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Chapter Text

It had been a week since the attack on Brightmoon. The princesses had spent a majority of the time since helping out Queen Angela with repairs to the castle and the forest. Perfuma was regrowing the destroyed vegetation, seeing as most of what got repaired was immediately destroyed by Horde tanks upon their retreat. Others like Mermista and Glimmer were doing their best to oversee the reconstruction of the castle (along with Sea Hawk who wasn't necessarily helping anyone but was there for "moral support").

Some princesses went home. Frosta had left her kingdom quite quickly when she had rushed to the battle and didn't want to cause a panic by staying away any longer. Others were busy advising the Queen about her next move and who better than Spinerella and Netossa?

Everything was beginning to look up for once. Everyone was in their right place it seemed.

So why did Adora feel so miserable?

•••••

"You should really stop moving. It'll make this a lot easier."

"You didn't have to help Bow."

"Yeah well," Bow rolled his eyes, "What else was I gonna do?"

Adora sighed as the boy continued to clean her wounds, that being the ones on her back. The ones that were left by...Adora looked down as she shoved the thought out of her mind. She didn't want to think about it. Of course, how could she not when she could feel the claw marks stretching from her shoulders down to her waist every time she moved?

"You should take better care of yourself Adora, especially when you're healing. You can't just get back up and start training again. It'll take time for these to properly close up and you can't risk them splitting open...for a third time." Bow raised his eyebrow at the last phrase.

Adora scoffed. She should be out there helping or at least training. The Horde could come back any moment and where would she be? On bed rest. She hated it. She wasn't built for 'taking it easy' as Bow and Glimmer would call it. Besides, she had always been taught in the Horde not to show weakness. The bandages currently being wrapped around her upper body felt like a glowing neon sign.

"Thanks Bow," Adora said half-heartedly. She pulled her shirt back on, cautious not to loosen any of the bandages Bow had so carefully applied.

"I'm gonna go see if Glimmer needs any help. I'll see you at dinner, alright?"

"Yeah," Adora winced a little as she laid down on her bed. "Have fun."

"And Adora," Bow grinned widely, "If you sneak out of here again I will personally fight you to the death."

"You'd lose."

"Fine," Bow shrugged as he closed the door, "Then I'll just send Glimmer. And then you'll be doomed."

Adora couldn't help but chuckle at his parting words. She had to admit that she'd rather not be on the receiving end of Glimmer's uppercut.

Instead of helping around the castle, Adora found herself doing the only thing she could: staring at the ceiling, something she had become all too familiar with in the past seven days. She couldn't help it when her mind found itself wandering back to the attack. To the Horde.

To Catra.

Adora shook the thought out of her head. Catra made her choice in that temple. Who was Adora to stop her?

•••••

Night was approaching fast and Adora was now sitting at her window, staring out at the forest. The sunset cast an orange color throughout the sky, reminding her of all the nights she had snuck up to the rooftops of the Horde.

She watched as the sun set behind the trees, as the birds flew through the air in a hunt for a midnight snack, as a mysterious figure hobbled towards the castle, as-

Wait a second, Adora thought as her eyes snapped back to the ominous shadow stumbling along in her direction. Is that...Catra?

The girl rubbed her eyes, confident that they had just been playing tricks on her and that drowsiness was clouding her judgement. And yet, sure enough, Adora could never mistake that silhouette for anyone else.

"This better be good," Adora muttered as she grabbed her sword and slid down the wall to the ground floor.

Sure enough Catra was there, that Adora could confirm. She wasn't hallucinating. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing still wasn't exactly clear. As Adora neared closer though, the answer didn't become any clearer.

To say the least, Catra had seen better days. Her face was badly bruised, sporting a black eye and a cut running down the left side of her face from the tip of her eyebrow angling down to the bottom of her ear. She was holding her lower waist, the area even in the inky blackness displaying a dark shade of red. The reason she was having issues walking was due to her right leg, which was bent in an odd angle.

For a split second, Adora felt herself prepare to rush to the other girl, to make sure she was ok, to get her somewhere safe. Then she froze. What if this is a trap? Why was Catra even here? What happened?

"If you're thinking about calling for reinforcements," Catra croaked out in a hoarse voice, "I wouldn't recommend it. Obviously, I'd take 'em down in a heartbeat." As she said so, she stumbled and fell to the ground, cursing as she landed on her hurt leg.

Adora wasn't quite sure what to do. Was Catra alone? Did whatever do this to her follow?

The sound of her enemy's distressed coughing drew Adora's attention back to the reality of the situation. Catra was here, Catra was hurt, and for all Adora knew, Catra was dying.

With a frustrated sigh, Adora placed her sword behind her back in its sheath and knelt beside the bleeding girls side. The injury on her side was a lot worse up close. She was losing a lot of blood.

"Catra? What happened?"

"I didn't-" A coughing fit overwhelmed her before she could finish. Adora helped sit Catra up until she could speak again. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"Catra?" Adora picked her up and began towards the castle. "Stay with me now. Who did this to you?"

Her eyes began to droop as she spoke and she spoke in between gasps of breath. "It's a...long...story..."

Oh god. Oh no. Adora shook the young force captain but it seemed the latter had passed out in her arms. At least she was still breathing but how much longer before she hit critical condition?

Adora surveyed her options. She couldn't reach her room from the outside, at least not carrying Catra. It's not like she could just walk through the front door past the night guards either. What would she say when they questioned her? Oh no, this isn't the Horde leader who led a siege on Brightmoon. You must be thinking of the other sociopathic maniac.

Still, no matter how much bad blood there was between the two girls, Adora couldn't leave an old friend like this.

"Catra, I swear...you'll be the death of me."

Chapter Text

There are times when a person comes up with an idea so brilliant that it astounds the very being of the universe on how it could've been formulated so perfectly in the first place. Adora's plan to get Catra into the castle? That wasn't one of those ideas.

Placing the unconscious girl on the ground momentarily, she climbed up to her room through the window and grabbed a cloak that was far too large for her. Sliding back down to the ground, she hastily pulled Catra onto her back, with her arms around Adora's neck and head resting just behind hers. The scars on her back ached from the weight but Adora didn't mind much. Throwing the hood on and covering her body as much as possible, Adora did her best to act perfectly natural as she walked towards the front entrance. Two guards stood by the gate at attention, although one looked like they might've been asleep.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

Adora prayed to every single entity there was that they wouldn't ask too many questions.

"It's just me, Adora!" The girl waved at the two in an act-natural sort of way.

The guards hastily put down their weapons at the sight of the princess but their confused expressions only deepened.

"Princess? What are you doing out here so late at night?"

"Oh!" Adora's eyes widened. "Why am I out here? Y'know that is an excellent question. A very good question, yeah. You see I was out...berry picking! Yes!"

"You were...berry picking?" Guard One asked skeptically. The second one was eyeing the massive lump behind her just as suspiciously.

"What do you got in that there cloak madam?" The second asked.

"It's...a berry." Adora cursed herself.

"A berry?"

"It's a very big one."

"Well regardless of the fact, we are under strict orders from Princess Glimmer not to let you do anything to strain your back injuries. Please, let one of us take your...berry for you."

If it was possible for Adora to implode in that moment she would have. "Whaaat? No, that's not necessary. See, I'm She-Ra and I got muscles for days so nope, no worries here!" She smiled hoping to god they wouldn't see through her.

"Right..." The guards looked at each other unsure of what to do. With a shrug, they decided not to press any further and opened the gate.

Seeing as she couldn't get out of there faster, Adora rushed through the gate and towards the staircase as fast as she could. Apparently though she wasn't fast enough.

"Miss? Is that blood?"

What now? Adora looked down to see her cloak had become red on one part of it and a few drops of blood had dripped onto the floor.

"Berry juice!" Adora confirmed. Without waiting for a response, Adora ran to her room as fast as she could while carrying Catra. When she finally got inside she locked the door and placed the girl on her bed, throwing the cloak into a corner of her closet.

"I've got to say I am so glad you weren't awake for that," Adora mumbled to herself as she searched for the medical kit in her room. Bow had left it behind in case she ever needed a quick fix on her injuries. It turns out that the group's admittedly annoying caregiving had paid off.

Using training she had gained from the Horde, Adora did her best to clean up the wounds, starting with Catra's bleeding side. It looked as if she might've been stabbed, seeing as there were no bullets or anything. Adora cleaned it and did her best to stitch up the wound. Luckily, no vital organs seemed to have been pierced. As for the girl's leg, it was definitely broken. Adora put together a make shift splint. She tended to the rest of the cuts and scrapes with some bandages.

Adora watched as Catra slept. There were still so many questions racing through her mind. How did this happen? Why would Catra come here of all places? What would've happened if I hadn't noticed her outside?

Nothing made sense to Adora and yet it seemed she would have to wait until her unconscious guest woke up to get any answers.

Chapter Text

Catra groaned as she slowly opened her eyes to the brightness of her surroundings. Everything seemed to hurt, especially when she moved. She tried to sit up but found the action a lot harder than she had anticipated and would have fallen off the bed she currently laid on had someone not caught her in their arms before she had the chance.

"You shouldn't move too much. Your side is still in bad shape."

The voice was hazy, just like everything else Catra could see and hear. The person holding her carefully placed her back on the bed, making sure her head was supported by a pillow underneath. She was basically sitting up but her head was still spinning. It was taking longer for her to adjust it seemed. She pressed her hands against her temple in an attempt to ease the pain and jog her memory. Where was she again?

"Here, take some water."

Catra felt someone bring a glass to her lips in which she gratefully drank, despite the cold liquid burning against her sore throat. Her eyes were getting more used to the area when they focused on the glass, then the hand attached to the glass, and then finally the person attached to the hand.

Let's just say, it wasn't the calmest reaction.

Instinctively, Catra felt her fight or flight kick in when her vision focused on Adora. Whirlwinds of emotions hit her like a truck. She tried her best to get to her feet but the moment she stood up she fell to the ground, banging her elbow on the way down.

"To be fair, I did just literally warn you not to move." Adora raised an eyebrow at the girl glaring up at her.

"Oh, go to hell," Catra coughed from the floor. "What did you do to me, huh? Drug me? Knock me out?"

"I-" Adora crossed her arms in further annoyance, "-am the one who saved you last night. You're welcome by the way."

As she said the words, the memories came back ever so slowly to Catra. She remembered the fight. Going to Brightmoon. Seeing Adora. If she was being honest with herself, she had been sure she was a goner.

"Well. I bet you love this then," Catra spat. "Playing the hero like always."

"Yeah well, it was that or let you bleed out under my window. Or let you get captured by the guards outside. Or-"

"Whatever, I get it. Are you going to help me up or not?"

Begrudgingly, Adora picked up the girl and placed her back on the bed. "For the record, if you fall again, you're sleeping on that floor."

Catra ignored her as she looked over herself. Her clothes had ripped at the injuries, now covered by pristine white bandages. That is, the parts that hadn't been darkened with ugly red stains. Catra found that she smelled like metal and every time she moved a stabbing pain shot up her side. Not to mention, she couldn't even stand on her broken leg.

Adora's expression turned from distaste to concern. Her voice got quieter even as she asked, "What happened to you?"

The other girl's body tensed and she bit her tongue as she debated how to answer that question.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I could help." Adora added, avoiding eye contact by playing with the cuffs of her jacket sleeves.

With a long sigh, Catra settled on the most viable answer: the truth. "Shadow Weaver escaped. I don't know how but...let's just say she wasn't happy to see me again. When I saw she escaped I tried following her on my own before Hordak could notice but she must've planned on it." Catra clenched her fist as she relived the fight. "She tricked me. Ambushed me. Obviously it didn't end in my favor." I failed, Catra added silently to herself.

"Where's Shadow Weaver now?"

"I don't know."

"Why would she try to kill you?"

"I don't know."

"Is she coming to Brightmoon? Is she still trying to kill you? Does she want-"

"What part of 'I don't know' don't you understand?" Catra snapped. "It doesn't matter where she is now. Hordak probably knows what's happened by now and that means that I can say goodbye to my position as second in command."

"You're second in command. Since when?!" Adora threw her hands up in the air. None of this was making sense to her and it was as if her problems were piling up one by one.

"Geez, you don't have to sound so surprised. If you were in the Horde still I guess you'd have known about that, huh?" Catra growled. "Honestly, I think I would have rather'd you left me out there."

"Well that's too bad Catra." Adora's voice began to rise in frustration. "Because you know what? As long as you can't walk, you're stuck here."

"So I'm a prisoner now, is that it?"

"You were the one that came to me. Even if you're not going to be grateful for it, you know I saved your life and I'm sorry if I don't have it in me to send you out there to possibly be killed by Shadow Weaver. No, you're not leaving here until I say so."

Catra's rage built up to insurmountable levels and it only added to her frustration that she could do nothing to act on it. She couldn't fight or retaliate. She couldn't do anything.

Adora took a step back from the bed, turning around to recollect herself. Without facing her newfound prisoner she began to address her in a more calmer tone. "I'm going down to the kitchen to get you some food. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone or so help me-"

"You'll do what? Stab me? Been there, done that."

"God, I really hate you." Adora mumbled under her breath before leaving the room and softly closing the door behind her. Seriously, what is her problem?

Adora was so preoccupied in her thoughts that she only took a few steps forward before nearly running into the small blue haired girl standing directly in front of her.

"Hey Adora! Who were you talking to?"

Chapter Text

If Adora had a dollar for every time she had panicked in the past twelve hours she would have enough money to buy herself one of those stress ball things, which aren't very expensive but could truthfully prove quite useful in these trying times.

"Frosta!" Adora said through clenched teeth. "How long have you been outside my door?"

"Approximately three and a half minutes. Have you seen Glimmer? Also who were you talking to? Were you arguing with someone? It sounded loud. Can I meet-"

"You know what Frosta?" Adora said, patting the girl on the shoulder. "I think I just heard Glimmer call your name. Did you hear that?"

"No, I didn't hear-."

"Yeah, you're absolutely right Glimmer does sound like a chicken when she screams which is why you should go and find her, it could be very important and we can't listen to her squawking all day." Adora tried her best to shove the toddler along but Frosta remained stubborn.

"But you still haven't told me who you were talking to."

"It was..." Adora racked her brain, "Swift Wind. Yes. That was who I was talking to."

"You were talking to...Swift Wind?" Frosta asked skeptically.

"Yes!" Adora fought back a scream of frustration. "Now will you please go and find Glimmer."

"But I don't know where-"

"Frosta? What are you doing up here? I told you to wait on the ground floor with the guards."

Like a knight in shining armor, Glimmer appeared from around the corner, somehow (if it was possible) more annoyed than Adora.

Frosta crossed her arms as if this was somehow Glimmer's fault. "I figured waiting for you would take too long so I came to find you."

Adora snuck away from the situation, hardly caring to stay and watch Glimmer chastise the younger girl for the fortieth time this week. She didn't need to stay long enough for Glimmer to realize that Adora shouldn't have even been up in the first place. The last thing Adora needed was the princess trying to get her back in her room- or worse teleporting the two of them there only for her to find the Horde stowaway sleeping in her bed.

