde, did she? I doubt you would want to vouch for Hordak’s second in command, let alone the one who is responsible for the death of your wife?”

Micah peered over at Catra, and Adora could see Catra’s gaze shifts to the floor, ears drooping. Adora couldn’t help but feel nervous herself. She wondered how Micah would take the news. She imagined Micah would have been angry, but strangely, he just looked at Catra with pity.

Then, the most surprising thing happens, as Micah turns back to Shadow Weaver.

“So I’ve been told.”

It was as if all the air in the room had suddenly been sucked out. Adora was sure she had heard that one correctly. From the looks of it though, Glimmer and Shadow Weaver were having a hard time determining if they had.

“You know?” Glimmer asked, now looking heartbroken. “You know, and you’re still helping her?!”

“Look.” Micah responded. “I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve justice for what happened, but after everything that she’s been through, she deserves a chance to make it right.”

“Are you kidding me?” Glimmer asked, sounding offended. “Catra’s already proven that she can’t change. At least Shadow Weaver has already put in the work to help us!”

“Oh, so just because she’s of use to you, she’s fine to keep around.” Even Adora was surprised by Catra’s sudden outburst.

Glimmer turned towards the two. “You be quiet, Horde Scum.”

“No, you’re going to hear this.” Catra responded. “All you princesses are just like everyone else. If someone suits your needs, you give them free reign to anything, but the moment someone comes in who you don’t like at all, all you do is-.” Catra was never able to finish that sentence, as with a simple snap of Glimmer’s fingers, she vanished into a cloud of sparkles.

“She always has to be so annoying, doesn’t she?”

“Glimmer?” Glimmer turned towards Micah, and was greeted by a look of horror on his face. “What did you do?”

“I.” Glimmer was clearly caught off guard by Micah’s sudden shock. Adora was just as much thrown off. What did Glimmer just do to Catra? She didn’t just kill her, did she? All of a sudden, Adora's heart is beating that much quicker.

Glimmer didn't just kill her did she? Adora knew how the current queen felt about the feline, but she wouldn't do that would she? Glimmer wasn't that type of person.

"Glimmer," Micah asked again, worried. "What did you do?"

“I just teleported her into a spare room.” Glimmer said. “Why do you even care about her anyway?”

Micah frowned. “Because I failed to save her at Halfmoon.” He turned back to Shadow Weaver, that frown turning into a scowl. “From her.”

Everyone turned towards Shadow Weaver, causing the witch to take a defensive stance. Adora had somehow found a newfound level of disgust for her former caretaker. Not only had she destroyed the lives of those inside the Horde, but she had also found ways to destroy the lives of those outside it.

“I have no doubt in my mind that my failure at Halfmoon allowed her to get captured.” Micah turned back towards Glimmer. “Please Glimmer, give her a chance. Whatever person, you see in her, I don’t think that's who she truly is.”

Glimmer paused and looked at her father, a really, really good look. She seemed to be scanning him, observing for anything that could give her a reason to doubt him. All the queen could find, though was sincerity. There was no trace of uncertainty or anything, just a look that pleaded with his daughter to trust him.

“Fine.” She said eventually relenting.

Shadow Weaver was the first to react. “My queen you can’t possibly be considering this!” She yelled. “Catra is obviously planning something. We need to-.”

“Shadow Weaver.” Glimmer responded, quieting the witch. “As much as I don’t agree with this, I’m choosing to trust my dad. Besides, I think the three of us need to have a chat, so if you don’t mind, I think you should stay in the garden for the time being.” She finished with a glare. Shadow Weaver looked angry but didn’t dispute any further, and walked out.

“As for Catra, she’ll be under strict surveillance and a curfew, and will be givin work to do. If she gives any reason for us to believe that she’s plotting something, she’ll be gone just like that.”

“Thank you.” Micah responded.

Glimmer sighed. “Yea. I just hope this isn’t something I end up regretting.” And with that, she began to walk away.

“I’m going to call an emergency meeting. I need to let everyone else know what is going on.” Glimmer said. “Oh, and Entrapta.” She started grabbing the scientist’s attention. “We’re going to need to have a chat about you too?” And with that, they teleported away.

Adora honestly thought that would end up with far more bloodshed than it did. It seemed however that for the time being, Catra was here to stay. Adora felt equal parts relieved and unsettled at the prospect. She didn’t know what would happen, but one thing was for sure, things around Brightmoon were about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Chapter Text

“Wait, he brought who back now?”

The Princess alliance had been called in for an emergency meeting. The topic of discussion, the latest visitors to Bright moon and what should be done. One they agreed on to make welcomed. The others, well, let’s just say that there were differing opinions.

“Catra and Entrapta.” Glimmer said, responding to Mermista. “They even brought a new bot with them. According to Entrapta, she built it with parts found on Beast Island.”

“Wait a minute,” Mermista started. “How do we know that it wasn’t made to explore the island?”

Adora thought it was a good question. Although, Scorpia’s story made that seem unlikely. She had come asking for help to save Entrapta and had been loyal to the rebellion since. Unless Scorpia was lying, Entrapta’s new bot was likely build with no malicious intent in mind, and Adora had never really thought she was lying.

“It is defiantly a possibility.” Glimmer stated. “Catra and Entrapta are currently being kept in custody, while my dad is in the infirmary. I called this meeting to discuss how to properly handle them.”

“I mean, the choice is obvious isn’t it?” Mermista asks.

“Yea.” Frosta says. “She’s an enemy isn’t she?”

“Come on now.” Perfuma interjects nervously. “That doesn’t always mean that execution is the correct choice.”

“Are we sure about that though?” Mermista adds.

“I mean come on.” Bow added. “We’re the good guys. We wouldn't just execute someone would we?”

“Yea?” Mermista added. “And look where doing that ended up getting us. We obviously need a change of pace, don’t we Glimmer?”

Glimmer sighed, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. “My dad thinks that she should be given a chance to make amends.”

Just about everyone in the room was in shock.

“Wait what?!” shouted Frosta. “Doesn’t he know who she is?”

“That’s the strange part.” Glimmer continued. “He actually does.”

“If he knows, then why is he helping her? “ Frosta asks.

“Maybe it’s a good thing that he is helping her.” Perfuma added.

Everyone turned to Perfuma. Even Adora and Scorpia were surprised. Everyone else seemed to think she was crazy.

“I mean, if he is vouching for her then must be a reason.” The flower princess added on. “Maybe she has changed and wants to help us.”

“Seems unlikely.” Frosts added.

Adora had to agree with Frosta on this one. She knew Catra, and most likely she was planning something. Although, she had to admit, if Catra was trying to trick them, she was going to an unusual length just to do it. The chances of failure on this were too high. If Catra wanted to implant a spy, she'd be more likely to

“No.” Glimmer said. “I don’t know my dad super well, but it’s likely he would have a good reason to protect her, and against my better judgement, I’m going to side with him on this.”

Everyone was equally surprised.

“Don’t you like, hate her or something?” Mermista asked.

“For as much as I hate her, Mermista,” Glimmer responded. “I know other people to trust, and my dad is one of those people.”

“So what then,” Frosta interjected. “Is she just getting off scot free?”

“Absolutely not”. Glimmer said, sounding like she was insulted. “If anything, she’s going to suffer for what she did.”

“Are you sure, Glimmer?” Perfuma asked. “If we end up doing something we regret then-.”

“Perfuma.” Glimmer interrupted, sending a glare towards the flower princess. “Do you really think she deserves anything else?”

“Well.” Perfuma began, but stopped. She couldn’t seem to find a good line of argument.

“That’s what I thought.” Glimmer said, before turning her attention back to the others. “I’d like to take this time to discuss the best work to have her do.”

“We should chain her up and send her to a mine.” Frosta says, causing everyone to turn toward her surprisingly.

“FROSTA!!” Perfuma yelled.

“What?!” Frosta responded. “That fucker would do it to us.”

“FROSTA!!!”

“WHAT?! I’m thirteen, I should be allowed to swear.”

“GUYS! As much as it sounds pleasing to do, I’d rather not have my legacy be as a queen who makes prisoner's punishments unnecessarily cruel.” Glimmer said. “Now, does anyone else have any ideas.”

A couple other ideas were tossed around. All of them found a way to be turned down. Adora sighed, and Glimmer groaned. At this rate, Catra would just be left in the spare room for the rest of her days.

After a short while, Glimmer spoke up. “Actually, now that I think about it, aren’t we going to start sending out a crew to help rebuild those ruined towns we recaptured.”

“Yea. We were.” Perfuma answered. “Are you thinking off-“ She trailed off, sounding nervous.

“I am.” Glimmer responded. “I think that it would be the perfect assignment for her.”

“I don’t get it.” Frosts announced, causing Glimmer to groan.

“Think about it.” The queen responds. “She was Hordak’s second in command, and now she’s going to be doing the work of a skilled laborer. She’s sure to hate it.”

“Alright.” Mermista said. “I can work with that.”

“Plus, she gets to get up close and personal with what she did.” Glimmer continued. “We’ll see how she reacts to all that then. For the next order of business, I’d like to discuss how we should handle her when she is not working. I’m going to have either a guard or a princess watch her at all times. We can take shifts, but I wanted to ask if anyone wanted to volunteer to watch over her.”

“Yeaaa, no.” Mermista says.

“As much as I’d like to, I have my own responsibilities to take care of.” Frosta added.

“I would, but my own kingdom has things I need to worry about.” Perfuma added.

Adora knew what needed to happen. It would have to be her that volunteered. After all, it was only right. Catra was her former friend. If she tried something than she would be the best person to stop it. She began to stand up to speak.

“I’ll do it.”

It appeared as though she was beaten to the punch. She turned to see that Scorpia had instead volunteered.

“Are you sure Scorpia?” Glimmer asked.

“Yea. I’m sure” Scorpia said. “I’ve been around her a lot in the Horde. I should be able to handle her. If something happens I’ll report to you straight away.”

Something about that doesn’t sit right with Adora. It’s strange because it shouldn’t. The feline's business in the horde was no business of her own. Besides, Catra is allowed to have as many other friends, or in this case, allies as she desires. She couldn'y help but wonder just what kind of relationship the two used to have before Scorpia's departure.

“Very well.” Glimmer responds. “And if Scorpia is unavailable, she will be asked to be with a guard or another princess. Any questions?” When no one raised their hands, she continued. “In that case, this meeting can be adjourned. There is other information regarding the Heart of Etheria I would like to discuss but I think would could all use a reprieve.”

Everyone agreed with her. Even Adora had to admit that she could use a break right about now. There was just so much going on.

As the group walked out, Bow Glimmer and Adora grouped up together.

“I guess I should tell our prisoner the good news.” Glimmer said to them. “Wouldn’t want her to sit around thinking that she is about to be executed.” With that, she teleported away.

Bow came up to her. “You alright?” He asked.

“Yea.” Adora responded. “Just wondering how Catra’s going to handle the news.”

“I don’t know honestly.” Bow responded. “But if I was her, I’d feel good about it. That’s for sure.” He noticed how downtrodden that Adora was. “Hey, I know you two used to be friends, so as weird as it is to say, I hope things turn out well. Something has to have changed right? Maybe you two can at least find some closure.”

“I hope you’re right.” She responded. Although, she wasn’t sure what to make of the news just yet. It could still mean that Catra had a chance to potentially backstab them later. Despite everything though, she couldn’t help but wish that it wouldn't happen. She wondered what this would mean for Catra. Would things turn out for the better, or where they doomed to get worse? Even after everything, Adora found herself worried.

I hope Catra's alright. She thought.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

She should have known better. She should have fucking known better.

Catra can’t help but pace angrily in her new found cell. Well, it was really a bedroom, but it was effectively a prison cell. She was honestly beginning if the rebellion had legit prisons, having been captured twice, and simply kept in random rooms. She did have to admit, the magical force field did help. At least that way she couldn't escape easily.

But anyway, she should have known better. She can’t believe how much of a dumbass she was to listen to Micah. In what world would the rebellion ever forgive her or try to make amends for what she did. She’s not someone who deserves happiness. What kind of person would give a former horde commander amnesty? An incredibly stupid person, that’s who. The princesses were the type of people that would want her head on a spike.

They were probably convening right now to plan an execution. Any minute now someone would come to drag her to her death. So much for giving Brightmoon a chance. It looked as if it was going to immediately swallow her whole within her first few hours. She should have just fucking stayed on Beast Island. At least there she would have fit in among the other monsters.

She recalled stories of how the princesses killed people when she was younger in the horde. It made her wonder just what method the princesses would choose, and just how much those stories were true. Would she get hanged, beheaded, or just plan left to rot. That last option wouldn’t be a surprising choice. She deserved to be treated cruelly after all the cruelty she had dished out.

Her train of thought was cut off by a sparkly poof behind her. Speak of the devil. Looks like she was going to meet her fate much sooner than she originally thought.

“Has the judge, jury, and executioner finally arrived?” She asked turning towards Sparkles.

“No actually, lucky you.” The sparkly queen responded. “Turns out everyone was ok with letting you work for it. You’re going to help make repairs for us.”

Catra was surprised. Then again, maybe the princesses were all just stupid. Adora already let her walk through a makeshift med bay, but she figured that was just the blonde’s common idiocy. She didn’t think anyone else would be dumb enough to give her a chance. They had to be smart enough to leave a guard with her. If not, then they really were idiots.

“What?” Catra asks. “Don’t tell me you are all going to give me a chance. I didn’t think you were all this stupid.”

“Oh believe me.” Glimmer said. “You’re nowhere close to my first pick to help out. I don’t trust you in the slightest. If it were up to me, I would choose someone who was at least capable of doing one good thing in their life.”

Those words freeze Catra in her tracks. Because honestly, she should have known better about this as well. Every time that she tries to do something good, it just ends up with one of two things happening. Either the action severely bites her in the ass, or she just ends up failing miserably at it. That’s how it always was, so just why would this have been any different?

“What’s the matter?” Glimmer said, tauntingly. “Cat got your tongue?”

Catra growled with anger. She hated that joke so much. So many times people had used on her in the horde when she was unable to think of a whitty retort. She especially hates it now. Sparkles was really fucking lucky that she was on the other side of the barrier, cause Catra would have likely lunged at her. The strange thing though is that somehow just thinking about doing that makes herself feel guilty.

“You should be lucky I even agreed to this Catra.” Glimmer said. “If it wasn’t for my dad, you’d be dead already.”

And with that, she teleported away, leaving the feline to wallow in her own misery.

What else was new nowadays? What in the world made her think that things could get better? The truth was, she would never be wanted by anyone. The horde didn't want her anymore, and she destroyed any chance of these people looking at her like a normal person. Those people out in the med bay were proof of that.

Catra sunk down, bringing her knees to her chest. All she could do is sit there and wonder why they were stupid enough to give her another chance she didn’t deserve, and just how she would end up fucking it all up.

Chapter Text

“Hey dad.”

It was late in the evening, and Glimmer had gone to visit her father in the medbay tent. He was still laying down in the bed provided, but now had a new medical gown on to replace the clothes he had.

“Glimmer.”

“How are you feeling?” The queen asked.

“Tired.” Micah responded. “But better now that I’m laying down.”

“That’s good.” Glimmer says, feeling somewhat relieved that her father is feeling better. Although, it doesn’t do much to soothe her nerves. She's not really sure how this conversation is about to play out.

Her father seems to pick up on it, because he speaks up. “Is something wrong, Glimmer?”

“It’s just.” She started, before pausing to take a breath. Well, here goes nothing.

“There’s something I needed to talk to you about. I know you’re not in great shape but this can’t wait.”

You see, Micah's return had created quite the predicament. Brightmoon now had two leaders from two different generations, Glimmer and her father. Normally, a ruler of one generation didn’t take over until both rulers from the previous one had either passed away or stepped down. Since Micah was still alive, it meant that Glimmer should not yet be queen.