"Everything's such a mess." Adora groaned to herself. She just needed to get some food, get back to her room, and then get Catra back out of her life.

But then again....Adora dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came to her. She couldn't convince Catra to join the rebellion. She's tried it over and over again to no avail. Having her here wouldn't change anything. Right?

Adora wasn't about to dwell on the thought. Catra made her decision. Adora couldn't change her mind. Instead, Adora tried to preoccupy her thoughts with other things like when she should schedule another training session with Light Hope and how she could convince Swift Wind to cover for her should Frosta try to snoop around more.

Feeling a bit better about herself Adora got ready to turn right, down one of the hallways, when she saw something: a shadow dart across her path into the left corridor. Adora instinctively grabbed her sword and began tiptoeing her way down the left pathway. She had lost sight of the figure. Actually, she had lost sight of almost everything in that area seeing as all the lights had gone out. The natural light from the windows even seemed to be blocked out by dark masses stretching up from the floor to the ceiling.

Shadow Weaver's magic.

Adora turned around only to see her exit was blocked by a large silhouette looming over her.

"Hello Adora," Shadow Weaver cooed. Her voice echoed throughout the room. "It's been too long."

"Get. Out." Adora gritted her teeth, readying herself for a fight.

"Don't worry," Shadow Weaver chuckled softly. "I have no intention of staying for long."

"You're not getting Catra."

"Catra? I want nothing to do with that pathetic girl. No, I'm here for you. I just wanted to see you like this one last time...while I still can."

"What do you mean see me like this?" Adora narrowed her eyes.

"This will be the last time I speak to you while you're still...hm, what's the word? Whole." The woman stepped closer to Adora, her darkened features becoming visible in the little light the room offered. "The next time we meet, you will be broken and it will be me who shall fix you."

"I don't need you to fix me." Adora tightened her grip on her sword. "I don't need you."

"Not yet. But rest assured, you and I will meet again and it will be you who will beg for my help. You do not need fear this. I will always be there for you, my child."

"I am not your child. You are not my mother. The only thing you are is out of your mind. And for the record, I'm not fooled by your party tricks." Adora waved at the shadows closing in on the two. "We both know you aren't strong enough to fight me. Leave before I make you."

"You're angry. That's good." Shadow Weaver placed a hand on Adora's flinching face. "You'll need that one day."

At her limit, Adora pulled away from the grip of her old superior officer and swiped her sword through the figure, who merely vanished in a puff of smoke. In an instant, the shadows dispersed and Adora was alone in the corridor once more.

Chapter Text

What's taking her so long?

Catra had been conscious in Brightmoon for exactly seventeen minutes and she wasn't surprised to find that the experience was less than thrilling. Did Adora seriously expect her to just stay cooped up in her room doing nothing?

Catra sat herself up and surveyed the room. It was so much brighter than anything they had in the Horde. It almost made her nauseous.

The obnoxious decor wasn't the only thing upsetting Catra though. For a moment, deciding Adora wasn't likely to walk in anytime soon, she let her guard drop and let her mind wander through the mess she had created for herself. She had lost Shadow Weaver, nearly gotten killed, and got captured by none other than the legendary She-Ra herself. Hordak would be furious if he found out- when he found out.

How would she explain this when she returned? Oh hey Hordak, how's it going, just got back from letting the dangerous war criminal escape. Remember her? By the way, do you got any painkillers?

That was one thing she could appreciate about being caught. She wouldn't have to face Hordak's wrath. Not yet anyways.

"How many times must I tell you Catra? Sit up straight. Posture is a sign of respect."

Catra shot up. Her eyes widened as she saw the figure in front of her and she despised the slight inkling of fear that squirmed itself into her head. The young girl swallowed it down the best she could but it didn't change the fact that she couldn't defend herself. Getting to her feet without falling on her face was already impossible, nonetheless being able to fight.

"You come back to finish the job?" Catra snapped defiantly.

Shadow Weaver laughed as if this was the funniest thing she'd heard all day. "As much as I'd love to eradicate you from existence, I'm afraid you're still needed to serve a purpose."

"Oh really?" Catra raised an eyebrow. "Well suck it. I'm not doing anything you want me to do."

"You will," Shadow Weaver smiled. "Even if you don't realize you're doing it."

Catra kept glancing at the door. She was hoping to god Adora would walk in. She wanted anyone to walk in.

"I'm going to make this simple for you," Shadow Weaver spat, leaning close to Catra, inches away. "I'm going to offer you a way out of this. We both know Hordak won't be pleased with your failure. You've seen what he did to me when I couldn't live up to his standards."

Catra grimaced. Horrible visions of that suffocation machine, of the dark cells in the Horde, of beast island filled her mind.

"It's not completely hopeless for you though. If you play your cards right," Shadow Weaver continued, "Not only can you win back Hordak's trust but you might actually prove you're worth something."

Catra frowned. It was a trick right? It had to be. But she didn't want to get banished. She didn't want to die. "How?"

"Look where you are," Shadow Weaver motioned to her surroundings. "You're in the heart of Brightmoon. Take a moment to imagine what you could learn while you're here. Imagine the plans you could uncover and how pleased Hordak will be when you report every single detail right back to him. You'd be a hero to the Horde."

"And why would you want that? You have never given me a single thing in my life so why now?"

"Let's just say," Shadow Weaver traced a finger down one of the new scars on Catra's face, "I'm invested in your future."

Catra held her breath as Shadow Weaver drew her hand away. She was using her but Catra didn't have any other options. She couldn't go back to the Horde empty handed and spying wasn't even a bad idea to begin with. It's entirely possible she would've come up with that idea on her own given enough time.

Shadow Weaver left without getting a proper answer but deep down Catra knew the woman already knew she'd given in.

Chapter Text

Adora was admittedly shaken after her encounter with Shadow Weaver. She didn't like the idea of not knowing what that woman was planning.

"Adora?" Glimmer poked her head around the corner. "Was someone in here?"

"Not anymore." Adora shouldered past Glimmer, not really paying attention to her surroundings. What did she mean I'd need her?

"-seriously Adora, wait up." Glimmer grabbed Adora's wrist, forcing the preoccupied girl to whirl around and face her. Had Glimmer been talking to her? Oh yeah, Glimmer had definitely been talking with her.

"What's up with you?" Glimmer asked. Her eyes said worry but her incessantly tapping foot said anger. "I know you've been restless ever since that fight. Frosta said you were arguing with Swift Wind which is understandable but now I'm hearing from the guards that you're sneaking out at night, which might I remind you are not the doctor's orders."

"I'm not going to lay around doing nothing all day," Adora said, snappier than she meant to given her already agitated state. To make up for it she tried for a smile. "Besides..." She mumbled, "I was berry picking."

Glimmer wasn't having it. "You expect me to believe that."

"Yes?" Adora chuckled nervously.

"And where might these berries be exactly?" Glimmer pressed, her foot tapping ever faster as Adora fumbled through her lies.

"I...ate them."

"All of them?"

"Well I didn't pick very many."

With an aggravated sigh Glimmer began walking Adora back to her room. "I get it Adora, when I couldn't use my teleportation powers, I didn't want to be stuck doing nothing either but your scars are still healing and if you don't deal with them with care they'll never heal properly."

Adora hates to admit she was right. Her scars had ripped open again when she was carrying in Catra but it's not like she could even begin to explain the situation to Glimmer. She just wouldn't understand. She'd want to kick Catra out or something worse and Adora couldn't let that happen.

"I'll start being more careful," Adora said, "I promise." She glanced at her bedroom door which was still shut. For a split second she considered what would happen if Glimmer opened it.

"That's all I'm asking for." Glimmer playfully punched Adora's shoulder. "Was that so hard? I'll see you at the alliance meeting this afternoon, ok?"

Adora nodded, waiting until Glimmer's retreating figure left the corridor before she slid back into her room.

"Well that took forever. Where's my food?" Catra asked.

"Your what?"

"My- did you seriously not bring me anything? What were you doing out there this whole time?"

Adora groaned. She knew she had forgotten something, she just hadn't figured out what it was. Her sword? Her will to live?

"Whatever," Catra sighed. She shifted in the bed so her back was turned to Adora. Letting loose an obnoxious yawn, she added with a smirk, "You probably would of brought back something stupid like berries."

The blood ran out of Adora's face. "You heard that?"

"Every. Word." Catra grinned mischievously.

Before Adora could further interrogate her on what else she might of heard, both girls jumped at the sound of hooves meeting wood. The doors flew open and standing there in all his glory was-

"Did somebody say Swift Wind?!"

"Um...no," Catra stared in utter confusion at the creature in front of her. "Is your rainbow donkey talking?"

"Donkey?" Swift Wind scoffed, ignoring Adora rushing to close the door before anyone else came in. "Donkey? I am She-Ra's noble steed. Her fate and mine are intertwined, our destinies woven, our-"

"Swift Wind," Adora cut his speech off, "What are you doing here?"

"Frosta said you were talking to me, which was odd because you weren't, so I figured that meant you wanted to talk to me therefore-" He somehow managed to do a jazz hands with his wings, "Swift Wind is here and at your service."

Does that little toddler blab her mouth to everyone she sees? Adora thought.

"Look," Her eyes kept flashing between Swift Wind and the now seriously bewildered Catra, waiting for the dots to connect in his strange horse brain, "Now is not a good time. Now is actually the worst possible time you could have come here, but I can't let you leave and tell people about her."

Slowly Swift Wind's gaze traveled from Adora to Catra, then to Adora as if to make sure he was seeing this right, before suddenly rearing towards Catra.

"Enemy! Horde intruder!" He put a wing in front of Adora in a protective way. "Stand back evil doer, your malicious intentions will not erode our combined willpower! May you meet the might of-"

"Swift Wind, calm down!" Adora was practically holding the horse back from trampling Catra who honestly wasn't that concerned at the moment. Had she seen weirder? Not really. Did she have anything to lose? At this point, no.

"Calm down?!" Swift Wind turned to Adora and held up a wing to his mouth although he wasn't talking very quietly. "Isn't that Catra?"

"Yep that's me-" Catra was about to say before Adora rushed over and clamped a hand over the girl's mouth.

"Her cousin! She's Catra's long lost cousin...Not-Catra."

"Excuse me?" Catra muttered through Adora's hand.

"That's Catra's cousin?" Swift Wind narrowed his eyes at the girl. "Are you sure? Because she looks just like Catra. You know. The one who attacked Brightmoon and almost destroyed everything we know and love."

"You get that a lot, don't you Not-Catra," Adora fake-laughed in that stupid way that Catra knew she reserved for only her dumbest lies.

"Right," Catra nodded, wondering only for a moment if Shadow Weaver really did kill her and she had ascended into a hell-like reality.

Letting the two destiny twins (as Catra would now be referring to them as) rattle their few collective brain cells together to form something resembling a convincing narrative, Catra laid back and allowed her mind to wander back to Shadow Weaver. Was she playing into a trap by going along with spying? Did the communicator even work? It was hidden for now but what if Adora found it?

"-So that's why you can't tell Glimmer or Bow or anyone about her being here," Adora finished. "Can I trust you to keep this a secret?"

"Don't worry Adora," Swift Wind puffed his chest out, "You can trust me with anything."

Catra glanced back over at the two. The horse was weird, she had to admit, but she happened to crack a smile when she saw how flustered Adora was getting. She was a horrible liar all her life which is why Catra had to get so good at it. It reminded her of simpler times.

Catra was busy reliving some of their better schemes they had come up with in the Horde when she absentmindedly went to shift her body weight and immediately doubled over in pain.

"Catra?!" Adora rushed over to the girl, who was now clutching her side. "What happened?"

"I thought you said her name was-"

"Not the time!" Adora lifted up the girl's shirt to see the stitches had ripped open. Catra was bleeding heavily, soaking the blankets underneath her. Trying as she was to stay conscious, the sudden blood loss was making her woozy.

"Stay with me," Adora laid the girl down on her back and rushed to the medical supplies she had kept near the bed. Working with more haste than precision, Adora managed to clean it the best she could and stop the bleeding, although the tear itself had deepened the wound. "Look, I'm gonna have to reseal it."

"Just...do it," Catra groaned through gritted teeth.

A few more minutes passed, Adora trying her best to concentrate while Swift Wind paced and monologued to himself in the corner. Catra was going in and out of consciousness, though she honestly couldn't gauge which was worse. When Adora was finally done she sat back in her chair. Once Catra could feel the pain numbing away, her eyes slowly rested on her friend. Catra hadn't really noticed before the bags that had formed under Adora's eyes or the way that her shoulders sunk a bit more than they used to.

"Did you sleep at all last night?"

Adora shook her head. "Don't feel bad about it. Every night's been like that lately."

"I don't feel bad about it," Catra glowered half-heartedly, too exhausted herself to really be angry. "Just so you know though, you look like hell."

"Charming as ever," Adora rolled her eyes.

"Ok is someone going to explain to me what's going on?" Swift Wind cut in.

"This might be a bit of a shocker," Catra said in a mocking voice, "But get this...I'm not Catra's cousin. And no, I'm not her twin sister or anything else. I'm Catra. And I'm probably dying."

"If it weren't for the fact that you were horribly injured I'd hit you right now." Adora pointed an accusing finger at her. "You're such a baby, you're not dying."

"I can...see the light..." Catra reached her hand towards the imaginative unknown. "Tell Shadow Weaver...she can...suck...my-"

"Ok, no, stop, I can and will suffocate you with this pillow," Adora threatened, causing Catra to very maturely stick her tongue out at the girl and grumble about how 'you're never any fun anymore.'

Adora shook her head. Whether Catra wanted to admit it or not, she was in pain and while she wasn't dying, she was going to need a lot more than Adora's limited medical skills to help her. Eyeing Catra who was now preoccupying herself with a string hanging off one of her pillows, Adora pulled Swift Wind over to the opposite side of the room.

"Alright Swift Wind. Look. The truth is, I'm keeping Catra here until she's healed but I don't know how long that'll be at this rate," Adora admitted. "I don't know, maybe I'm in over my head, but I can't just leave her like this."

"Adora," Swift Wind placed a hoove on her shoulder, "You came to the right horse for help. I know just what to do."

"You...do?"

Galloping over towards the window and striking a grand pose, Swift Wind looked off into the distance and with the highest amount of confidence he could muster (which was a lot) stated matter of factly, "I will help fix your Not-Catra!"

"It's just Catra," The girl groaned from the bed.

"I will help fix your Just-Catra!" Leaning down so Adora could get on his back, Catra watched on in mild disbelief.

"You're just gonna leave me here? Again?"

"I'll be back, probably," Adora shrugged. "Don't die and don't leave that bed or I'll kill you."

Without another word, the two flew out the window leaving Catra alone to her thoughts once more.

"Bye Catra," She mumbled to herself. "Get well soon Catra. It's no problem, I'll leave you here to starve Catra. Idiots could've at least left me a bagel."

Chapter Text

Adora was starting to regret her blind faith in her 'noble steed.' They had been flying over the Whispering Woods for almost five minutes before she finally asked where they were even going.

"You'll see!" Swift Wind said. "Trust me, you will not be disappointed!"

Adora wasn't sure if she really believed him or not but given that she only had a limited time frame to get back to the castle before the afternoon alliance meeting, she was feeling a little on edge.

What if they came looking for me? What if they went in my room and saw Catra? Oh god, I really didn't think this out did I?

"We're here!" Swift Wind announced. Without much more warning, he dived down into the trees and into an opening. Adora blocked her face from the leaves and branches flying towards her before Swift Wind finally landed on the ground.

To Adora's surprise, she recognized her surroundings. Her suspicions of where they were was confirmed when a small old woman walked out of the hut only a few meters in front of them.

"Madame Razz?" Adora asked. Swift Wind nodded giddily, prancing over to the woman. Seemingly prepared for this visit, Madame Razz reached into her pocket and pulled out an apple as she greeted him.

"Yeah! One day I was patrolling the forest when I ran into her-" Taking the offering and talking with his mouth full, he turned back to Adora, "-and now whenever I visit she gives me, like, the best apples."

Madame Razz shuffled forward, petting Swift Wind's side. She was staring at Adora with a knowing gaze. "I knew you'd come back for Madame Razz."

"It's great to see you, really, but we have some urgent business to attend to," Adora explained. She really didn't want to be wasting time right now when she knew Catra was back home and in pain.

"Right!" Swift Wind popped his head up as if he just remembered why they were there. "Madame Razz, we need your help. Our friend has been fatally injured-"

"I don't think it's fatal."

"-and we had no one else to turn to!" Swift Wind finished.

Madame Razz nodded as if this made perfect sense. She beckoned for the two to follow her into the hut. Adora entered inside while Swift Wind just poked his head inside the door.

"What you need-" Madame Razz grabbed a book on a table nearby and began flipping through the pages, "-is a healing potion."

"A healing potion?" Adora walked forward to read the book over the woman's shoulder. "That's a thing?"

"It's difficult magic but Madame Razz might be able to do it, with the right ingredients of course." She suddenly slammed the book shut, causing Adora to jump, and shuffled over to her cupboards. "I think I have most of the ingredients here...but I am missing something."

"What is it?" Adora asked impatiently. "I'll get it for you."

"Oh you're too sweet Mara," Madame Razz grinned as she began shoveling random bottles and jars in her hands. "All I need are some berries."

"You need me to go...berry picking?" Adora's eye twitched.

"Seventeen would be ideal but I can work with fourteen if necessary."

Adora nodded. She accepted the fact that she must have angered whatever heavenly beings were watching over her right now at some point during the last two days and this was some strange hellish punishment they had given her to make her never do it again.

"Where can I find the berries?" Adora asked, already heading to the door.

"You will need to travel deep into the Whispering Woods, to an old first ones ruin."

Please say it's the beacon. Please say it's the beacon. Please say-

"It resides in a village not too far from here named Alwyn."

God dammit.

"The village is filled with many farmers. They supply the rebellion with a majority of their food."

"Including berries?" Adora asked.

"Yes!" Madame Razz slammed the jars down and waddled over to her books. "You will need to get a very specific type of berry." She opened up the book again and tore a page out to give to Adora. The photo was of a red berry, with blue leaves shaped like a clover. "Find me these. In the meantime I will begin making what I can."

Adora left Razz as the old woman began tossing things into her pot, seemingly at random but Adora wasn't about to question it. Swift Wind trotted a few steps behind her mumbling some song he had come up with on the spot.

Adora couldn't help but stare down at her feet as she walked. If she had to guess, she had only a couple hours left until the alliance meeting. She assumed she could get this done in that amount of time but what if something went wrong? She couldn't come back empty handed. Catra needed her and if Adora can't heal her on her own, then this potion has to work.

But what if it didn't? The thought nagged at Adora, twisting her insides. After everything her and Catra have been through, she still doesn't want to see her best friend hurt.

"You're agitated," Swift Wind whispered in Adora's ear, scaring the hell out of her.

"Well maybe it's because I have a talking horse breathing down my neck and judging my every action," Adora grumbled, forging on in hopes that Swift Wind would just drop it.

"No that's not it." He tilted his head. "What's eating you up? And keep in mind, I am attuned to your emotions so I'll know if you're lying."

As if I need a reminder, Adora sighed. She stopped and turned around to face her equestrian companion. Despite being a horse and lacking the ability to make human expressions, he did look genuinely concerned.

"Is it about Catra?" He asked, a knowing gleam in his eyes.

"No..." Adora avoided eye contact up until the point when she couldn't stand his staring any longer. "Ok. Yes. It's Catra."

"But were getting the ingredients to the potion right now," Swift Wind rationalized. "Everything's going to be fine."

"Maybe," Adora shrugged. She pulled her arms around her, hugging herself. "Or maybe I'm just making things worse. Once Catra's healed, who's to say she won't try to attack us. Or go back to the Horde and tell them what she's seen so far. I mean, we haven't exactly been on the best terms lately. If I heal her, what if I just give back the Horde's best weapon against us."

Swift Wind nodded, mulling over the words. He scratched his head with his hoof, thinking of what to say. He could feel the turmoil Adora was going through.

"Adora, you don't have to fix everything all at once." Swift Wind watched as Adora looked up at him with a bewildered look, prompting him to elaborate. "Right now, all we need to focus on is fixing Catra. We can deal with the rest later. You're doing the right thing by helping a friend."

Adora took in his words. Maybe he was right. Maybe this might actually turn out for the better. Maybe this was the start of something good.

"Thanks Swift," Adora smoothed down the horse's neck, bringing comfort to the both of them. "Come on, the town should only be a little bit more away."

"Shall we?" Swift Wind bent down, allowing Adora to climb on his back. Together, the two flew until they spotted the small farming village, so tucked away beneath the trees they almost missed it.

Expecting the locals to come see what was up, Adora was surprised to see no one approach them. In fact, there seemed to be no one in the village at all.

"That's weird," Adora said, dismounting Swift Wind and wandering from house to house. "Didn't Razz say this was a big outpost?"

"Adora, look."

Adora walked over to where Swift Wind was standing only to see him in front of fields of crops—or at least what was left of them.

Every last crop had been crushed. Burned. Destroyed. Off a little ways away, Adora could see a stray Horde bot wandering around, bent out of shape but still randomly firing at loose leaves and gravel.

Adora transformed into She-Ra and disposed of the bot before it could do more damage. Standing in the center of the destroyed field, she begin to realize the tragedy of the situation.

"The locals must of been run out of here," Swift Wind spoke her thoughts out loud.

"If they were that lucky. These must be victims of the Horde's siege on the Whispering Woods." Adora kicked a stray rotten apple across the now jagged lines of what was once perfectly kept dirt paths. The apple rolled down the way until it stopped by a lone patch of green. Curious, Adora inspected it to see to her astonishment that the bush bore exactly what she had been looking for.

"The berries," Swift Wind trotted up beside Adora, careful not to crush the bush. "It looks like it's just enough too."

Wasting no time, Adora carefully plucked the berries off the dying plant, the fruit was ripened and delicate in her hands. They amounted to maybe twenty total, the only survivors of the farm left.

"Let's get going," Adora said, looking around once more at the wreckage. "When we get back, maybe we can send a team out here to help any refugees nearby."

As Swift Wind bent down for Adora to climb onto his back, a Horde bot darted out from the trees, knocking Adora aside, and causing the berries to roll out of her grasp — directly into the robots path, crushing them underneath it's cold metal limbs.

Chapter Text

Shock had a way of gripping onto a person. Adora had never felt so useless, watching Catra's only hope get crushed in front of her, and Adora — standing there, helpless to stop it, frozen in place.

Swift Wind jumped into action instead, trampling the bot before it could get away. It didn't matter though. The damage had already been done.

For what felt like forever the two searched for any other sign of life, any forgotten bush or wayward berry. The field was empty.

Swift Wind said something to Adora about how they had to get back. Numbly, she climbed onto Swift Wind's back, but had he not been there she was certain she would've stayed in that field forever. How could she go back with nothing?

"It wasn't your fault," Swift Wind started. He went on, trying to explain how it was an accident and how she couldn't blame herself but it just went in one ear out the other.

Catra needed this, Adora thought to herself. I can't heal her with the sword and I can't make this right with the potion. Mumbling aloud, she let slip, "What good is She-Ra for if I can't help people?"

Swift Wind landed on the ground in front of Madame Razz's. "Don't say that. She-Ra is good for lots of things."

Adora didn't want to hear it. Every nerve in her brain rejected her companion's attempts to cheer her up. She didn't want to feel better. She wanted to hate herself for this. She wanted to yell and scream because if 'Adora' couldn't help around the castle then 'She-Ra' was at least suppose to do something. She was suppose to be better and she just wasn't.

Swift Wind wasn't sure what to say. He could feel her grief secondhand. This was about more than Catra, he realized. Leaving Adora to stay lost in her thoughts, Swift Wind went to retrieve Madame Razz.

Adora stared down at her sword, detransforming. The ache in her back that flared up almost as soon as she did made her want to vomit. She'd definitely overexerted herself, and what for? If she couldn't even save Catra, how could she be expected to save Etheria.

"Mara, dear, why the long face?" Madame Razz came shuffling out of the hut.

"I failed," Adora's voice cracked. "I couldn't get you what you needed."

Razz took in the information slowly. Each passing second made Adora squirm self-consciously under Razz's gaze.

Then, as though realizing the gravity of what Adora had just said, Razz motioned for Adora to lean down so she could place a hand on the young girl's shoulder.

"Adora, you have not failed," She cooed warmly.

"But I-"

"Listen to Madame Razz," She chuckled good heartedly. "She knows more than you think."

Adora nodded, keeping her mouth shut.

"You ask too much of yourself. The very fact that you have asked for help means you have not failed." Seeing Adora's confusion, she clarified. "You do not need to do this on your own. Trust yourself, and trust that those who care about you will help bear your load."

"Is this...still about the potion?" Adora frowned.

"It can be about whatever it needs to be about." Razz smiled before perking up. "Which reminds me! Take this." She held out a small vile, filled with a light blue liquid.

"I don't understand." Adora placed it in her hands carefully. "What is this?"

"The healing potion of course!" Razz banged her broom on the ground as if this should've been obvious.

"But you said you needed the berries to finish it." Had it been some miracle? Had she found a substitute?

"Oh, don't make me laugh! I didn't need the berries to finish the potion!" Razz belted. "The potion itself tastes terrible and herring berries are the only thing that can mask the flavor."

Adora took in a deep breath. She spoke slow and deliberately. "Do you mean to tell me that I spent an hour looking for those berries...so Catra wouldn't mind the taste?"

Considering Adora looked like she was contemplating murder at that moment, Swift Wind decided it was time for them to be on their way to Brightmoon. Bidding Razz goodbye, the two rushed back to the castle to find Catra, glaring up at them as she laid on the floor.

"Seriously?" Adora laughed. "Again?"

"Shut it," Catra groaned. "You two were gone long enough. I thought I was going to starve to death. Are you going to help me up or not?"

Adora got her back into the bed, the latter asserting that she could've gotten back up on her own and that she just thought the floor was comfier.

Adora slid next to Catra on the bed, practically beaming. "I got something for you."

"Are you going to tell me what it is or are you just going to look at me like a crazy person for the next hour?" Catra asked.

"Curtesy of Madame Razz, this-" She handed Catra the bottle, "-should heal you up before you know it."

Catra stared at it, a number of concerns weeding their way into her head. One: this was magic and given her track record with the stuff, it's not like she was too eager to take any part in it. Two: if this really worked then Adora would probably send her back to the Horde, which meant her plans to spy would be ruined. And you'd have to leave Adora, she thought subconsciously. She couldn't help but admit she had missed this. It'd been a while since they had taunted each other without the sounds of tanks firing behind them.

"Look, I have to go to my meeting but you go ahead and take that," Adora insisted. "It should kick in within an hour and then..." She didn't finish the sentence but instead said goodbye to Catra and walked away. Things were turning up after all. As she walked down the hallway, she thanked Swift Wind. She admittedly needed a win.

Meanwhile, Catra sat on the bed, staring at the potion. It glowed faintly in her hand. Contemplatively she looked down at her wounds. They didn't look like they were getting any better. If she didn't take some serious care of herself, they could get infected or worse. It wasn't impossible for them to heal on their own though, right?

Feeling guilty about it, she decided to hide the potion under the bed alongside the communicator Shadow Weaver had given her. When Adora got back she would tell her it didn't work. At the very least it would buy her more time. This way she still had the potion in case she needed it, just saving it for a rainy day.

Catra closed her eyes. These past few months, she hadn't gotten much rest lately. The unfortunate thing was, she had a feeling this wasn't going to help her sleep at all.

Chapter Text

The moon had risen high in the sky by the time Adora got back to her room. The meeting had gone on longer than expected. Then, there was the issue of Bow and Glimmer's incessant mothering. It took all of Adora's quick-thinking to convince them to examine her wounds in Glimmer's room instead of her own.

Tiptoeing inside, Adora quietly shut her bedroom door. Catra was passed out, her chest rising and falling at a steady pace.

Not wanting to disturb her friend (Could she call Catra a friend?), Adora crept to her dresser. Sliding off her jacket, Adora grabbed an extra roll of bandages she kept handy. Bow had replaced her old ones only a few minutes ago but she found the new ones were too tight, restrictive even, so she was going to have to change them again herself.

With the bandages off, Adora could take in the damage. One of the slices must of opened during her little morning adventure, much to her friends' frustration. Like they were the ones who had to deal with the pain. The other marks were healing better though, the scar tissue starting to build up.

A sharp intake of breath caused Adora to turn around. Her eyes met Catra's, whose were now wide open. Adora froze, unsure of what to do. As for Catra, she was speechless.

Say something, was the first thing to come to Catra's mind. But what was she going to say? She didn't want to say sorry. Saying sorry would be admitting she had crossed a line, that she had gone too far.

But looking at Adora's back it all made sense now, didn't it? The way she had been holding herself. The small grimaces, the squeezed fists, the way she went rigid if she turned just a touch too far to the side. The reason She-Ra hadn't been seen ever since the Battle Of Brightmoon. The little things that Adora thought Catra wouldn't notice.

No, Adora deserved an apology. That was undeniable. The words fighting their way out, Catra was just about to say it when Adora turned away.

"I can't sleep on my back anymore."

The words slipped out of Adora's mouth. Up until that moment, sure, she had been angry with Catra but not enough to really blame her for what had happened. With Catra only a few feet away though, and the open wound sending small trickles of blood down her side, all of that pent-up frustration began to rise to the surface.

"I-" Catra started but Adora wasn't going to let her off that easy.