That meant that if Micah still wanted to rule, Glimmer would have to step down. As much as the current queen was for abiding by the kingdom’s rules, she was really not fond of that idea. She would lose her chance to prove herself as a leader, going right back to being in her parent’s shadows. She would no longer be able to prove her mother wrong.

Micah perked up at Glimmer from where he was lying down.

“Since your back, what does that mean for who rules Brightmoon? Technically it should be you but,-.” She broke off, nervous to actually finish that sentence. Just how was she supposed to explain that she still wanted to be queen without sounding needy?

Micah appeared to take in what Glimmer had said. After a short moment, he spoke up.

“Glimmer, do you still want to remain queen?” He asked.

The current queen sighed. “I know it sounds stupid, but stepping down just feels like I’m admitting defeat.” She looked up at her father. “I want to help lead the rebellion to victory.”

Micah looked at his daughter. He appeared to be taking in what his daughter had said. Glimmer was nervously waiting for a response. Would he understand, or would he make her step down?

She took a breath and continued on. “I just want everyone to know that I am strong enough to do what's necessary to win this war.”

Micah’s eyes widened for a moment, but then returned to their previous calculating gaze.

“Is that why Shadow Weaver is helping you?” He asked.

Glimmer’s eyes went wide. All of a sudden, she felt conflicted. Sure Shadow Weaver used to work for the Horde, but she was really putting in effort for the rebellion. She was especially a big help in teaching Glimmer more powerful magic.

Did Micah not approve of that? Did he think she should have her banished? To be honest, after learning about what happened to him, it didn't sound like a bad idea. She couldn’t find it in herself to speak, so she simply nodded.

Micah looked over at his daughter, then sighed. “Glimmer.” he said. “Would it make you more comfortable if I stepped down?”

Glimmer was honestly surprised to hear the question. She presumed her father would think himself more qualified. She didn’t expect for him to even make the consideration.

“I'm just not sure how people would take it.” She said. "But I’ll do what you think is wise. Are you sure you want to step down?

“I’m sure.” Micah responded. “You were good enough to be crowned queen of BrightMoon. I’m willing to bet that you are more than qualified to win the war. If you ever need advice though, I’m here for you. I can even instate myself as your advisor for you.”

Glimmer couldn’t help but smile. Her dad felt like she had the capability to be a good queen. For the first time in a while, she felt proud of what she was doing.

“I thought that we should talk as well.” Micah continued. “About Shadow Weaver.”

Yea. Glimmer figured this talk would happen sooner or later. At this point, she was starting to regret letting the witch free in BrightMoon.

“I know we might have different opinions about her.” Micah continued on. “But I gave it some thought. I don't think that she should be allowed to wonder free, but whatever decision you go with, I’ll trust you.”

Glimmer was once again, surprised. She expected him to advise a form of punishment and ignore her opinion.

In all honesty, Glimmer wasn’t completely sure what to do with the sorceress. She had helped train her so well in magic, but at the same time, it seemed like she was the one responsible for her father’s death, or rather disappearance. Glimmer knew that she could not trust Shadow Weaver like she once did.

“Ok.” She said, sighing. “I’m honestly not sure what to do with her yet. Once you’re feeling better, and everything is squared away with Catra, I think we should sit down and talk with her. I think that will make the decision come easier.”

Micah smiled. “If it helps make the decision easier, then it’s fine by me. You are already being smart for not rushing into this.”

“Thanks Dad.” Glimmer said. “I should get going by the way. I wouldn't want to keep everyone else waiting.” And with that, she teleported away.

Micah felt glad about the suggestion to talk with Shadow Weaver. He had been curious about the sorceress ever since she had been revealed to be helping out Glimmer. He pondered for a moment if his former mentor had seen the light, but his gut told him otherwise. After all, she was more than willing to go and hurt Catra without a care in the world. Micah considered simply having her banished from Brightmoon, but his daughter’s recent behavior had made him scared to act. He was afraid to do anything that might put further strain on their relationship after he had backed Catra. He was at least glad that Shadow Weaver was being held in her quarters for the time being. She wasn’t someone that could be let roam free. No matter what decision would end up being made, it was clear that a very close eye would have to be kept on her.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Catra didn’t know how much time had passed after Glimmer had left her alone. She had just been curled up like that when a knock had come to the door to her room.

She quickly gets up and brushes herself off.

“What?!” She yells at the door.

“It’s me.” Comes the voice of Adora, sounding somewhat irritated. “Can I come in?”

Of course it was Adora. Catra groans. The fucking universe just wasn’t going to give her a fucking break, was it? It just had to throw Adora at her when she wanted to be left the fuck alone. She took a moment to smooth down her hair. It was still all messy anyway, and she didn't want to give away any sign of how she currently felt.

“Come in.” She said, sounding just as agitated, as she stood to her feet.

The door opened, and Adora walked in. She was back to her normal self this time around, and she was carrying a stack of what appeared to be clothes. There were enough so that Catra could only see her eyes popping out from the other side of the stack.

“What do you want, Adora?” The feline asked, getting up from her position in the floor.

Adora sighed as she walked towards the closet in the room. “I talked with Bow, Glimmer, and Micah and we decided to give you something better for working in.” She opened the door to the closet and laid the stack inside. “Brought some varieties in case there are some you don’t like.”

“Always the fucking hero, aren’t you?” Catra scoffed. Of course Adora had to go out of her way to make sure Catra felt comfortable. “What, did you feel too noble to let me suffer in peace?

“For your information, Catra.” Adora said turning around. “I don't like to let people suffer, no matter who they are.”

“So you decided to help me be more comfortable?” Catra asked in response. “What in the right mind makes you think that’s a good… idea?” All of a sudden, all the fight left Catra when she got a really good look at Adora as the blonde turned around. Specifically, a good look at her jawline, where there were three long scar marks. The events of the last fight came back to her. Adora seemed to catch on to what Catra was staring at, and brought a hand up to her injury.

“It scarred.” Catra said. “I always thought Shera healed your wounds.”

“Apparently not all of them.” Adora responded. “This wound scarred just like the other ones.”

Catra’s blood ran cold. “Other ones?”

Adora sighed, then turned around. She began to take off her jacket, and lifted her shirt up so that just her back was exposed. Just when Catra was wondering what the blonde was doing, she saw them, six jagged lines running straight down her back. Six claws that Catra herself had placed there during the battle of BrightMoon.

“I was studying up on Shera from a book I borrowed from Bow’s dad’s library.” Adora started. “Apparently, Shera can’t heal wounds that cause emotional pain as well as others. It causes scars to be left behind on the host. Not that you would care.”

So there was actually a way that Shera wasn’t quite up to snuff. A part of her wants to laugh in her face, to be taunting about this defect. Guess you’re not the rebellion’s perfect soldier after all. Another part of her can’t help but feel sick, because she is finally confronted with evidence that she really didn’t want to come face to face with.

She had hurt Adora, like really hurt Adora. She left marks that will always remind her of how cruel Catra had been, and why things will never be the same.

“Adora I-,” ‘I’m sorry’, she wants to say, but the words get stuck in her throat. Her struggles with being vulnerable rearing their ugly head. Honestly though, what good would those words do anyway? It would mean nothing, and Adora wouldn’t even care. The blonde hated her now. Anything left of what they had had been sucked into the portal with no hope of ever coming back.

After a short moment of silence, Adora puts her shirt and jacket back on and looks back. Catra is taken aback to see the look coming from Adora. It’s surprisingly not as cold as she expected. There is anger sure, but she strangely can’t seem to pick up any traces of hatred. She’s not sure what to do with it, so she simply breaks her gaze with a growl.

“Get changed, Catra.” Adora says flatly, before proceeding to the door. “You can use some of the loose fitting clothes to sleep in. Glimmer wants to send you out on your first job tomorrow.” And with that, she walked out, closing the door much more quietly than anticipated.

Catra is just left to her own devices. She’s not sure how she manages to get up after all that, but she does. Despite how she dislikes the lack of choice, a change of clothes would be nice. Her current outfit is still torn in places, and honestly, she can’t stand wearing anything with a horde uniform right now. She is at least appreciative that Adora gave her options.