"Everyone keeps telling me not to overexert myself." Adora wrapped the bandages around her as she spoke, the job sloppy as her hands shaked with rage, as did her voice. "They tell me to relax, but the only way I can relax is by fighting and I can't do that right now. Day after day, I sit in this room doing nothing, nothing, and it's driving me crazy knowing everyone is out there doing something while I'm just here, alone. I can't do anything. I'm useless, I'm-"

"Adora, the bandages-" Catra winced as a particularly rapid motion caused Adora's hand to catch against some scar tissue, ripping off a small piece of skin.

"And the thing is," Adora continued on, talking through the pain, not even paying attention to what she had been trying to do, the bandage roll falling to her feet, "The thing is I would never hurt you like that...like th- I would never hate you enough to-"

Adora's words were cut off by a sob, which she was surprised to find came from her. A mass of bottled-up hatred and confusion and fury swirled around in Adora's head. Everything she had been holding back for the past few weeks was spilling over, all the tears she should've cried. She felt embarrassed to be in front of Catra like this. That old nagging self-hate tormented her, made her already dreadful scenario worse, painting all of her decisions up until then in a negative light.

It wasn't right away that Adora noticed the hand that pulled her closer to the bed, or the fact that she was now crying into Catra's shoulder instead of the open air. Despite her momentary rage for the girl, Catra's soft words of reassurance helped calm Adora's out-of-control thoughts. (For a brief moment, Adora could've sworn she was back at the Horde again, with Catra at her side when it would "get too bad" as they used to call it.)

Slowly, the sobs melted into quiet cries, then into a few tears, then finally into that raw feeling of indifference once it was over. Adora didn't necessarily feel better. If anything, now her head hurt and her nose was running like a faucet — and yet, at the same time it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

Catra didn't mind the fact that her shirt was now drenched. The mild discomfort was nothing compared to what she had put Adora through. As much as she had quarreled with her before, as much as she resented her for the decisions she had made, Adora didn't deserve this.

Catra stretched her arm out a little and grabbed the bandages that Adora had discarded to the floor. Carefully, and with Adora's permission, Catra helped wrap them around properly this time, cautious not to harm the already aggravated tissue.

When she was done, she placed the roll at her side. The two were sitting up on the bed, facing each other, except Adora couldn't even look at Catra.

With a guilty sigh, Catra spoke. "You're not useless."

"What?"

"You said you felt useless," Catra said, not breaking eye contact. "Well you aren't."

Adora was quiet. She didn't know how to respond so Catra filled the silent space for her.

"You're in recovery, stupid," Catra said. "You're not suppose to be a hero right now, which I know must annoy the hell out of you since that's your whole thing." She could tell she was losing Adora a bit and hastily tried to make her point. "You need to take this time for you. It's not like you have anything to prove in the meantime. Everyone in this castle thinks you're amazing. Even when you're practically dying on the inside, you still go out of your way to help people like me." Catra paused, gathering her thoughts. "You do a lot for the rebellion, it was bound to take a toll on you eventually. I'm just...sorry it was me who made you pay that price."

Adora still didn't respond but the gleam in her eye was back, and that was enough for Catra. For a few awkward minutes the two sat in silence, unsure of what to do next.

Adora yawned. They both realized how late it was.

"I guess we should figure out who's sleeping where," Catra mentioned, aware of the fact that there was only one bed and at this point they were both badly injured enough to need it.

"I just figured I was going to sleep in the chair again," Adora said, her voice still a little hoarse from the crying.

Catra shook her head. "No way."

"Well it's not like you can sleep anywhere else," Adora pointed out. "Your injuries are way worse than mine. You need the proper support."

Both sat there in their stubbornness, neither willing to relent, when an idea popped into Catra's head. Groaning internally, she really didn't want to recommend this but she wasn't about to let Adora win this argument either. A compromise was inevitable.

"I guess we could...both sleep in the bed." Yep. Catra regretted saying it as soon as she heard the words aloud. In her attempts to hide the red blush on her face, she failed to notice Adora's face was just as red. "You know what, forget that actually, it was st-"

"That's more reasonable than anything else we would've decided on," Adora admitted bashfully, ignoring the implications of what she was agreeing to.

"Right," Catra said. So it was decided. Catra would have the right half of the bed and Adora would have the left. Simple as that.

"Wait, my left or your left?" Adora asked, lifting the sheets.

"Just lay down," Catra groaned, fighting the urge to hit her with a pillow.

Adora slid in next to her, careful to make sure neither of them touched, as if there was an invisible barrier between them. So different it was from all the times before that Catra and Adora had fallen asleep together, limbs either entangled or Catra at Adora's feet, both acutely aware of the other's breathing.

Catra felt guilty as she watched Adora get comfortable, taking note of the fact that the girl was indeed sleeping on her stomach. Her head was turned away from Catra, which was a bit of a relief because Catra wasn't sure how she would feel if she felt like Adora was watching her.

Having slept through most of the day, Catra didn't think she'd be as tired as she was. Closing her eyes, she hoped that she wouldn't have another nightmare like all the nights before. With Adora at her side though, she wondered if that was even possible.

Chapter Text

There's a few things people should know about Adora. She was top of her class, had a brilliant mind and knew every battle strategy there was forwards and backwards. To an almost aggravating degree, she was seemingly good at everything.

Catra, however, knew otherwise, because what Adora excelled at in studies, she definitely lacked in good ideas.

"This isn't going to kill me?" Catra frowned.

"No, of course not," Adora said, trying to appear confident and failing miserably. She was sitting next to Catra on the bed, puzzling out exactly how many pills she was supposed to give her. Despite knowing they were just painkillers, Catra still wasn't too eager to trust the random bottles Adora kept bringing back from the infirmary.

"If you overdose me, I will haunt you until the day you die," Catra grumbled.

"That might be soon, considering if you don't get better-" Adora handed Catra three small white pills, "-and if you don't stop being an idiot, Glimmer's gonna find you. And then she'll kill me."

"She can try," Catra laughed. "Who else is gonna give me free food? She'll have to get through me first."

"Mhm." Adora raised her eyebrow at the bedridden girl. "So terrifying."

"Shut up," Catra said playfully. Bringing her attention to the pills though, her expression turned sour. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," Adora said. "I don't want to have to listen to you complaining all day again."

"I don't complain."

"Well I can get you some peanut butter if it'll help you get them down," Adora shrugged.

"That's insulting, I don't even know what that is." Begrudgingly, Catra threw the pills into her mouth. "These taste disgusting."

"You aren't suppose to- urgh, ok just drink this." Adora handed her a glass of water that had been sitting on the bedside table. "You wouldn't even have to be taking these if that potion worked."

Catra froze up, lowering the glass of water. Sheepishly, she responded, "I told you, I don't know why it didn't do anything."

"I know," Adora sighed. "It's just disappointing is all."

Seeing how the mood had shifted, Catra lightly punched Adora's shoulder. "Hey, none of that. Pull yourself together, today's like your big day isn't it?"

"My first full day back in training, yeah," Adora smiled. She was surprised Catra remembered, or had even been paying attention when she mentioned it. Both girls had come a long way since they reconciled two weeks ago, mentally and physically. "Shouldn't you not be happy I'm training again though? I figured you wouldn't want She-Ra back in the battlefield."

Catra frowned. "No way, I can't wait to beat you again. You know, I'm practically battle ready right now if you wanna go."

"You literally just learned how to walk in that cast and you want to fight me?"

Catra nodded, moving to the edge of the bed. To make her point she stood up, wobbly at first, but eventually finding her balance.

"No falling over?" Adora feigned awe. "Truly, what will the rebellion do now?"

A knock at the door interrupted them.

"Quick!" Adora pushed Catra onto the bed and threw the blanket on top of her. "Stay quiet!"

Glimmer entered the room, eyeing Adora suspiciously. "Were you talking to someone?"

"Me? No," Adora shook her head. "Just talking to myself because...that's what I do in my free time. Talk to myself."

Glimmer nodded, her eyes finding the bottle of pills laying on Adora's night stand. "How many of those did you take? You know too many can make you loopy, right?"

"Really?" Adora glanced at the lump in her bed. "How...interesting. That seems like something they should mention on the label."

Glimmer looked worried. "Are you sure you're ready to be training again? I don't want you to-"

"I'm fine Glimmer," Adora insisted. She grabbed the pill bottle, placing it into Glimmer's hand. "To be honest, I don't even know why I grabbed these. Let's just get going."

"Oh, okay," Glimmer sounded surprised. Even so, she followed Adora out of the room.

Once the coast was clear, Catra removed the blanket from her head. So the pills make people loopy, she thought. Interesting indeed.

•••••

It felt good to punch things again. It felt even better to not be doing it in secret.

Glimmer was holding the punching bag for Adora, while Bow ran on the treadmill behind her. Otherwise the gym was empty, not seeing much use anymore since so many of the knights were out on mission.

"The Queen sure was happy to see me," Adora commented, recalling their encounter before they arrived.

"Yeah," Glimmer huffed. "She wanted you out of recovery weeks ago but-"

"But!" Bow exclaimed, wiping sweat from his forehead, "The doctors said-"

"I know what the doctors said." Adora hit the bag harder, Glimmer stumbling a bit to keep it steady. "I was there. And wait, why did Angela want me back early?"

Glimmer looked past Adora, making eye contact with Bow. She looked worried. Slowly, Adora stopped her exercise, looking between the two.

"Are you guys not telling me something?" Adora asked.

"Well, it's that..." Bow started but he stopped under Glimmer's glare.

"It's nothing," Glimmer assured Adora. She motioned for Adora to start punching again, hiding herself behind the bag, but Adora persisted.

"Glimmer." Adora pushed the bag aside, looking down at her with a look of concern. "What's going on?"

Glimmer took a deep breath, walking over to one of the benches along the side of the wall. "We've lost a lot of villages to the Horde since the Battle of Brightmoon. Too many. And the forest...we're losing that too."

Bow slowed his run to a jog then to a walk as the treadmill decelerated. Stepping off the machine he grabbed his water bottle and joined the two. "If things keep going like they have, the Horde could invade the castle again and soon. They've almost reclaimed a fourth of our territory as it is."

"But that's almost as much as we gained back when I first started fighting," Adora said. She turned to Glimmer angrily. "Why wasn't any of this mentioned in the council meetings?"

"You were still recovering. Everyone agreed it was better not to worry you," Glimmer admitted.

"Everyone?" Adora looked between the two in disbelief. "So I can't make decisions for myself anymore?"

"I knew you'd react like this," Glimmer mumbled to herself.

"I could've handled it," Adora argued. "I should've been out there fighting."

"No, you shouldn't of." Glimmer stood up. "I didn't like the call we made but it was the right thing to do. You could've hurt yourself even more or worse."

"I hate to say it but Glimmer's right," Bow said. "You had to let your injuries heal correctly. We couldn't risk you."

Adora gritted her teeth. Walking towards the locker room, she was about to leave but she stepped back inside for one last comment. "You still shouldn't of kept this from me. I would've listened to you if you had told me. You guys know that, right?"

Bow and Glimmer looked down ashamedly. Adora left them there, wanting to just get out of her workout clothes and take a shower.

Taking off her tank top and throwing it onto the bench, Adora sat down with her head in her hands. A fourth of Brightmoon's territory. She couldn't believe it. All of the progress she and the rebellion made, gone in the matter of a few weeks.

Bitterly, she cursed herself for getting them into this mess. After all, if she hadn't been hurt or if she hadn't pushed Catra so far…

In her high hopes, Adora had forgotten the role Catra had to play in that attack. She was the one who caused Adora's injuries in the first place. A part of her wondered if Catra even knew what the Horde was accomplishing without her. In some weird way, maybe they could relate to each other. They had both been sidelined after all.

With the full intention of rationalizing this out in the showers, Adora was about to undress further when she heard a loud clang behind the rows of lockers.

Grabbing her shirt and throwing it back on, Adora crept towards the noise. "Hello? Anyone in here?"

In response, Adora heard some muffled giggling and what sounded like metal sliding across the floor. Cursing that she had left her sword in her room, Adora snuck a look around the corner of the lockers to see...nothing.

"Weird," Adora mumbled. She walked to the middle of the walkway, noticing a thin line cut into the cement flooring, leading out of sight, like someone had scraped it with something sharp.

Turning around, Adora saw the edge of a shadow slip by. She wasn't quick enough to see the full figure. Feeling her nerves settling in, Adora raced through different scenarios. Was this some strange prank? Shadow Weaver?

"Is someone else in here?" Adora asked, louder now. "Show yourself."

Adora stiffened as she felt a presence behind her. A hand on her shoulder. "Turn around," a voice whispered in her ear.

Adora turned to see...what on earth was she looking at?

"Did somebody say She-Ra?!"

Catra was standing in front of her with a glazed look in her eyes. She was wearing Adora's jacket and was waving She-Ra's sword above her head, dangerously close to both of them.

"Be careful with that!" Adora said, unsure whether she was suppose to laugh or not. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you in the room? Did anyone see you?"

"Chill out," Catra said, dropping the sword and leaning on the locker. "I was just uh, I was She-Ra!"

"Stop. Yelling." Adora grabbed the sword and placed it out of reaching distance. "Someone's going to hear us."

"Everybody left," Catra assured her, stammering about everyone going to the garden.

"Please tell me no one saw you," Adora said. She mentally took note that three pills were definitely too much. Hopefully the effects wouldn't last much longer because Adora had no idea how she was suppose to get them back to her room.

"No one saw nothing," Catra slurred. "I'm She-Ra, I can turn invisible."

"She-Ra can't do that." Adora crossed her arms. "And you aren't She-Ra, I am."

Catra stumbled over to Adora, squishing her face. "We're practically twins. The resemblance, it's uncanny."

"I really hate you sometimes." Adora shoved her away lightly. She figured that if the two left through the back side of the locker rooms, it'd be less likely for them to be spotted since the connecting hallways were closed off for repairs. It would be tricky getting through the debris but at least they wouldn't be seen.

It took a great deal of convincing to actually get Catra to leave, not to mention Adora still hadn't gotten to shower. She smelled disgusting but Catra was too out of it to notice.

Once Adora's doorway was in view, Catra made a mad dash towards the room. It was more of a fast hobble, with her cast making it worse. Admittedly, she was doing better than Adora thought she would.

Pushing on the pull-only door, Catra whined about Adora taking too long.

"Look, you cant be wandering the castle." Adora opened the door, guiding Catra back to bed. "If anyone sees you, I won't be able to explain why you're here and you could wind up in the dungeons."

"You guys have dungeons?" Catra asked.

Adora shrugged. "Probably? Just, don't get into any more trouble, ok? And give me back my jacket."

"Nah," Catra wrapped her arms around the red leather, her claws digging a little deeper than Adora would've liked.

"Rip that and I throw you through the window."

Catra didn't look concerned. "I'll just fly away on Sw-"

"Don't say his name!" Adora looked around in paranoia. With some more convincing she got Catra to agree to stay in bed, with the agreement that Adora would let her keep the jacket for the time being (she had every intention of stealing it back when Catra was asleep).

"Where are you going?" Catra asked as Adora walked back towards the door.

"I need to have a talk with the princesses," Adora replied. "A long, long talk. And a shower. I'll be back soon though, and you better still be in that bed."

"Oh, yeah, 'course," Catra gave a lazy thumbs up and waited until the door shut completely before rolling off the bed. Luckily Adora didn't hear the thud, or she didn't care, so Catra was able to continue on her task.

Fumbling her arm around underneath Adora's bed, Catra clumsily clutched the object she was seeking: Shadow Weaver's communicator.

Truth be told, she hadn't used it much. She'd only filled in the Horde with about half of what she'd overheard over the weeks. Apparently it was useful, since Hordak kept asking for more. 

Shifting into a sitting position, Catra turned the communicator on, awaiting a response. About a minute later, the screen changed from grey static to a familiar face.

"Catra!" Scorpia waved excitedly. "How's it going?"

"It's great," Catra said. "It's...it's fantastic."

"Is everything ok?" Scorpia squinted through the screen. "You sound a little strange. Is that Adora's jacket?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Catra nodded. "I'm great."

"Uh huh, well that is good to hear," Scorpia said encouragingly, even if she was confused. "Hey, by any chance, do you know when you might be coming back to the Horde? I'm just asking because I-"

"The Horde!" Catra shot up. "I have information for them."

Scorpia faltered, disregarding what she was about to say. It would've been embarrassing anyways, admitting how much she missed Catra that is. Not that Entrapta wasn't good company but Catra was more than that to her.

"So get this," Catra said. "I heard the princesses fighting."

Scorpia waited a moment. "And...?"

"And what?"

"What were they fighting about?" Scorpia pressed.

"Oh..." Catra frowned. "I don't know, I wasn't listening. Buuuuut, Glimmer and Adora seemed to be really going at it."

Scorpia nodded. She guessed that could be useful and if Catra thought it was important, then she'd be willing to pass it on to Hordak.

The two continued talking for a while, even though Catra was hardly making sense. Scorpia just liked that Catra hadn't hung up right away for once. It was almost like old times.

"I think Adora's coming back," Catra looked over her shoulder. "I gotta go."

"Oh, well bye Wild Ca-"

Catra turned the communicator off, cutting the connection.

Yep, Scorpia thought half-heartedly. Just like old times.

As Catra predicted, Adora came back moments after, just in time for Catra to hide the device and jump back onto the couch. Wait, was it the couch or the bed?

Despite Adora's suspicions, Catra was only mildly told off. Drugged up as she was though, Catra still was able to get the sense that Adora was bottling something up. Whatever it was, Catra figured she'd find out sooner or later.

Chapter Text

"Will you stop squirming?" Adora frowned. "You're making this way harder than it needs to be."

"And you're being grumpier than usual," Catra groaned. "That's my job."

"I need to clean your wound," Adora insisted. "Unless you want an infection."

Catra scowled, calming down as Adora continued to clean the stab wound on her side. Whatever she was using burned, making Catra move involuntarily here and there, and given Adora's short temper that day it was a painful experience for both of them.

"So?" Catra finally asked.

Adora shot her a questioning look, still absorbed in her current task at hand.

"Who pissed you off today?" Catra laughed a little. "Because that's also my job."

Adora froze up for a second before continuing what she was doing. "Nobody."

Catra didn't believe that for a second. Adora was an open book and something was definitely bothering her. The fact that she wasn't even trying to cover it up with some absurd lie meant it must've really gotten to her.

"Is it Glim-"

"Can we not have this conversation?" Adora cut her off to Catra's surprise. Now this really wasn't like her. What had Sparkles done this time?

Adora must've noticed Catra's expression because she softened a bit. "I'm sorry," Adora shook her head, looking for some new bandages. "I shouldn't of snapped. I just..." She let out a long sigh of frustration. "It's all of the princesses. I wish they'd stop treating me like I can't handle anything. It's like they don't trust me."

"Still not letting you out on missions?" Catra asked though she knew the answer. Scorpia would've mentioned if She-Ra made a reappearance.

Adora hadn't answered her question yet, pretending like she was too busy applying the bandages to hear her. Catra decided not to push. She couldn't really make Adora talk anyways.

"Alright," Adora said, standing up and cleaning up the supplies around her. "Does that feel fine?"

Catra moved around a bit, only wincing a little at the wrong movements. It would do.

"Thanks," Catra mumbled, her gaze never leaving Adora. The other girl's eyebrows were furrowed in worry and her mind was preoccupied, miles away.

"Are you sure everything's ok?" Catra asked.

Adora didn't look at her, instead turning her attention to packing her bag. "Yeah I'm fine."

Catra watched as Adora filled the bag with a few different things: food, water, some medical supplies. Strapping her sword onto her back, Adora grimaced as phantom pains shot up her spine.

"Going anywhere special?"

"Just for a little hike," Adora said. "I need to get my mind off of...everything."

Catra wanted to know what she meant by 'everything' but Adora was already out the door. Looking around the now empty room, she felt that bad feeling in her stomach again (and not just from the stab wound).

Maybe I could do something to cheer her up, the thought wandered into Catra's head. But what?

Catra swung her legs over the side of the bed, carefully testing the weight on her injured leg before standing. Despite the occasional wobble, Catra made it far enough in the room to grab her staff (aka her walking stick but she would hit anyone upside the head if they tried to make her admit that).

Leaning on the staff, she brainstormed some different ideas. What would make Adora happy? In the Horde it was easy. Catra would just steal some of the good ration bars or they would pull a prank on Kyle. Here though? Catra was completely out of her element.

An idea came to her: a terrible, awful, despicable idea. Would she be able to live with herself if she actually did it? Would it be worth it?

It's for Adora, Catra reminded herself. Anything would be worth it.

With a heavy sense of dread washing over her, Catra cleared her throat. Speaking into the otherwise silent room, part of her was hoping this wouldn't work.

"Swiftwind?" Catra called out. When nothing happened, she got impatient. "How does this work...do I say it three times in a mirror or somethi-"

"DID SOMEBODY SAY-" There was a series of crashes from outside the hallway before the door burst open, "-SWIFTWIND?!"

Catra weakly raised her hand. "I did."

"Oh, hey Not-Catra," The horse winked at her and Catra fought the urge to strangle him. "What heroic deeds did you need me for?"

Mumbling some choice words under her breath, Catra limped over to the door to close it before anyone could look inside. Turning around, she leaned on the door staring at Swiftwind who was admiring himself in the water feature's reflection.

"Ok I'm going to make this simple so your small shriveled-up berry brain can understand," Catra said slowly as though talking to a toddler. "I need to do something nice for Adora and you are literally the only other living creature who can help me."

"Is it because of my amazing leadership skills and golden heart?"

"It's because if anyone else knew I was here I'd probably be executed," Catra grumbled. "Will you just listen? I need you to fly me to a market place, I don't care which one, so I can get something for Adora."

"Oh I love gifts! Usually receiving them but this is fun too."

"No, no fun," Catra pointed at him. "This isn't fun. This is a mission."

"Right," Swiftwind's face turned serious. "A mission. A top secret mission to save Adora's life!"

Catra took a few deep breaths. She wasn't allowed to kill Adora's horse monster. She had to remember that.

"So what are we going to get her?" Swiftwind asked.

Catra thought on that. Adora was always a sucker for food. It's not like that would really be worth it though, seeing as Adora could get anything she wants from the royal kitchens whenever she wanted. Maybe something nice to wear but Catra knew it was useless trying to get Adora out of that stupid jacket of her's.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

"Let's just get out there and figure it out," Catra started making her way to the bed.

"Going without a plan, I like it," said Swiftwind who actually sounded genuine to Catra's concern.

Ignoring him for a bit, Catra crouched down to reach under the bed. Her hand brushed against her communicator and she tensed up a moment before continuing her search. Finally her hand wrapped around some fabric. Pulling her cloak out from under there, she threw it over herself, flipping the hood up.

"Alright," Catra said, approaching Swiftwind hesitantly. "So how does this work? Do I just-" She was cut off by her own screams of terror as Swiftwind lunged at her, scooping her up onto his back. She clutched onto him as though her life depended on it.

"Comfortable?" Swiftwind asked.

"Are you crazy?!" Catra growled, checking her side and finding in amazement that he hadn't hurt her. "You could've killed me!"

"But I didn't," Swiftwind puffed out his chest.

"Let's just get this over with please," Catra clutched her staff to her chest. The sooner they get this done, the sooner Catra can go back to wallowing in self hate on solid ground.

Swiftwind braced himself before shooting off through the window. Catra held onto the horse for dear life, trying not to think about what would happen if she fell off. Adora would never let her hear the end of it if she died like this.

Thankfully what Swiftwind lacked in sensibility he made up for with speed. They made it to the market place in record time. Setting down softly a few yards away, Catra slid off the beast and surveyed the area. The market was small, filled only with a few stands here and there. Some were selling weird looking fruits, others clothes or jewels. There weren't a lot of people out which Catra didn't like. In a larger setting she could blend in easier. Still, she wanted to avoid any unnecessary flight time so she would have to make do.

"I'll only be a few minutes. Don't go running off or anything." Catra was ready to walk away when she heard Swiftwind whining. Spinning around she looked at him judgmentally. "What is it now?"

"Well..." He sounded embarrassed. "I was hoping I could shop with you."

"Yeah, no." Catra had no intention of buying anything but she didn't mention that. Unless the horse had money but she doubted it. Besides it's not like she had intended on spending quality bonding time with anyone.

"Please," He batted his eyelashes at her, "I can help! I know Adora better than anyone."

"I highly doubt that," Catra said, mentally telling herself she was not about to get jealous over a horse.

"We have our emotional link," He insisted. "I feel what she feels!"

"Uh huh," Catra said as she walked away. When Swiftwind followed her though, she didn't stop him. "So if that's true then what is she feeling right now?"

He paused for a moment, actually concentrating for once. Catra watched with minor interest. She had only meant it as a joke.

"She feels...sad. And alone. Frustrated." He paused and Catra noticed the soft expression on his face. "I want to help her just as much as you do."

Catra nodded. They had made it to the entrance of the market. "Well I guess we should get started then."

There were some advantages to having Swiftwind with her. For starters, people would be more likely to stare at him than her and given her reputation, Catra had a funny feeling she didn't want to be recognized. And, maybe, she did enjoy some company. Oddly enough, he did remind Catra of Adora in little ways.

They passed by stand after stand, not finding anything that stood out. Catra was about to suggest they try somewhere else when her eyes landed on a stand that was hidden in the corner. Glancing at Swiftwind who was busy examining some necklaces, Catra wandered over to the other stand.

Sitting behind the table was an older woman who smiled warmly at Catra as she approached. The table itself was covered in different weapons, some simple and unremarkable, others glistening in the sun.

"Hello there," The woman greeted her. "Looking for anything specific?"

Catra stepped closer, keeping her head low so the cloak hood would cover most of her features. Adora wasn't really in short supply of weapons but the knife she slept with under her bed could use replacing. Besides, nothing says I'm thinking about you like something stabby.

One knife on display was covered in jewels: hilt, blade, the whole thing. Another looked like it was made of glass, almost invisible had it not been for the sun's reflection. There were a bunch of others, some short and stubby, others curling in strange directions or elegantly carved with different symbols.

"What about this one?" Catra picked up one of the knives, looking it over. It was well balanced and made of a golden metal. There was nothing extraordinarily special about it, at least on the surface besides a few random carvings.

"Ah yes," The woman nodded. "A great choice. That one in particular is actually enchanted."

"Like...with magic?" Catra suddenly felt uneasy holding it.

"Well what else would it be," The woman chuckled. "You see, whoever wields that knife will see great fortune come to them."

Catra knew it was probably a fake. After all, she was talking to a merchant. This woman probably said that about all of her wares. Still, it was a nice knife and Catra didn't see any reason not to get it. There was of course one problem.

Making eye contact with the lady, Catra felt bad. Normally she would've already pocketed the knife and ran but stealing from an old woman would be a new low. Not to mention it didn't seem like she had many customers to begin with. Geez, Adora was really rubbing off on her.

"I, uh," Catra looked down disappointedly, "I don't have any money. I could trade you a horse or-"

"That's alright dear," The woman told her. "It's on the house."

"Are you sure?" Catra stared at her suspiciously.

"Of course," The woman reassured her. "Anything to help a member of the rebellion."

Catra felt her hands clench around the knife. "What makes you think I'm with the rebellion?" She asked, her tone shifting to a low growl.

"I know a royal cloak when I see one," The woman said making Catra frown, pinching at the fabric. Adora had given it to her. "I see the princesses in those from time to time. I figured you all wore them."

Catra resisted the urge to throw the cloak off immediately. "I'm not a princess alright?" She was about to say she wasn't with the rebellion either but figured she might as well get the free knife for her troubles. Grumbling a goodbye, she stuffed the knife in her belt and went to get Swiftwind.

Finding him not too far away, she quickly got his attention.

"Did you find something?" He asked.

"Yeah, from that old lady over there," Catra said. She turned to point out the stand but when she looked she couldn't see it anymore. It was like it had just disappeared. That's...weird.

Catra suddenly got a bad feeling about all of this. Somehow she felt like she was being watched. She turned back to Swiftwind who looked confused.

"Let's go," Catra said, wanting to leave as soon as possible. As they walked back to the clearing, Catra saw something out of the corner of her eye. Both her and Swiftwind's shadow had been traveling together but if she looked closer there seemed to be another that was following them — a tall, familiar shadow.

Feeling her entire body jolt, Catra stumbled backwards, away from the shadow. In doing so she slammed into whoever was next to her, taking them both down with her. When Catra got her bearings again she looked for the shadow but saw nothing there. Had she imagined it?

"Hey," An unfriendly voice said not too far from where Catra was. "You better watch where you're going. Just who do you think you are?"

Catra turned around and was face to face with a giant woman. To make things worse, the woman was wearing Brightmoon armor, obviously a guard.

And to make things even worse than that, Catra realized that her hood had dropped in the fall.

She looked over at Swiftwind who didn't look entirely sure of what to do. Turning back to the guard, Catra let out a nervous chuckle. Maybe she won't recognize me.

The woman's eyes had nearly doubled in size and with a harsh bellowing voice, shouted through the market the very words Catra hoped she wouldn't.

"HORDE SOLDIER!"

Chapter Text

Adora didn't know exactly what it was about being alone in the woods that helped her relax, but whatever it was, she never took it for granted. Maybe it was the way her own thoughts could be drowned out by the soft rustling of the tree leaves or the way that the wind that blew past her let her breathe in ways she couldn't within her enclosed room.

Back in the Horde, she never got this. Her world had been so small back then. A hint of a smile grew on her lips as memories of late night talks with Catra came to mind. They had always dreamt about getting out into the real world one day, having grown tired of the same orange sky and rusted walls.