She ends up picking a loose fitting white shirt along with black shorts. It’s different from what she is use to, but it feels way more comfortable for sleeping in. She can even smell Adora’s scent still on them.

Adora. Just thinking about the blonde was equally aggravating as it was regretful. For as much resentment that Catra still carried, she couldn’t find it in her to blame the blonde for what she did. After all, she would want to run away from herself as well.

The room does not contain a bed, but a large chair with a blanket draped over the back. She can’t really complain. She would have expected to sleep outside in the dirt, or on a stone cold floor. She lays down lengthwise and pulls the blanket down over her. For what it is, it’s the most comfortable chair she ever sat in. It’s even more comfortable than her own bed in her force captains quarters. It makes her wonder what the beds are even like.

She tries her best to get comfy, hoping for at least one night of restful sleep. Deep down thought, she knows that she’s going to have just as hard of a time as she usually does.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

As Adora walked away she can’t help but think about what had just happened. She never thought she would end up showing her scars to Catra, and she didn’t at all expect what had happened next.

That look of Catra’s face had shown something she never thought she would see on the feline. She expected Catra to have been happy about seeing her hurt, near ecstatic even, but the feline hadn’t even looked pleased. In fact, Adora almost thought she looked ashamed.

Adora knew that Catra would do things to attempt to mislead her opponents, such as create a diversion, fake an injury, or on very rare occurrences, appear vulnerable. For Catra though, this seemed like a whole new level that she normally wouldn’t go to. To even let an emotion like that slip out was an oddity.

Adora had once thought that she would have to kill Catra. For as much as she wished against it, the events of the portal had made it clear that there was no way the feline would have left the Horde, willingly. There would be no way to defeat the Horde without killing her.

But now, all of a sudden, Catra was in Brightmoon of her own volition, having saved two people. Even Adora could admit that something had changed. For the first time in a long while, she wondered if things could actually be different.

Chapter Text

Adora had never been one to have a restful night of sleep. Nightmares and the stress of events since the portal had gotten her quite accustomed to that. Even so, her body’s natural tendency to get her up early still remained in place. She is always used to getting up early for that extra preparation. Anything that helps her win a battle is always welcome.

She gets up and gets dressed, then heads to the training grounds. Along the way, she can’t help but think about the strange dream she had. Catra had actually come back to Brightmoon, along with Entrapta, and King Micah of all people. She can’t help but think about it as she goes through her drills.

It is equally funny and strange dream. Catra would probably never ever come to Brightmoon. The portal had made that a guarantee. The only way Catra would be alive in Brightmoon would be as its prisoner, no matter how much Adora wished for things to be different.

After a rather sweat inducing workout, she packs up and heads back to her room. She plans on getting a bath to wash off, but she finds Glimmer standing at her door when she gets back.

“Oh good, you’re here.” The queen says upon seeing her. “You ready to see her off?”

“Who?” Adora asks, confused.

Glimmer raises an eyebrow. “Uh, Catra remember? She is supposed to be heading off to work at the town today.”

OH! All of a sudden, the events of the previous day come back to her. She didn’t just have a weird dream, Catra is actually here in Brightmoon. She is here as a prisoner, waiting to be put to work. Adora cursed herself mentally for letting her brain fog get the best of her.

“Right.” She responds. “Sorry, guess it's still early for me. Let me clean up and I’ll join you.”

The queen sighed. “Just make it quick, Adora.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Catra can feel herself panting. She’s fighting Shera, and for the first time, the goddess is on the ropes. She could actually win this.

She lunges forwards and takes the offensive, taking a few easy swipes to her face and finishing with a swift key to Shera’s stomach. The goddess falls back, and reverts to a more recognizable form.

Catra smirks as she walks up to Adora, pinning her head to a nearby tree.

“Looks like it’s over, Adora.” She says with glee. "You’ve failed, and now all of Brightmoon is going to suffer.”

“No!” Adora responds, starting to panic. “Please don’t do this Catra.”

“It’s far too late, Adora.” Catra responds, just as angry. “Your friends will die, but since you think you’re so better than me,” Catra extends her claws into the blonde’s throat. “Why don’t you go and join them?”

And with one quick pull, she rips out a chunk of Adora’s neck. Blood splatters on her, and it rolls down Adora’s body and waves.

All the while, Catra just sits there with the utmost glee. She finally did it. Shera has been defeated. Shera has been slain. Adora has been-.

Oh.

It takes a second for her to realize what just happened, and her panting suddenly turns into labored breaths as the panic sets in.

Fuck. Oh fuck. She just killed Adora. SHE JUST FUCKING KILLED ADORA! WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE EVEN THINKING?!

“No.” She doesn’t even think twice about it. She lunges forward, trying her best to stem the bleeding. She even uses her claws to cut off parts of Adora’s jacket to help out.

“Please, Adora.” She practically begs. “Please stay with me!”

Adora can only look at her. Her blue eyes are turning to a dark lifeless gray. It makes the feline panic even more.

“I’m sorry.” Catra says, now beginning to cry. “I’m so sorry, Adora. I swear, I’ll do anything to fix this, just please don’t die.” She cuts off a piece of the blonde's jacket. "Please don't leave me."

With the fabric, she tries her best to stem the bleeding. It is only a few minutes later when she notices Adora’s head is hanging limp. Catra tries to move her head upright, but it only falls back over, limp as can be. It’s then that the utmost dread washed over her.

She actually did it. She killed Adora. This should feel like a victory, but in reality it’s anything but. One of the best things in this world that ever happened to her is gone, and there’s no one else she can blame but herself.

Catra tries to hug herself to calm down, but then she is taken aback but the rather liquid substance that she feels. Looking down at it turned out to be a rather big mistake.

There is blood splattered all over her, and not just anyone’s blood, it’s Adora’s blood.

Her arms start to shake and she begins to get nauseous. It feels like she’s been tainted, stained by a constant reminder of her greatest atrocity. For having sent soldiers to kill people, she never really got the chance to kill someone herself. The only exception was her kill on a rebelion soldier during her village escape, and she didn’t even feel good about that one. Funny, her one major kill should be her greatest accomplishment, but it only ends up as the one she most regrets.

“I don’t understand.”

The voice she hears scares her, because it’s a voice she shouldn’t hear. It’s coming from the person right in front of her.

Slowly, she lifts her head up, and is scared to shit by what she sees.

Adora is now looking at her, eyes lifeless, body akin to a corpse. All the while, the blonde is looking at her like nothing is wrong. Catra can only just sit there, frozen in fear.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Catra awakes with a gasp. Breathes labored and shook from her nightmare. She goes to hug herself, but then remembers one specific detail and looks down. There is a sigh of relief when no blood is found.

She leans back down in her chair, unable to stop thinking about the remnants of her dream, especially that last haunting line.

Is killing Adora what she actually wanted? Thinking about it more, that answer is a definite no. She doesn’t know what she wanted but that was definitely not it. Although, it starts to make her wonder exactly what she was fighting for then.

Her thought process is cut off by a sharp pain in her stomach. It always seemed to act up when she works herself up, and it especially hurt after really bad nightmares.

A knock at the door grabs her attention.

“What?!” She yelled at the door.

“It’s me.” Came the voice of an all too familiar blonde.

“What do you want, Adora?” She asked, about as aggravated as before, smoothing down her hair.

Adora opened the door and stepped inside. She was carrying a tray of food with her.

“Figured I’d bring you breakfast.” Adora said stepping through the barrier. “It’s going to be your first day working and-.” She paused, noticing that Catra was clutching her stomach. “Are you alright?”

“What?” She says, deflecting, now even more agitated. “Have you never seen someone who’s starving before?” She asked backed, deflecting.

“Catra, if you’re not feeling well-.”

“I haven’t had anything to eat since I left Beast Island, Adora.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie either. It had been a while she had last had something to eat. “I would preferably like to have something to eat today before my stomach topples in on itself.”

Adora didn’t seem to buy it, but came forward anyway. Catra sat up in her chair, keeping the blanket in her lap, allowing Adora to hand over the tray, so she could put it in her lap.