She supposed they had gotten their wish after all, except the real world was much harsher than they could've imagined, which is saying something considering war was all they ever knew to begin with.

Reminiscing about her old life, and what could've been, Adora was met with an unpleasant surprise as her foot met an upturned root and she quickly found herself flung to the ground.

Groaning, she rolled over on her back, lying in the dirt. Looking up, she saw the trees above her were parted in this area and she could see the afternoon sky. For a moment, she was sure that if she just stayed there for the rest of her life, maybe one day she would see the stars.

The sharp pain in her back returned her to reality. Sitting up, she moved her hands around in search of her bag. Instead, her hand met something small and fluffy.

Slowly turning her head in the direction of the animal, Adora stifled a yelp. She didn't want to scare it off.

Sitting next to her, watching her curiously was a pink creature with large multi-color ears and a beak. It's big yellow eyes stared at her in curiosity.

"Hey there little guy," Adora said quietly, acutely aware her hand was still against the adorable thing's stomach. She went to retract it away but the creature flinched at the movement backing up a few steps.

"It's ok," Adora smiled at it, trying not to move this time. "I'm a friend."

The creature tilted its head quizzically before edging closer to her outstretched hand once more. Deciding this strange dirt-covered giant wasn't a threat, it nudged against her hand with its head.

Chuckling a little, Adora went ahead and began to pet the creature behind its ear. She recognized this thing. Glimmer had told her about them, even had a plushie of one. A kolian, if she recalled correctly. They were endangered creatures. Given the forest had recently been under attack by the Horde, Adora was grateful that some of the rare species still survived. Despite that, looking at the small animal, Adora felt as though she could relate to it in more ways than one.

"You're all alone out here, aren't you?" She asked. It didn't answer her, not that she expected it to, but the question made the creature look up at her with its big eyes.

"That's alright," Adora said. Shifting a little, she patted her lap inviting it to sit which it happily obliged given it led to more petting. "I'm alone too."

The animal chirped in her lap making her smile again. Glimmer would absolutely love this. For a moment, she contemplated bringing the animal back to Brightmoon with her before stopping herself. Glimmer was the reason she was out here in the first place, and it wasn't for a good reason.

It wasn't just Glimmer of course. It was all of the rebellion members lately. They were leaving her out of things still, despite all of her efforts. Maybe they had her best interests in mind but Adora could handle herself. She could make tough calls just like the rest of them and she could certainly handle herself in a fight. She hated being treated like glass, as if she would shatter given any little pressure.

Over the course of her wavering train of thought, Adora must of stopped petting the kolian, who expressed its annoyance by aggressively head-butting her hand.

"Sorry about that," Adora mumbled, resuming the action. As the creature purred in content, Adora let out a sigh. "I don't suppose you could give me any advice could you?"

The creature opened an eye to look at her. Adora took that as a yes.

"You see, my friends and I haven't exactly been getting along lately. They don't think I can handle everything that's going on." The creature chirped, making Adora nod. "Exactly. It's like they don't trust me. Which is crazy because there's nothing I've done to make them-"

"HORDE SOLDIER!"

Oh no, Adora thought. The words came from somewhere off in the distance, and though the woods had recently come under Horde occupation, a familiar feeling in Adora's gut told her exactly who she could expect to find.

At the sudden sound, Adora's new friend had scurried off into the bushes. Feeling a little disappointed at the interruption, Adora stood up and picked up her bag, drawing the sword in the process.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" Adora shouted, feeling a rush of power course through her veins, something she had become accustomed to whenever she transformed. The soreness she felt from her earlier fall faded into a dull numbness.

Racing into the clearing, Adora just hoped she wouldn't see the one person she knew she probably would.

•••••

Despite never really giving it much thought beforehand, Catra had decided she very much appreciated the way that her head was attached to her body. This Brightmoon guard, however, didn't seem to have the same sentiments. Catra made this assumption based on the fact that the much larger woman had swung her axe at Catra's neck more than once and didn't seem to have any intention of relenting any time soon.

This was the last time Catra was going to do any favors for anybody, she decided as she clumsily ducked another swing. No, Adora hadn't asked her to do this for her but that wasn't going to change Catra's mind. This whole 'good person' thing was way too inconvenient.

"Stop moving!" The guard grunted as Catra ducked another blow that caused her axe to get stuck in a poor merchant's table.

"Why would I do that?!" Catra shouted, limping away from the guard who was trying to pull the axe out of the incredibly sturdy table.

"I'm bringing you in to Brightmoon!" The guard insisted.

"In pieces? No thanks!" Catra scanned the crowd for Swift Wind but found the moronic horse must of fled her. Traitor, she thought.

There was no time for hesitation though, because the guard had decided the axe wasn't worth her trouble anymore and pulled out a staff instead.

Where did she even get that? Catra wondered, trying to come up with a different plan of escape. She couldn't run, not with the state of her leg. She could hide, but this guard seemed much too persistent for that to work for long. Fighting had worked so far, but Catra was too busy playing defense to deal much damage. She'd have to use her opponents strength against her, Catra decided.

"Hey Princess Lover!" Catra taunted. "How long do you think it'll take me to steal that staff of yours?"

The guard growled in response, tumbling towards Catra at a rapid speed. Despite her instincts, Catra stood her ground. She'd need to time this right.

"I'd give it..."

Just a little closer now.

"Maybe..."

Only when the staff was inches away from Catra's face did she finally side step, using one hand to push the staff downwards and the other to push the guard's back forward, causing the guard to fall on her face, staff bouncing out of her grip.

"What was that?" Catra let out a small laugh as she leaned down to pick up the staff. "Ten seconds?"

The guard glared at her and was in the process of getting to her feet when Catra jabbed her in the back with the staff's bottom. The blow effectively knocked the wind out of the guard who lied on the ground immobilized.

Catra walked away from the scene, deciding her new walking stick (that definitely was not a walking stick if anyone asks) would do quite nicely. The other vendors and market-goers stared her down but no one seemed brave enough to do anything.

"Well this was fun," Catra announced with her usual dramatic flare. "But I should really-"

Her words were cut off as she felt a rough hand make a grab for her waist — no, the knife strapped to her belt. That very knife would've been plunged right into her back by the guard she'd left behind her, but when Catra turned around still very much not stabbed she found she might've preferred that instead.

Because when Catra turned around, she saw none other than She-Ra standing there with a look of disapproval in her face and an unconscious guard at her feet who had a brand new bruise on her jaw. The knife was in the hand that wasn't carrying the sword.

Needless to say, Catra had plenty of mixed feelings on this situation. There wasn't time for that though. The crowd was looking at She-Ra expectantly, wanting a fight. A peak behind the blonde confirmed Catra's suspicions as she saw Swift Wind standing beside her, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Go," She-Ra said in a low whisper.

"You don't think I can take you?" Catra growled back, getting in her face, but She-Ra didn't flinch.

"Don't make me do this," She-Ra warned. "We don't have to fight."

Catra clenched her jaw shut as she took a step back. Without another word she ran out of sight, ignoring the pain in her leg as she did. When the clearing was well behind her, and Catra was sure she hadn't been followed, she sat down on the ground and caught her breath. Her side hurt with each rapid intake. Looking at the staff in her hands she cursed, throwing it aside.

After some time passed Catra realized no one was coming to look for her.

Good, she thought bitterly. It's not like she needed anyone anyways.

As she made her way back to the castle, the same image plagued her mind: She-Ra staring down at her with pity, saving her when she didn't even ask for it.

When she made it back to the room, which wasn't easy, given she had to make the climb up the window herself, she found it was empty. Wherever She-Ra had disappeared to after their encounter, it didn't seem like she was all that worried about Catra.

•••••

Adora was undeniably, frantically, worried about Catra. If she had it her way she would've ran after the girl immediately given the chance.

But Adora was She-Ra. She had responsibilities. And a crowd to face.

Glancing down at the unconscious guard at her feet, she guessed the woman wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. When she did come to, however, Adora knew she was in for it. How exactly was she supposed to explain this?

"Uh She-Ra," Swiftwind nudged her shoulder with his nose. "Aren't we going to, uh, capture the Horde soldier?"

Adora looked at him as though she had forgotten he was there, then turned back to the crowd which was growing restless.

"Go after her!"

"Why did you let her get away?!"

"Someone's gotta reimburse me for this table!"

"You're She-Ra! Do something!"

Adora backed up as the crowd began to close in on her. "Please, calm down. We have this under control."

"Is our village going to be taken over by the Horde too?"

"I thought you were supposed to protect us!"

"I-I am," She-Ra said. She needed to get out of here. She needed to find Catra.

"How do we know we're safe?"

"Are more Horde soldiers coming?"

"If She-Ra can't help us, who can?"

As she backed away, She-Ra found herself cornered against a stall along with Swiftwind. The crowd would become a mob if she didn't say something to put them at ease. But what? They were right, weren't they? She hasn't been there. She's let the Horde take village after village. This market was destroyed and it was all her fault. Her back ached as it pressed against the wooden stall. Weak. Why was she so weak? Why couldn't she-

"Adora?"

It's Glimmer. When had she gotten here?

Pushing her way through the crowd, Glimmer made it in front of Adora. "What's going on? Are you ok?"

"I..." Adora trailed off, a glassy look in her eyes as she fumbled for something to say. Glimmer frowned in worry at the lack of response. Deciding to take action, she grabbed onto Adora and the guard below her, teleporting the three of them to the castle.

The guard fell to the ground, still unconscious. Glimmer, though concerned, focused more of it on Adora than anything else.

"What happened?" Glimmer asked.

"You left Swiftwind," Adora said, avoiding the question.

"He'll be fine," Glimmer assured her impatiently. "What about you? My mom got an alert from that village saying one of her guards was fighting a Horde soldier. Did you see any?"

She didn't see Catra, Adora realized. And she doesn't know I knocked out the guard.

"They were already running away when I got there," Adora lied. "Since when did you go investigating calls?"

"You're asking me why I was there?" Glimmer raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"

"I asked you first."

"I was worried it was a trap and didn't want to risk sending in any guards," Glimmer admitted.

"So you went alone?"

"Well Bow was busy and it's not like I could..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. Adora connected the dots.

"It's not like you could ask me," Adora finished for her dejectedly.

"That's not...look, Adora-"

"Do you really think I can't take care of myself?" As Adora raised her voice, Glimmer was incredibly aware she was still in her She-Ra form. Adora probably wasn't meaning to threaten her but Glimmer found herself backing away anyways. "Do you think I'm that fragile that one little injury is going to put me out of action for good?"

"It wasn't just one little injury," Glimmer said, trying to keep her cool. "You were out for weeks."

"I'm getting better."

"And we all see that-"

"Then why don't you act like it?" Adora cut her off. "I'm never going to get better sitting in this castle all day. I need to be out there, where the action is. I can handle it."

"Then why didn't you run after the Horde soldier?" Glimmer asked but it felt more like a statement. "Why didn't you get that crowd to back away?"

Adora faltered, feeling the shame of her secrets eating up at her. It wasn't just that though. She had frozen up back there. Glimmer wasn't wrong about that.

The silence gave Glimmer her answer. "It's not going to be this way forever. Recovery takes-"

"If you give me that recovery takes time nonsense one more time Glimmer I'm gonna-" Adora stopped herself, taking a deep breath. She couldn't lash out at Glimmer like this, not when the princess was just trying to help.

Detransforming, Adora put her sword back in its place. The knife, which she realized she had never let go of, was clenched tight in her hand.

"Please, let me go on missions again," Adora said quietly, almost desperately. "If I have to stay here doing nothing for much longer," Adora glanced at the guard lying a little away from them and felt something she couldn't quite place, "I don't know what will happen."

Glimmer looked at her for a long time before finally nodding. "I'll talk to the others and see what we can do."

That's what you say every time, Adora thought to herself bitterly before turning around to walk away, ready to escape to her room. She flipped the knife in her hand, finding the repetitive motion comforting.

"Adora," Glimmer called after her.

Adora stopped but didn't turn around.

"I know things have been...tense lately," Glimmer said, "But I'm still your friend. If you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here for you. I'll understand."

Looking back down at the knife and only thinking of Catra, Adora felt the guilt weigh her down. Glancing over her shoulder, she gave Glimmer a fake smile and a thank you. It was all she could offer.

•••••

At the sound of the door creaking open, Catra tensed. When she saw it was only Adora coming in the room, she normally would've relaxed, but this time was different.

Adora looked surprised to see Catra. Did she think she wasn't going to come back or something?

"What were you doing out there?" Adora finally asked, breaking the silence. She wasn't angry it seemed, just tired.

"I don't have to explain everything to you," Catra said, her own frustrations getting the best of her. "I don't owe you anything."

"You do when I'm the one who keeps saving your neck out there," Adora narrowed her eyes. "You could've gotten hurt."

"I was just fine before you showed up," Catra grumbled. "I didn't need your help."

"My bad," Adora tossed the knife on the bed in front of Catra. "So I shouldn't of stopped that guard from stabbing you?"

Catra eyed the knife and felt her blood boil even more. That stupid thing had caused way more trouble than it was worth. So much for trying to cheer Adora up. Looking back up at her friend (if she had the right to call her that anymore) she saw that Adora looked far worse off than she did earlier that morning.

"You can't just sneak away whenever you feel like it," Adora said, her hand rubbing her temple. "What am I supposed to do if you get captured? I'm risking everything by having you here."

"Then why keep me around at all?" The words slipped out. Catra knew she should feel guilty but that image of She-Ra standing over her came back and her anger renewed all over again. "I don't need your protection. I'm perfectly fine on my own."

"If that we're true, you would've gone back to the Horde by now," Adora pointed out.

"Maybe I should. At least there I don't have to deal with you hovering over my shoulder all the time. Besides, I wouldn't want to tarnish your fragile little reputation with the princesses."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The princesses don't trust you," Catra jabbed a finger at her. "They don't think you can make your own decisions. How do you think they'll react when they find you've been harboring a Horde soldier in Brightmoon? You think they don't let you do anything now? Try going on missions when they lock you in a cell."

"Don't make me the bad guy here," Adora argued back. "All I've done is try to keep you from dying out there and you've never so much as given me a thank you. The only things you've given me are more problems and a bad back."

That was a low blow, sure. Catra had already apologized for what happened with that but Adora found her fuse had already burnt up.

"Physical wounds aren't the only things that leave scars," Catra muttered.

Adora shook her head in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Catra mocked back. "'Oh no, my back hurts and I can't punch things as hard as I used to.' Yeah, your life sounds real tough there Adora." Catra laughed a little, looking away. "Don't lecture me about problems."

Catra was about to walk away, figuring the conversation was over, but Adora had different ideas.

"We always looked out for each other in the Horde," Adora said, her voice not as hostile as before. "Whenever you got hurt, I was there for you. Whenever your rations got cut, I was right there to give you mine. Whenever you got put in solitary, who snuck in to keep you company? When Shadow Weaver was-"

"You were only ever there for the aftermath!" Catra interjected. Her fists were balled up and she wanted to fight someone but she knew she couldn't. "You never tried to stop any of that from happening! You were just there to pick up the pieces because you were too much of a goodie goodie to stand up for your best friend."