The plate contained a messy yellow substance and a couple of fancy brown stick shaped items. Maybe they had started to be smart and not waste the good food on her.

“Is this stuff even edible?” She asked.

“Yes it is, Catra.” Adora responded. “It’s called bacon and eggs. Apparently it’s a common food item to eat for breakfast.”

Catra hummed an acknowledgment. She wasn’t sure why princesses chose to eat this stuff of all things, but she wasn't going to question it. She goes to cut the yellow substance, or eggs, with her claws.

“You’re not supposed to eat it like that.” Adora said.

Catra paused and looked up. “Then how am I supposed to eat it?” She asked, annoyed.

The blonde pointed down to the items beside her plate. One was obvious, it looked like a variant of a knife. The other item was something she had not seen before. It was long like a knife, but it had four prongs attached to the end of it. Catra figured it was some type of weapon. Why they would give her weapons at all, was confusing. It seemed incredibly stupid.

“They’re called silverware.” Adora said. “You use the fork to hold it in place, while you cut it with the knife.”

Part of Catra wanted to lash out at Adora, to say fuck you and do it her own way. Another part of her felt regret at doing that. Just thinking about it makes memories of her nightmare resurface.

So instead, she grabs the knife and fork with a growl, and eats like she should. She grabs the fork to hold a piece of egg in place, and then using the knife to cut it. She holds it up precariously, while looking at Adora.

“What?” The blonde asked.

“You wouldn’t have poisoned this, would you have?”

“No one is trying to poison you, Catra.”

“Funny. I can think of a lot of reasons why someone would.”

“Just eat the damn egg.”

Catra raised an eyebrow. “Never knew you could be such a potty mouth, Adora.” She had honestly never heard Adora swear before. Well, she did once. The two of them were jokingly using different swear words when Shadow Weaver had caught them. Adora had gotten off with a simple warning. Catra, not so much.

When Adora sent back a glare, she relented. “Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a bunch.”

Slowly but surely, she lifted the fork into her mouth, and took a bite. To her surprise, it actually tastes pretty good. She goes to stab the bacon with her fork as well, but Adora stops her.

“Those you apparently eat with your hands.” She says.

“Can’t princesses make up their damn minds with these things?” She asked, annoyed.

“You know, I thought the same thing as well when I first tried this.” Adora responded.

Catra couldn’t help but laugh. “I’d say you’re an idiot, but I don’t think anyone would understand that one.”

“I know right, like why is silverware only used for some foods and not for others. They’re supposed to keep your hands from getting messy so why not just use them for everything.”

The two started to laugh. By golly had Catra missed this. She’d never admit it to anyone, but she really wished that she would get to hear that laugh till the end of time.

She turned back to her food and continued eating. She remembered the food that she had been fed in her last prison. It wasn’t quite as good as that, but it was still really good. What’s really funny though, as that she peers back up at Adora, she could have sworn she saw her smiling, but her face goes neutral again before she can tell. She wants to ask her about it, but it is then that she notices that they are not alone.

“Who's the pipsqueak at the door?” She asks.

Adora is surprised but then turns back towards the door.

“Flutterina!” She yelled, moving to the door.

“Sorry.” The figure said moving into view. Catra couldn’t help but snicker at the new figure. Fluterinna looked like her own assumption of a typical average Brightmooner. She had large beady eyes, wore a pink dress, and even had pink wings to go along with it.

“Sorry.” Flutterina said. “I heard voices and I guess curiosity got the better of me and-.” The pixie paused, appearing to take note of Catra. “Isn’t she that one Horde commander? Did you actually capture her?”

“Well.” Adora started. “We did but-.”

“Aw man.” Flutterina interrupted. “I missed getting to see you kicking her butt.”

Catra couldn’t help but scoff. “Please, she couldn’t kick my butt if she actually tried.”

“Uh, have you actually fought her?” Flutterina asked, sounding cocky. “She’s Shera. She can beat anyone in a fight like it is nothing!”

Oh the fucking nerve!

“Why don’t you have her come on this side of the barrier then?” Catra asked, now angry. “Then we’ll see just how great she really is!”

“Catra!”

“You sure you want that to happen?” Fluterina asked. “With the size of your prison, she’d really kick your butt.”

“I fought toe to toe with her plenty of times pipsqueak! I could take on Shera any day of the week in any situation.”

“Catra.” The blonde said unsuccessfully.

”I’d like to see you try, horde scum.” Flutterina said.

“I’ll give your royal princess a fight whenever she wants.” Catra responded. “Then again, I bet she wouldn’t want to come in here and ruin her perfect image in front of an adoring fan.”

“Stop!”

Even Catra was thrown off by Adora’s sudden outburst.

“Noone is going to fight anyone.” Adora started before turning to the pixie. “Catra is going to be helping rebuild, so she needs to be in her best condition.”

Catra couldn’t help but stick out her ring at the pixie, causing her to cross her arms and pout. Catra smirked in glee, but the feeling diminished when she turned towards Adora. The blonde looked almost as mad as she did after the portal closed.

“And don’t even think you can pull something Catra. I’m not letting anyone get hurt while you’re here.”

She directed Fluterrinna towards the door.

“You should get dressed into something good to work in.” She said. “They’ll come pick you up in an hour.”

“Not waiting up for me?” Catra asked in response.

“I’m not the one taking you.” Adora responded. And with that, the feline was left alone.

That was honestly surprising. Adora wasn’t the one coming to grab her? Catra thought that Adora would have jumped at the opportunity. Now the thought of someone else escorting her made her feel nervous. All the other princesses pretty much despised her. The prospect of being with someone like that all day long didn’t sit right with her.

Catra sighed. Well, might as well get ready. There wasn’t any other choice anyway. She went over to the makeshift dresser. At first, she went for her horde uniform, but then stopped. Something about wearing that again just didn’t feel right. It was like she was going back to her old ways, and just thinking about that made her sick.

Instead, she pulled out a sleeveless tank top and a longer pair of shorts. It made for very feasible clothing to work in.

With that, Catra made to sit back down and finish her food. It would help to keep her strength up for what was to come. She didn’t want to be seen as the weak link. She felt glad that her stomach pain was not nearly as bad now.

Once finished, she laid back down. The only thing to do now was wait.

Chapter Text

“Why were you taunting her?”

It was shortly after Adora and Flutterina had left Catra’s room. Adora really didn’t like the way that Flutterina had to go and taunt the feline.

“I’m sorry.” The fairy said. “I got excited cause we captured her, and I guess I just got carried away.”

Adora sighed. “Look. It’s just that she is dangerous. I don’t want her to end up doing something to you because of that. Can you just.. be careful around her?”

“Okay.” Flutterina nodded. “I won’t bother her, promise.”

“Thank you.” Adora said. “I got some things to take care of but I’ll see around ok.”

And with a nod from flutterina, the two went their separate ways.

As the fairy walked on, she couldn’t help but smile. How interesting that a commander of the Horde was sitting in Brightmoon, much less getting ready to help make repairs. It’s something she couldn’t have ever foreseen to happen. Things were starting to get very interesting for a change.

“Don’t worry, Adora.” The disguised shapeshifter said, eyes blinking sideways, revealing their true color. “I definitely won’t bother her.” They smirked. “Too much.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Catra was awoken from her slumber by a knock on the door. Guess her escort had finally arrived. Time to finally see who would slap the chains on her.

“You can come in, you know.” She said. “I won’t bite.” Probably

The door opened, and she was surprised to see just what face came through the door.

“Hi.. Catra.” The figure said.

“Scorpia?” Catra responded, rather surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m going to be escorting you.” Scorpia responded, sounding nervous. “Did you not feel comfortable with that?”

Well this was an unexpected turn of events. Out of everyone that could possibly be seeing her off, she never expected it to be Scorpia. She expected her former friend to get as far away from her as possible. Seeing her here in the first place was a surprise.

“No it’s fine.” Catra lied, just as nervous. The prospect of facing Scorpia again felt terrifying. “Just didn’t expect it to be you.”

“Ok then.” Scorpia responded. “Well, Glimmer gave me this powder to help take down the barrier.” She reached a claw into a bag she had with her, and pulled out a glass mug. Inside of it was some sort of white powder.