"So first I tried to protect you too much, and now I never protected you at all?"

"It was never about whether you protected me or not!" Catra said, feeling like she's just repeating the same things over and over. "It was about you! I was never going to be enough for anyone next to you. It didn't matter what I did. Shadow Weaver had it out for me. You were always going to be the favorite and I was just your good-for-nothing friend she let stay around for your sake. Did you even care what happened to me after you left?"

"Of course I cared." Adora reached out a hand but thought better of it. "I wanted you to come with me."

"And you should have known I would never go," Catra turned away from Adora.

"I didn't know what you were going to do," Adora admitted. "But I never thought you'd turn into this. You're better than the person you've been trying to be."

"At least I'm not pretending to be something I'm not," Catra countered. "I'm a good force captain. I have the experience and I have the skill. You're just playing dress up with a whole bunch of princesses. You're way out of your league."

"You think I don't know that?" Adora's voice cracked, causing Catra to look up at her. "I don't know what I'm doing. I'm trying to be a good She-Ra for everyone, I'm trying to fix things, but now I can't do anything. I'm useless up here. I can't fight, I can't heal...I'm not..." She stopped herself, taking a deep breath. "At least I'm trying to do some good. Just because I don't know what I'm doing doesn't mean I'm not going to try."

Catra shook her head. She's got to be such a hero, huh? "Yeah, well I'm sure your friends have really appreciated watching you stumble around trying to be a good person. I'm so glad you have people in your life who finally believe in you because meanwhile I've been in the Horde clawing my way to Hordak's side to finally get the same respect that was always handed to you."

Adora opened her mouth to speak but Catra was done for real this time. Picking up the knife she shoved it into Adora's hands.

"It's your's," Catra said bitterly. "I was a gift for you, idiot."

Adora stared down at it, then back up at Catra who was making a bed for herself off in the corner of the room. Closing her grip around the hilt, Adora tucked the knife into her belt.

Catra, who was more exhausted than she had let on, settled into the makeshift bed. It wasn't comfortable in the slightest and it definitely did nothing to help her aggravated injuries but there was no way she was getting anywhere near Adora for the rest of the day.

It took a few minutes for Adora to leave the room but when Catra finally heard the door close, she let slip the tears she had been holding in. Clutching the sheets close to her, she wasn't aware that Adora could hear her quiet sobs through the door anyways.

Chapter Text

"Well that was pretty successful, don't you think?" Glimmer nudged Adora, practically beaming as the best friend squad left the rebellion meeting.

For the first time in a few months, Adora found she could reciprocate Glimmer's excitement. Queen Angela had finally cleared Adora for missions and they were about to jump right into a big one.

The rebellion had been planning this for days. They had located one of the critical points the Horde was holding in the forest, not too far away from Brightmoon itself. If they could successfully take down the main Horde camp, the rest of the surrounding territory would become their’s as well.

With a great deal of pride, Adora knew this was her chance. They'd take the Horde by surprise, win the day, and she'd prove to everyone she was capable of being in the field again.

"Since it's your first mission back," Glimmer squeezed Adora's arm, "Bow and I were thinking we could celebrate with some cake from the kitchen!"

"Cake that we definitely aren't going to steal," Bow said slyly before leaning into Adora's ear and whispering loudly, "We're so gonna steal it!"

Adora lightly shoved him aside. "You guys know it's not stealing if you own the kitchen right?"

"So are you not coming then?" Glimmer teased.

"I'd love to but I should probably get some rest," Adora rubbed the back of her neck. "Look over our strategy a few more times."

"Do you really have to do it all cooped up in your room?" Glimmer pouted.

"Yeah, it's like we never see you anymore," Bow said, and while it was lighthearted, Adora sensed some sadness in his words.

"We can hang out another time," Adora assured them. "I promise."

"Alright fine," Glimmer gave in, pulling Bow in the direction of the kitchen. "We'll save you a piece in case you change your mind!"

Adora smiled as she watched them disappear around the corner. Walking to her room, however, she felt her smile fading with each step.

As expected, when she entered her room she found Catra sitting in the corner, back to the door and ignoring Adora.

It had been like this ever since that day at the market. Catra had always been stubborn but this time she really wasn't giving in. It had been almost a week and the only time words were exchanged between the two of them was when Adora left. Like clockwork, Adora would always tell her goodbye as she left to train or attend meetings. It drove Catra crazy.

Without saying anything to her guest, Adora took a seat at the table on the opposite side of the room. She took out the scrolls detailing their next attack and begun studying them closely. Adora couldn't afford to mess this up, not with so much on the line.

The sun was setting and the room was getting darker but the only sign that Adora had noticed was when she lit a lantern over her workspace before getting right back to studying. It wasn't until Catra found herself growing tired that her curiosity piqued. She almost always went to bed after Adora. What was that girl doing?

Catra snuck a glance at Adora, who was slouched over some papers. She was saying something under her breath. Catra listened closer.

No, she wasn't speaking at all, Catra realized. She was snoring.

Taking this as her opportunity, Catra stood up and carefully made her way over to Adora. When she saw the scrolls laid out on the table, her eyes widened. So this is what those extra meetings were about, Catra thought to herself.

Checking again to make sure Adora really was out cold, Catra snuck over to the bed and pulled out her communicator. Not wanting to risk a conversation waking Adora up, Catra just took photos of the scrolls and sent them. They could figure out what to do from there.

Catra glanced back at Adora's sleeping figure. She should feel guilty about this but then again, should she? Catra was very much still mad at Adora and spying was the only reason she hadn't gone back to the Horde by now.

A message came in from the tracker, the beep making Adora shift slightly. Catra held her breath but relaxed when the blonde didn't wake up.

Good work Catra! Hordak is going to love these. We can't wait to see you back :)
-S

Attached was a photo of Scorpia, with Entrapta in the background, though she really was just a purple blur.

Catra smiled faintly before putting the tracker back in its hiding place. Retreating back to her corner, she snuck another look at Adora. There was no way she could be comfortable sleeping like that. The way her fingers twitched in her sleep, as if fighting some invisible enemy, was so familiar to Catra.

Adora really hadn't changed much, had she?

Letting out a sad sigh, Catra threw a blanket around herself and hugged it tightly. So maybe she did feel a little guilty after all. It's not like she had a choice though. If she didn't hand over those plans, Hordak might question her competence as a spy and then she would be back at square one.

Besides, Catra reassured herself. It's not like Adora goes on missions.

•••••

When Adora woke up, the sun was streaming into the room. Squinting at her bright surroundings, she realized she must of fallen asleep without knowing. Glancing over her shoulder she saw that Catra was still asleep.

Standing up and stretching, Adora's mind was on the day's attack. She hadn't checked to see the time but if the sun was any indicator, she probably had just a few hours before the raid.

Adora rolled the scrolls up, noticing with embarrassment that she had drooled on one of them, and quietly made her way to the door. As she opened the door, she softly called out to the sleeping Catra, "I'll be back soon."

When Adora made it to the kitchen, she saw she wasn't the first one awake. Glimmer, Bow, and Perfuma were already chatting away over a platter of toast and fruit.

Adora greeted the group, taking a piece of toast and nibbling on it as she went over everything that could go wrong in her head.

Glimmer noticed right away that Adora was being quiet, and that she wasn't stuffing her face like usual. "Hey," Glimmer walked to Adora's side and looked at her comfortingly, "Everything alright?"

Adora took another bite of her toast, looking at Glimmer for only a moment. "Yeah I'm fine. Just a lot to think about."

"Well if you're thinking about our inevitable victory over the Horde today then your mind's in the right place," Glimmer joked. When Adora didn't really seem to respond to that, she continued, "Adora, you can stop worrying. Our plan is fool proof."

"We say that about a lot of plans," Adora mumbled, "And those almost always go wrong."

Glimmer had to admit she was right about that one. Grabbing a grape and popping it in her mouth, she turned back to Adora. "You spent all night thinking about today, didn't you?"

Adora was about to lie, something she had gotten more familiar with ever since she found Catra, but thought better of it. "Yeah," She admitted. "I just want everything to be perfect." I need to be perfect.

"Everything will go just like we planned it," Glimmer assured her. "Now come on. You're gonna have to eat more than that if you want to be on top of things today."

Adora found that was a sentiment she could get behind and decided she could afford to relax a little bit. After all, Glimmer was right. They had planned this perfectly. There was no way things could go wrong.

•••••

Things were going horribly, horribly wrong.

"I thought you said there weren't supposed to be that many guards," Bow whispered to Glimmer as the team hid in the hills just above the camp. "It's like a whole battalion down there."

"So we may have miscalculated," Glimmer admitted. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Or it's a trap," Mermista said. When she was met with the group's glares she just shrugged. "I mean, it's usually a trap."

Adora looked down at the camp anxiously. She knew how the Horde did things. They didn't usually waste a bunch of soldiers to have them sitting around doing nothing. Were they protecting something? Or was Mermista right?

"But how would they know we were coming?" Adora muttered to herself.

Glimmer turned to her, having heard her. "You think we've been compromised?"

Adora couldn't be sure. They had to expect all outcomes but was it too much wishful thinking to believe their plan could still work?

"Should we fall back?" Frosta asked.

Adora froze as she realized everyone was looking to her for an answer, even Glimmer. For a moment, she thought that maybe they were relying on her because of her knowledge of the Horde or her position as She-Ra. Then when reality kicked in, Adora came to another conclusion. They only let her come because they thought the plan was safe. Now that there might be actual danger involved, they didn't want her in on the fight.

"Maybe Frosta's got a point," Glimmer started once Adora didn't say anything. "We're more outnumbered than we expected. We should probably-"

"No," Adora said to everyone's surprise. She couldn't help the bitterness that snuck into her tone. "Stop acting like we've lost a battle we haven't even fought yet."

"Adora," Bow placed a hand on her shoulder. "We just aren't prepared for this many enemies at once."

Adora felt that didn't make her feel better at all. Before the Battle of Brightmoon they would've charged into that camp without a second thought. They would've never doubted She-Ra could handle this.

"We didn't come all this way for nothing," Adora finally said.

The group still didn't look entirely sure but knew Adora was right. They couldn't afford to keep losing territory. They had to take something back, even if the risk was high.

"Let's go over the plan one more time," Adora explained. "Perfuma and Frosta will go in first to take out the perimeter guards and bots. Once they break through that barricade, that's when Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, and I come in and help finish off the rest. Our main targets are the armory and the strategists tent. If all else fails, at least with those destroyed we can set the Horde back enough to reclaim the territory later."

The group looked back down at the camp. It was still early in the morning meaning the soldiers were moving about groggily. Many stood guard on the perimeter but those that stayed on the inside of the camp were either sitting around fires or talking amongst themselves. Adora figured there were likely others still in their tents. Overall there had to be at least fifty of them, definitely more than they were expecting but not enough to make the situation completely hopeless. They'd just need to act fast and keep their element of surprise.

"Is everyone ready?" Adora asked, earning herself a round of nods. "Then let's do this."

Perfuma and Frosta slid down the hill covertly, the perimeter guards not noticing a thing by the looks of it. They hadn't even looked in their direction. In fact, Adora noticed, they weren't moving at all.

That's not normal. Usually watch standers roam the area every ten to fifteen minutes. How long had they been sitting here? Why hadn't anyone moved from their post?

A bad feeling crept it's way into Adora's gut and she turned to look at those on the inside of the camp once more. Even as Perfuma and Frosta took out the perimeter guards in one quick blow, none of the inside soldiers had moved from where they were, except for maybe a few who kept glancing about, as if they were waiting for something.

Mermista was right. Adora felt nauseous. It was a trap.

"We have to stop them," Adora stood up to chase after Perfuma and Frosta but it was too late. An explosion went off at the base of the camp just as the two princesses reached it and Adora sprinted forward, eyes scanning the terrain for their bodies.

The rest of the rebellion also sprung into action close behind her. As they entered the clearing it became obvious. Aside from a few actors, the camp was full of decoys. Soldiers flooded from the trees, far more than the rebellion expected.

They were surrounded.

"What do we do?" Bow shouted, an arrow already notched.

Adora could see out of the corner of her eye Perfuma racing to their sides. She couldn't see Frosta. As she looked around at the Horde soldiers around her she felt nothing but anger.

"We fight," Adora said and just like that the entire camp exploded into battle.

Mermista, having only the water the group had brought with them to work with, fought mostly with her trident. She backed up Perfuma who was using the forest terrain to their advantage and taking most of the heat. Meanwhile Bow focused his energy on the bots, taking them out with some of his special arrows.

"Glimmer! Adora shouted over the fighting. "Find the strategist tent! I'll look for the armory!" The princess nodded, teleporting away.

Adora fought her way through the crowd, heading towards a familiar looking building. Unlike the tents it was more fortified and had heavy metal doors blocking the entrance. To deal any real damage, Adora would need to get inside so she could blow the whole thing up.

Taking out her sword, she started slashing at the door though she kept getting distracted as more soldiers came to fight her off. At this rate, she couldn't make any progress.

"Adora!" A strangled cry tore Adora's attention away from the door. To her left she saw Glimmer being lifted in the air by some Horde grunt. Launching herself at the soldier, Adora slammed into the brute, sending all three of them to the ground.

"Are you okay Glimmer?" Adora asked. Her eyes were trained on the Horde soldier. Before he could reach for his side arm, Adora landed a swift punch to the jaw, knocking him out.

"Yeah," Glimmer said hoarsely, rubbing her throat. "I checked the entire place. There's nothing here Adora. All the tents are empty."

Adora turned to her, the sounds of fighting fading for a moment as she focused on Glimmer. The smaller girl was bruised badly, a dark purple spreading across her neck.

Looking around her, Adora realized the rest of the rebellion members were in similar states. They were still fighting but there wasn't much left in them if Adora had to guess.

Swallowing down her anxieties, Adora grabbed Glimmer by the shoulder. "Do you have enough magic to get inside there?" She motioned the armory.

Glimmer gritted her teeth before teleporting inside. For a moment, Adora stared at the spot where she just was, feeling the battle wear down on herself. Her back was on fire and shadows danced in the corner of her eyes. Now wasn't the time to dwell on that though. She punched the control panel, rendering the door completely useless without prying it open. With a new purpose, Adora rushed out into the thick of things.

You need to protect her.

Adora reached a group of four soldiers who had ganged up on Bow. He was doing the best he could but at close range his arrows were useless. Adora rushed behind two of the soldiers and knocked their skulls together, knocking them out. The other two hardly had time to react before she had punched one square in the face and kicked the other to the ground. The latter groaned, trying to get to their feet, when Bow shot a tranquilizer at him.

Nodding a thanks, Bow ran off to help the others. He was limping.

I need to protect all of them.