“I remember she said there was a button to open it.” Scorpia continued. “Now where.. ah there it is.” She uses one claw to hold the mug while she attempts to hit the button. Unfortunately, the size of her claws makes her struggle. She even pushes the mug out of her hands accidentally, but luckily catches it with her tail before it hits the ground.

“Phew. This is honestly harder than it looks.” She says.

“Do you want help, Scorpia?” Catra asks speaking up, because honestly, they could be here for much longer if Scorpia did this by herself. Although, as annoyed as Catra is, she can’t find it in herself to yell like she would use to. She doesn’t want to hurt Scorpia anymore than she already has.

Scorpia looks at Catra, looking surprised. “Are you sure?” She asked. “I know you never liked to handle this kind of stuff-.”

“Scorpia?” Catra interrupted, sounding a little more curt than desired. “Do you want help or not?”

Scorpia didn’t have to be told twice. She nodded, lifting her tail through the barrier for Catra to take the mug. From there, Catra can easily find and press the button to open the lid.

“There.” She says, handing the mug back.

“Thanks.” Scorpia says.

“Just.. don’t waste time on it if you can’t do it. If you need help, let me do it.”

“Are you sure?” Scorpia asked.

Catra started to blush. “I’m offering aren’t I?”

Scorpia smiled. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, just.. don’t make a big deal of it.”

Scorpia made her way past Catra and poured the powder around the chair in the room. When she was finished, the powder started to glow and the barrier dissolved.

“Oh and also.” Scorpia continues, reaching back into her bag. “Everyone kinda wanted you to be properly secured so-.” Catra can see Scorpia pull out a pair of cuffs, and she really isn’t surprised to see them. They would be stupid to let her run around with her full mobility and power. She won’t argue that these cuffs probably won't keep someone like her in check for long, if she would actually try to escape.

“Fine.” Catra says, holding out her hands so that Scorpia can place the cuffs on them. There is still some trouble, but this time, Scorpia accomplishes her task.

“Well” Catra started once the job was done. “Where am I being sent off to?”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The two make their way through the windy halls of the castle and work their way outside. Catra had to admit that this is a much more complex setup than the fright zone. There are multiple bedrooms, a door to a dining hall, and even a main hallway at the front doorway. Although, what castle wouldn’t have a large front doorway?

They pass multiple groups of people along the way. They all give Catra some look of anger or fear. Some, she can hear utter words of disdain. There was a time where Catra would have taken pride in those words. Being someone who was well feared would have made her ecstatic. Now, it only brings her shame.

As they head outside, they are greeted by a rather unusual surprise. Micah is sitting at the top of a long set of stairs in a wheelchair. Gripping onto the back is none other than her royal highness queen sparkles.

“Oh.” Scorpia says, when she spots them. “I didn’t think that anyone was meeting us.”

“My dad wanted to come see Catra off.” The queen responded, sounding annoyed.

“How kind.” Catra responded, sarcasticly, although somewhat appreciative that she got to see Micah again.

“Yep.” Glimmer responded, popping the p. “Well, I need to talk to Scorpia, so I’ll leave you two to it.” And with that, she walked off to pull Scorpia aside, leaving Catra alone with Micah.

“Hope you didn’t just drag yourself out of bed just to see me.” Catra said. She knew Micah had a tendency to be stubborn. Multiple times asking him to take it easy had taught her that. “Wouldn’t want the princesses to see you toppling over again.”

“It wasn’t the only reason.” Micah responded. “There is going to be a meeting regarding the heart of etheria. When I heard you were heading out, I thought we could make a side stop, help scare the jitters out of you.”

“Wow, I’m touched.” Catra responded sarcastically. Catra would be lying if she said she didn’t feel nervous, but she would die before she revealed that to anyone. It didn’t matter how much more trusting she felt of Micah

“Glad someone is at least happy I stopped by.” Micah said, sounding equally as sarcastic. “I wanted to wish you well on your first day, and hopefully scare any jitters out of ya.”

“Well, thanks I guess.” She said. “Surprised Sparkles even let this happen to be honest. Would have thought she’d have my head on a spike by now.”

Catra expected Micah to responded. Instead, he was unusually quiet. When she looked at him, he seemed genuinely surprised.

“What?” Catra asked raising an eyebrow.

That seemed to snap Micah out of his stupor. “It’s nothing. Just.. surprised to hear someone use that nickname for my daughter again.”

Catra couldn’t help but snort. “Damn, and I thought I was being original. Can I meet this person?” Whoever they are sounded like someone she could get along with.

“My friend’s daughter.” Micah responded. He looked almost pained too. It made Catra’s mood sour.

“You mean?”

“Yea.” He responded. “The one from Halfmoon.”

Catra couldn’t help but growl. Yet another thing that she could add to the long list of reasons she hated Shadow Weaver. Extra points for not even trying on this one.

“Well,” Micah started up again. “If people don’t trust you, maybe we should work on that. Is there any information about the Horde that you could help share with us? Something of value might get them to trust you more.”

Catra wasn’t really sure if there was anything worth sharing. The princesses likely would not believe a word she told them. She would have to share something of substantial value in order for to even think about it. Maybe she could share info about the Horde's plan for attacking Saleneas

Wait a minute. Maybe that wasn't all she could give them. News of a certain shapeshifting spy might be pertinent information. It wouldn’t be good to mention here though. There was too high a risk of alerting them that she knew of their presence, and like hell would Catra miss a chance to get the drop on them after what they did.

“As a matter of fact, there are some things that I can think of.” Catra said. “Maybe you can have them arrange for a meeting or something. I’ll see what else I can come up with in the meantime.

“Excellent.” Micah responded. “Well, you should get going. Wouldn’t want to hold you up any longer than I already have.”

“Yea.” Catra responded. “Here’s to hoping I don’t get killed on the first day.” She said sarcastically, causing Micah to chuckle. There is a strange joy in seeing him laugh, that helps to somewhat relax the feline.

It doesn’t last too long though, as Scorpia and Sparkles choose that moment to come back.

“Not to interrupt,” said the sparkly queen. “But we all have business we need to attend to. Scorpia, if you would?”

“Right.” Scorpia responded. She proceeded to tap Catra on the back with a claw to signify they should be on their way. The feline couldn’t help but feel agitated. It felt like Scorpia had fallen into a rerun of their own relationship in the Horde. The only difference was that Scorpia didn’t have a crush on Sparkles. At least, not that she was aware of.

“Sooo.” Scorpia started, sounding nervous. “What did you and Micah talk about?”

Catra looked over at the other woman. She was honestly surprised that Scorpia was offering some small talk. She considered telling her about Double Trouble, but once again decided not to. They were and public, and Scorpia was not exactly the most silent when being told a big surprise.

“He’s just hoping I do well.” She responded. He was likely the only one that did. Everyone else at this point was probably hoping she crashed and burned. Some probably hoped to do the dead themselves.

“That’s good.” Scorpia responded. “I was kinda afraid that maybe it was something bad and that maybe-.”

“Scorpia.” Catra interrupted. “I’m fine. I don’t think Micah would even want to see me getting hurt.” Surprisingly.

“That’s good.” Scorpia responded.

“How about you?” She asked. “What did you and Sparkles talk about?”

“Oh you know. Just making sure I’m still ok with doing this.”

“Are you?” Catra asked.

“Yea.” Scorpia responded, although Catra wasn’t too sure it sounded believable. “I wouldn’t have volunteered if I wasn’t.”

Well that was another surprise for Catra. She had figured that Scorpia had been voted as the best candidate. At least, she thought that wasn’t the reason Adora was here right now.

Catra sighed. “Well, you didn’t have to, you know? You’re the last person who should want to see me again.”

“Yea. It’s just.. I feel like something could be different.”

Well something was different alright. The thing is, Catra wasn’t sure she had the strength to admit it. She had to try though, shouldn’t she? She owed Scorpia that much.

“Scorpia, I-“

“There you two are.”

Catra looked up and noticed a group of people in a set of wagons. It seems they had reached their destination.

“The queen informed us you two would be coming.” A man, who looked like a lead officer, informed them. “What the hell took you two so long?”

“Don’t worry.” Scorpia responded. “The queen was just seeing us off.”

“That better have been the case.” The officer responded. “We’re already late, get in the caravan.”

The two walked into the back of the wagon and sat down on the side bench. Just when Catra thought that she wouldn’t be disturbed, the officer came over to stand in front of her.

“Don’t even think about trying anything Horde Scum!” He said. “The first sign that you even do try something, and I will have your head chopped off in a second. Are we clear?”

Catra wanted to yell back, but instead kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t really interested at the moment in bringing the axe down on her head right then and there. She settled instead for a glare.

“Crystal.” She responded.

The officer got up and walked to the front of the wagon, and with that, they started moving. All the while, Catra couldn’t help but ponder just what was in store for her.

How would everyone handle her? Would they make her suffer with the grueling work, or just give her what was available? Would they chain her up, or would they be equally stupid and leave her uncuffed?

Catra sighed. She really should have just stayed on Beast Island. It would have been far better than coming here. At least before, she knew what could potentially come of her situation. Here, she didn’t know what fate beheld her. The only thing that she knew was that she was about to get her just deserts for everything she had done.

Chapter Text

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, your highness.”

“I’m just glad I could get out of bed for a change.”

Adora had met up with Glimmer and Micah. The three of them were on their way to another alliance meeting. There was just one other person that they were planning on picking up.

“So now we just need Entrapta?”

“Looks like it.” Glimmer responded. She looked down to her dad. “You up for another teleport?”

“Like I would turn that down.” Micah said, causing Glimmer to smile. “Ready when you are.”

Adora grabbed onto Micah’s wheelchair, and in a flash, the trio were in the room where Entrapta was being held. Looking around, Adora can see that it is much like Catra’s. Entrapta is being held in a forcefield in the center of the room with a large chair. She doesn’t seem to care too much about her current predicament however, as she is currently focused on working with Emily. Upon teleporting into the room however, she looked up at them.

“Oh. Hi there.” She said.

Adora takes a look at Glimmer. The blonde is very clearly displeased.

“Was a force field really necessary?” She asked.

“She’s a prisoner.” Glimmer responded. “What did you want me to do?”

“I don’t know.” Adora responded. “Maybe not have our friend locked up.”

“Yea. A friend who betrayed us.”

“Enough, both of you!” Micah yells, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “We can argue about her living conditions later. Right now, she has information that is very important.”

Adora and Glimmer looked at each other for a moment, before the queen got to work dissolving the spell to let Entrapta free.

The scientist herself appeared to be watching curiously, as she pulled out her recorder.

“Relationships between old friends appears to have become oddly strained, perhaps as a result of challenging the new queen’s authority?”

“Entrapta?” Glimmer asked, sounding rather agitated. “Can we please save your personal projects for after the meeting?”

“Oops. Sorry.” Entrapta said, smiling, proceeding to put her recorder away.

Glimmer pulled out a jar of powder, and proceeded to pour it and close the forcefield. Once it was down, Glimmer directed Entrapta to join the rest of the group.

“Now that that’s done, we have a meeting we need to all get to.”

Glimmer then teleported the group once more, and they were in front of the door to the war room. A surprising sound of someone falling down could be heard on the landing. Looking towards the sound, Adora saw Flutterina now sitting on the floor.

“Ow.” The fairy said, rubbing her head.

“Sorry about that.” Glimmer said, helping the fairy up. “What are you doing here, Flutterina? Shouldn’t you be at your quarters?”

“Sorry.” Flutterina said. “I was on my way there, but then I heard the princesses talking in there, and I guess I just got curious about what was happening.”

“We have a meeting planned.” Adora said, speaking up.

“And with all do respect.” Glimmer said butting in. “We would like to keep the discussion on a need to know basis.”

“Ok.” Flutterina said. “It’s no problem, I’ll just-.” She trailed off, appearing to take notice of Micah. “Wait. Aren’t you like.. the king of Brightmoon?!” She finished, sounding excited.

Micah raised an eyebrow. “I am. Or well, I used to be.”

Flutterina only seemed to grow more excited. “Wow!” She said, stars in her eyes. “I can’t believe that I’m talking to the real King of Brightmoon. Everyone thought you got killed in battle, but you’re actually alive! It’s such an honor to meet you!” She grabbed his hand and started to shake it widely.

“Well then.” Micah responded. “I guess I have a reputation now.”

Flutterina then appeared to take notice of Entrapta.

“Hello.” The scientist said, waving her hair like a hand.

“Oh.” The fairy responded, before turning back to Adora. “Is she a friend of yours?”

“Yea.” Adora responded. “Flutterina, this is Entrapta.”

“Oh. Hi” Flutterina said, smiling, before it eventually faltered. “Wait, didn’t she used to work for the horde.”

“Yes.” Glimmer answered. “She was in fact.”

“But she’s with us now.” Adora quickly added in.

“Well.” Flutterinna says. “If Shera says that she’s a friend, then I trust her.”

Adora wasn’t sure how that logic worked, but she decided not to question it. Although, she couldn’t help but feel guilty when Glimmer glared at her.

“Hold on a second.” Flutterina suddenly responded. “Since he is back now, does that mean you have to step down?” She asked Glimmer, pointing to Micah.

Glimmer's reaction was instantaneous. “No. I won’t be stepping down!” She said angrily.

“I mean, it’s fine if you have to.” The fairy responded. “I know you really shouldn’t be queen since he’s alive. I’m bummed too, but rules are rules.”

Adora could see Glimmer’s anger fester. Her fists tightened and she growled angrily. Before she could do something she regretted though, Micah grabbed her hand, shaking his head. She took a breath to calm herself down.

“We decided that my daughter would continue as queen.” He said. “And that I would act as an advisor.”

“Oh, ok then” Flutterina responded, before turning back to Glimmer. “That sounds great. Plus you can get a great deal of advice from someone with a great deal of experience.”

Adora noticed Glimmer wince at that last part. Not really liking where the conversation was going, she decided to jump in.

“Yea it is.” The blonde said. “If you don’t mind, we really don’t want to keep our friends waiting.”

“Oh right, sorry.” Flutterina said. “I’ll catch you all later then.” And with that, she walked away. Adora breathed a sigh of relief that the tension had faded.

The blonde looked over to catch a glare from Glimmer. The nerves returned, but Glimmer spoke up before Adora could say anything.

“Come on, we’re already late for this.” She said as she pushed her father into the meeting room. Adora chose not to respond. Instead, choosing instead to follow Glimmer inside with Entrapta.

Everyone else was already in their seats. Adora and Entrapta took their own seats, while Glimmer wheeled her father beside her own chair.

“I thank you all for sticking around for this meeting.” Glimmer started. “The topic of discussion is something of great importance in this war.”

Adora’s attention was attracted by a noise at the door, but upon looking over, hadn’t seen anyone. She dismissed it as nothing.

“We’ve made the discovery of something that could help turn the tide of the war.” Glimmer continued. “To help present on the topic is someone you all know well. Entrapta, if you would?”

“Right.” Entrapta said, getting up out of her seat, albeit a little too excited with herself. Entrapta rather excitedly got up out of her seat.

“Beast island would appear to be a place where the first ones would dispose of secrets they wanted no one else to know about. One of these secrets was a super weapon they called, ‘The Heart of Etheria’.”

“If they disposed of it.” Mermista asked. “Does it even still work?”

“That’s what we are here to find out.” Glimmer answered. “Our goal today is to see what the heart is capable of, and determine if it is a viable asset. Entrapta?”

“The heart is designed to work with each runestone. It can either draw power from each one to fire a power blast, or send additional energy to each of them.”

“What happens if it does that?” Perfuma asked.

“It’s hard to say.” Entrapta responds. “But I predict that it would cause an increase of magical energy output in the runestones. It could have many different effects, including increased power output among the princesses.”

“Wait.” Glimmer interrupted, beginning to sound excited. “Does that mean it could help to boost our powers?”

“Hypothetically speaking, yes.” Entrapta responded. “All of your powers would have a significant boost in magic power and efficiency.”

Everyone seemed to take interest in the conversation at that point.

“This is incredible.” Glimmer said, excitedly. “We could be supercharged! We could finally take the fight back to the horde.”

“Is it safe to do though?”

All eyes turned to Micah from his sudden question. Adora couldn’t help but feel relieved that someone was speaking up against this idea.

“Well, it’s hard to say exactly.” Entrapta started. For starters, it is hard to say how much energy is being stored in the heart. Plus we don’t know how much energy the runstones can handle. If the heart is storing far more energy, it is possible that the runestones could overload and cause total calamity across Etheria. It could also be possible that there is little energy being stored. There would be no additional charge to enhance the runestones and a blast could sap what is left.”

No one was really following when Entrapta finished, they simply stared at the scientist. The only thing that Adora could really follow was that using the Heart was bad. She made a move to speak up, but then Entrapta noticed everyone’s stares.

“Oh sorry.” Entrapta started. “There can either be too much energy that is bad for the runstones, or too little such that we use up what is left.” She said slowly, choosing words that everyone could follow. Adora was honestly surprised that Entrapta had chosen words that everyone could understand.

“Um, thanks Entrapta.” The blonde said.

“No problem.” Said the scientist. “I figured since Catra usually likes me to explain using less complicated words that you would all prefer that as well.”

Oh. So Catra had helped her learn that. Adora couldn’t help but feel guilty all of a sudden. All the princesses had tried to be good friends with Entrapta, but it was Catra who had helped the scientist out best with her problems. All Adora could do was hang her head.

“Not to interrupt.” Micah interjected. “But we are getting off topic. Entrapta, would you argue that there is too much danger in using the Heart?”

“Of course there is danger in using it.” Entrapta responded, sounding a little too excited for Adora’s liking. It gave her a really bad feeling for Entrapta’s opinion. Lone behold, the scientist’s next words proved her right. “But there is always a danger to using things like this. There is so much potential in using this.”

Adora took her moment to chime in. “But what exactly would happen if we would use it? What if the runestones overload?” It needed to be answered, because there were just too many possibilities, most of them bad.

“Could the princesses lose their powers?

Everyone turned toward Perfuma to find her with a rather worried look. Now that, that would be the worst case scenario. If the princesses lost their powers, they wouldn’t stand a chance against the horde. They’d loose in seconds.

“It’s hard to say for certain.” Entrapta responded. “But it is certainly a possibility. I would need more data to calculate how possible it is to happen.”

“But it is possible to happen, right?” Micah asked.

“Well, yes but-.”

“Who cares?” Mermista said, interjecting. “I’d say that its a risk we have to take.”

“I’m with Mermista.” Glimmer interjected. “If using the heart means we have a chance to end the war, we have to take it.”

“Glimmer.” Micah spoke up. “Are you sure that’s wise? There’s a really good chance that things could go wrong. Plus, if someone like Shadow Weaver could-.”

“We currently have Shadow Weaver locked up.” Glimmer interrupted. “Dad, why are you doing this? We have a chance to put an end to the war with this.”

“Glimmer, I’m for taking risks.” Micah started. “But this is too great of a risk. If something ends up going wrong-.”

“We can get around them. Entrapta is the best mind we know. She can help find a way to mitigate the negatives.”

“Ooh does that mean I’m going to work on it?” Entrapta added.

“This might not even be possible to do.” Micah responded. “We don’t even know where this thing is.”

“Actually,” Entrapta interrupted. “I can’t say for certain, but it is most likely somewhere in the beacon in the whispering woods.”

Micah and Glimmer both looked at Entrapta for a moment, looking surprised, before turning back to their own argument.

“Still.” Micah said. “We don’t even know what we can do.

“What we can do,” Mermista said, interjecting. “Is use the heart. I don’t get why this is a hard decision.

“But you heard them,” Perfuma added. “It presents too much danger.”

“We don’t even know how much danger there is.” Adora chimed in. “How do we even know we can handle the energy from boosted runestones anyway.”

“Please Glimmer.” Micah said. “Just think this through. Using this presents too much danger.”

Adora watched as Glimmer contemplated her options. For a moment, she was afraid that the queen would demand that the heart still get used. Luckily, things didn’t go as bad.

“Fine.” Glimmer said. “But we are not done discussing this.” Noone argued back. Adora was tempted but decided it was not worth it.

“Entrapta. In the meantime, we’ll have your quarters arranged to better study the heart and other first one’s tech.”

Entrapta squealed and clapped in glee. Glimmer could only roll her eyes.

“If we find a way to lessen the danger I seriously want to reconvene on this.” Glimmer said turning back to her father.

Micah sighed. “If the benefits outweigh the dangers, I’ll consider it, but only then.”

Adora felt worried that Micah was even considering it, but supposed there was really no alternative. Glimmer was so dead set on using the heart, that she would never take no for an answer.

“For now, this meeting is adjourned. We will reconvene once more information has been received.”

The mood appeared mostly disgruntled, but all departed without much complaint. Adora stayed behind with Glimmer, Micah, and Entrapta as everyone else made their way out.

“We’ll take you back to your quarters, Entrapta.” Glimmer said. “We’ll arrange for your lab to be set up there.”

“Okeydokey.” Entrapta responded rather excitedly.

Glimmer grabbed her father’s wheelchair, and the group was on their way.

Everyone was quiet the whole walk. Entrapta was dropped off at her quarters with no problems. Adora did wonder if the force field would be replaced though.

Eventually, Micah spoke up.

“Glimmer, has your aunt been doing well?”

Adora was about as equally surprised as Glimmer was when the question was asked.

“She’s doing fine.” She responded. “She’s one of the head sorcerers in Mystacor.” She paused. “Oh shoot, I didn’t think to tell her about you being back.”

“It’s fine.” Micah said. “Why don’t we arrange a meeting for the three of us? There is something I thought about that I want to discuss with her actually.”

“What about?” Glimmer asked.

“It’s about the magicats.” He responded. “And Catra.”

“Oh.” Adora instantly noticed the change in Glimmer’s mood.

“Are you alright Glimmer?” Micah asked.

“I’m fine.” She responded, clearly dodging. “I’ll make sure to contact her. Maybe we can all talk to Shadow Weaver once she’s here. At least, if you feel up to it.”

“I think we can arrange that.” Micah responded. “The sooner we can discuss a plan of action for her, the better.”

“I agree.”

“You’re meeting with Shadow Weaver?” Adora asked.

Glimmer and her father turned to face the blonde. All of a sudden, Adora’s nerves were heightened.

“If you have to know Adora, it’s more of an interrogation.” Glimmer said. “We are attempting to see what information she can give before we pass a judgement on her.”

“I’ll be right there with her, Adora.” Micah said. “If she tries something, I’ll be ready.”

“I could come too.” Adora responded. “I know what she is like. If she pulls anything I can-.”

“It’s fine Adora.” Glimmer interrupted. “We can handle it.”

“But-”

“I said we can handle it.” Glimmer’s voice was rising now. “If you want to help, we need to be monitoring Horde activity. We need to be ready for their next move.”

Adora sighed. There really wasn’t any arguing with Glimmer when she was like this.

“Fine.” Adora responded. Glimmer eyed her for a moment before walking away. Adora turned in the opposite direction and did the same. For a short moment, she regrets her decision, fearing that something bad could happen. For now though, she heads back to her room, needing some time to think things over.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The refugee camp in Brightmoon had been quiet today. Most people had gone out with the repair convoy. It made flutterina’s jog back to her tent that much easier.

Once inside, they shifted into their real form and pulled out their pad. Double trouble couldn’t help but ponder recent events, smiling in glee. They had thought this rebellion spying job would get boring. At first they were right, but three new arrivals had created a twist they couldn’t wait to see the result of.

The face of the horde’s leader popped onto the screen.

“You're earlier than expected, Double Trouble.” Hordak said. “This had better be important.”

“Oh believe me it is.” The shapeshifter reasoned. “For starters, it appears a few new performers have been called on stage.”