A sudden static flew by Adora's side and she saw a Horde soldier hiding behind a destroyed bot, shooting at various members. Rage bristled inside Adora as she saw him send a shot in Perfuma's direction, hitting her in the shoulder.

You need to be better.

Adora picked up a metal scrap and threw it at the soldier, barely missing his head.

You can't fail.

More troops kept coming in her direction. There was so many of them. She couldn't fight them all at once, not alone. Though she didn't look like it on the outside, she felt the panic rising in her chest.

Weak. You're She-Ra. Do something.

Though her muscles ached, Adora held the group off to the best of her abilities. Horde soldier after Horde soldier fell unconscious at her feet as she lept through their ranks. She didn't care if she got hurt back, as long as she could drive their fire towards her instead of the others.

And oddly enough, despite being outmatched, Adora found she was fighting on pure auto-pilot and she was fighting good. She was winning.

There was an explosion behind her and Adora knew Glimmer had been successful. At the very least, the armory and everything in it was destroyed.

In her peripherals, Adora could see that Glimmer was signaling for the rest of the group to leave. Already, the princesses were working in teams to get everyone out.

"Adora! We gotta go!" Bow yelled before disappearing in the crowd.

They're running away.

The missions done. We should leave.

They don't have what it takes to finish the job.

We've dealt enough damage today.

Do you have what it takes?

Adora shook her head violently. She didn't know where these thoughts were coming from but they weren't going to get her anywhere. Managing to drag herself away from the main battle, Adora escaped into the outskirts of the camp which was mainly protected by bots.

Using her sword, she was able to cut through the ones in her way and was almost in the clear when she spotted a Horde soldier trying to hide a few feet away from her.

Why are they hiding? Are they trying to ambush you? Are you going to fall into their trap again?

No, Adora thought. She charged the soldier, leading with her sword instead of her fist. It was entirely likely she could've dealt some real damage had the soldier not fallen on their back and thrown off their helmet.

"W-Wait!" The young boy begged, eyes squeezed shut as Adora hovered over him with her sword. "It's m-me! It's Kyle!"

Adora froze in place. "Kyle?"

"Please don't hurt me," Kyle peeked an eye open and began crawling out of Adora's reach.

"I wouldn't..." Adora trailed off, lowering her sword. "I'm not going to hurt you. Why-"

Before she could finish her question, the same feeling of static rushed by her but this time the pulse hit — right on her back. Adora gritted her teeth as she fell to her knees, gripping at the dirt in her hands to keep herself grounded. The searing pain was enough to make any normal person pass out.

Lucky for Adora, she wasn't normal. She was She-Ra.

Staggering to her feet, she risked a glance in the direction of who shot at her but couldn't make out any distinguishable faces beyond her swimming vision.

"Are you okay?" Kyle stammered out but kept his distance.

"I'm fine," Adora said, forcing herself to her feet. It took all her willpower to put one foot in front of the other, leaving Kyle behind and heading for the rebellion's rendezvous point.

You shouldn't of hesitated.

Shut up, Adora thought back.

"-needs medical attention and, oh! Adora thank goodness!" Perfuma's voice became clear as Adora got closer to the group though she still was having a hard time visually identifying anyone.

"Glimmer, can you, like, get us back already?" Mermista groaned.

"I'm low on magic. If you could be quiet for just a minute and let me concentrate then-"

"There's no time for that," Adora forced her voice to sound confident and steady. "We need to start moving whether Glimmer is ready to make the jump or not."

If the group had any differing opinions, Adora wasn't listening. She was already heading for the hills and hoped her friends were following along. It wasn't until they were far enough from the Horde camp to not hear anymore gunshots that they finally stopped to sit and rest.

"I think I can teleport from here," Glimmer panted. "I can't take everyone though. Who needs medical attention the most?"

Adora's vision was still blurry but even so she could see Glimmer's head turn immediately to her. At that, she found herself clenching her teeth and standing up again as if to prove a point.

"You should take Perfuma," Adora said. "I saw her get hit."

"That is true," Perfuma admitted. "But we need to take Frosta too. She got knocked out in the first explosion."

"Adora?" Glimmer asked. "What about-"

"I can make it to Brightmoon from here just fine," Adora said as if she wasn't about to collapse at any moment.

Once Glimmer had gone and the rest of the team began their two mile trek back to Brightmoon, Adora found that voice in her head creeping into her thoughts once more.

Weak. Couldn't protect them. Not good enough.

Perhaps if Adora's vision wasn't already being blurred by pain, she would notice the eerie shadows that seemed to be following the group through the forest, always just out of sight.

•••••

Catra hadn't moved from the windowsill from the moment she woke up to find Adora was missing.

She wasn't worried about her, Catra told herself. She was just...curious. That's all.

Curious to know if Adora had been unfortunate enough to walk into a trap that she had helped the Horde set up.

Idiot. Catra checked her communicator for the hundredth time, hoping for an update on the battle with no luck. Idiot. Of all the times you get to go on mission. Why wouldn't you tell me?

But Catra knew the answer to that as well. Why would Adora tell her anything after the fight they had? Claws digging into her forearms, Catra tried to shove aside her own thoughts.

She wasn't worried. No, not at all.

There's a bang as the door slams open and Catra tensed thinking the worst. Adora had figured out who leaked the battle plans and now she's sent a guard up here to take her away, that had to be it, but when Catra turned around she didn't see any guards at all.

"Oh," Catra's eyes widened at the sight before her.

She-Ra stood in the doorway, barely holding herself up. Her pale face was scrunched up in pain and her hands shook as she held onto the wooden frame.

Catra rushed over to her immediately, getting her in the room and closing the door. Her intention was to help move She-Ra to the bed but in this form she was much heavier than Catra could support. This led to She-Ra stumbling a few steps forward before falling flat on her face, detransforming as she did.

"What the hell happened to you?" Catra asked but she didn't sound angry. She was already knelt by Adora's side, trying to get her to sit up straight.

"Ambush," Adora said weakly. "We didn't..."

Catra hushed her as Adora trailed off. "It's alright, you don't have to actually explain yourself." Part of her reasoning was that Adora should save her energy, the other that Catra didn't want to hear about what she had caused. "Just tell me where you're hurt."

"Yes."

"Adora-"

"I'm...I'm kidding," Adora said before motioning to her back.

"It wasn't funny," Catra muttered as she maneuvered behind Adora and lifted the back of her shirt. A small gasp escaped her mouth.

While thankfully the scars were healed enough to not have opened up, she now had a giant burn on the center of her back. It went deep. How Adora had stayed conscious for this long was a mystery to Catra.

"You need to see a medic," Catra said quietly.

"No," Adora shook her head.

"Adora," Catra sat in front of Adora again, taking her by the shoulders so the girl would look into her eyes. "That burn runs along your spine. You could have nerve damage from that thing. I'm not risking it. I'll...I'll be right back." She stood up to leave but Adora grabbed her by the hand, holding on with strength Catra didn't realize she had left in her.

"You can't," Adora said. "They...can't see you." The pleading look in Adora's eyes was killing Catra. She could end up injured for life and here she was worried about Catra's safety.

"I'm not letting you get any more hurt because of me," Catra whispered. "This is my fault."

"How?" Adora frowned. "It's not...like you-" She grimaced, sharply breathing in at a wrong movement before continuing, "You didn't plan this."

Catra faltered. If there was any time to come clean, now was the time to do it.

"I just meant, because of our argument earlier," Catra lied. "All those things I said about you not being good enough for the rebellion or whatever. I never meant for you to push yourself this far."

Adora reached up her other arm so she could hold Catra's hand in both of her's, then squeezed tightly. "Not your fault."

It wasn't true but the soft look Adora was giving her held Catra in place.

Adora gave her another squeeze before motioning her head towards the first aid kit.

"Trust you," Adora managed to mumble before her grip went slack and her body gave out on her again. This time she didn't regain consciousness so quickly.

Seeing Adora's body so limp, Catra made a promise to herself that she never wanted to see Adora like this again. She grabbed the first aid kit and tried to pull from all of the survival lessons she'd learned in the Horde. If she had one thing to be thankful for, if only for the worst reasons, it was that she knew a thing or two about burns.

•••••

Catra and Adora laid together on the bed in silence, both exhausted from the day's events. Catra was on her back, staring at the ceiling. Adora was on her stomach, staring at Catra.

"I'm sorry," Adora finally said.

"Don't," Catra shut her eyes, not daring to look back at Adora. "Don't say that you idiot."

"But I am," Adora pushed. "There's a lot I should of done different."

Catra was silent for a moment. "Yeah. Me too."

Adora stared at her, taking in the girl's features. She noticed the way Catra tensed her jaw up to keep herself from fidgeting, noticed how her ears twitched at every little background noise, noticed that she kept her eyes glued to the ceiling so she could pretend she didn't notice Adora noticing.

"Are we going to be ok?"

Catra held her breath and Adora wondered if she'd pushed her luck too far. But Catra relaxed and surprised them both by turning on her side, locking eyes with Adora. Her tail slowly, unsurely fell by Adora's side, touching the side of her leg every so slightly than anyone else wouldn't of noticed it.

"We'll be ok," Catra said, desperately hoping the dark room would cover her burning face.

Adora smiled, content with that answer before laughing a little.

"What?" Catra asked nervously.

"It's nothing," Adora shook her head. "It's just that you were totally going to expose yourself earlier for me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you actually care about me."

"Wh-What?!" Catra glared but it was ruined by her own troublemaker smile. "No way. It's just, if anyone's going to kill you, it's going to be me. And stop smiling at me like that!"

Adora rolled her eyes. Must she always be so stubborn?

"Get some sleep Catra," Adora said, turning to bury her face in her pillow, already feeling the heaviness of sleep settling over her.

"Goodnight princess," was the last thing she heard before drifting off completely.

Chapter Text

It took a lot of convincing but when morning came Catra was successfully able to get Adora to go see a medic, now that the latter could actually walk that is. A good nights rest and a lot of painkillers would only get her so far.

To nobody's surprise, Adora had come back to her room a few hours later with a defeated look on her face.

"What'd they say?" Catra asked hesitantly but she already knew. She had spied on the appointment the whole time after all, but Adora didn't need to know that.

"The doctor says I should take it easy for the next two weeks before I get back into training again. The Queen agreed."

Catra sighed. She knew it was the last thing Adora had wanted to hear but it was probably for the best. Admittedly, she wasn't thrilled by the idea of Adora launching herself into battle without a care about her own health. This could be good for her.

"It'll go by quick," Catra made room for Adora to sit next to her on the bed. Adora absentmindedly complied.

"Not quick enough," Adora muttered. "They're going to do another raid on some of the surrounding areas of the territory we attacked yesterday."

"I'm sure they'll be fine on their own."

"You mean without me," Adora corrected before looking at Catra apologetically. "Sorry. You're not the one I'm mad at."

"Well that's new," Catra joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Guess I'll need to find something to piss you off about."

Adora stared at her for a moment, a wide smile plastered on her face. Despite the fact that Catra was glad to see she was happy, she couldn't help but tease her a little.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't laugh at your jokes now?"

"I meant the staring," Catra rolled her eyes but for a moment she thought she saw Adora blush as the girl looked away.

"I think I'm just tired," Adora played it off unconvincingly but Catra didn't want to question it.

"Then why don't you lay down like the doctor told you to," Catra pushed her lightly until Adora was lying on the bed. "You act like you don't want to heal."

"Well if I get healed," Adora pulled the blankets over her, already closing her eyes for a well-deserved nap, "Then I don't get to spend as much time with you."

"I'll manage," Catra stood up to walk away but only to hide her own redness in the face. Adora's probably just high off of her meds, Catra thought, refusing to think too deeply into it.

•••••

A week later, Adora found that her back was healing much faster than expected. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had Catra as a voice of reason by her side to keep her from doing anything stupid, but she wouldn't give Catra the satisfaction of knowing that. Regardless, Adora realized she wasn't as bothered that she was missing the fighting this time around.

When the night came, Adora was sure she had figured it out.

Adora had never felt so at peace when she was lying next to Catra. Nothing on the battlefield could ever compare to the silent rise and fall of Catra's chest beside her.

Adora found it hard to sleep most nights. When she closed her eyes, she was tormented with harsh words and high expectations, with guns and bombs and blood. So, when her nightmares would become too much, she'd fight off sleep as long as she could and simply enjoy the warmth that Catra brought her, a warmth that her cold visions never could.

It was becoming painfully clear to Adora that she was falling hard. That, or she was simply picking up where she had left off.

She wondered, whenever Catra would sneak glances at her or tease her or patch up her wounds, if her closest friend had ever felt the same way too.

There of course was a major problem with all this, one Adora had almost forgotten about but not completely. As far as it seemed, they were still on opposite sides of the war. Every time a member of the rebellion had almost walked into her room unannounced was reminder enough of that. Adora wouldn't have to hide Catra if they were on the same side.

Frowning slightly, Adora recalled a particularly heated argument she had one day with Glimmer when the girl had teleported into her room without warning, for what reason Adora never actually found out. Luckily for everyone, Catra had been in the bathroom taking a shower but Adora had to explain why her water was running while she was sitting at her desk fully dressed. She may have panicked a little bit and responded with more anger than necessary but she was sure Glimmer had just assumed it was due to stress from her injuries and nothing more.

Subconsciously Adora rolled her shoulders at the thought, testing her back. The burn was still healing but at least she had most of her mobility again.

Catra moved beside her, having been on her back and now turned to her side away from Adora. For a second the blonde worried that she had awoken her with her movements but Catra didn't stir from there.

Annoyingly, as Catra turned she had also taken a large portion of the blanket onto her side. Feeling a slight shiver, Adora figured she wouldn't bother the girl and got up to go get another blanket, seeing as Brightmoon had given her an almost endless supply. 

"Stop."

Catra's voice was hardly above a whisper but Adora froze in place. For a moment, her mind ran through all of the possibilities for what she could've done to disturb the girl.

"Get away from me," Catra whimpered, this time a little more desperate than before.

Adora turned around, frowning when she saw that Catra was still asleep, eyes squeezed shut and shaking. Abandoning the blankets, Adora rushed to her side, kneeling on the floor next to her.

"Hey," Adora put a hand on Catra's shoulder. "Hey, it's ok."

"Don't..." Catra mumbled, still caught in her nightmare. "Stop, please stop."

Not wanting to put Catra through more of this, Adora began to shake the girl lightly, trying not to scare her as she did. Despite her best efforts, Catra's eyes shot open with a start and she instinctively scooted away from Adora's touch, the fur on her body bristling in panic.

"It's just me," Adora reassured her, holding her hands up to prove she wasn't a threat, highly aware that Catra's claws were out. She'd appreciate not having to feel the wrath of those again. "You're safe."

Catra stared at her as if she didn't trust her completely, as though waiting to see that it was some trick. Her breathing was rapid but as the seconds wore on it began to settle.

"Adora?" She tested the name out.

"It's me," Adora nodded, her heart aching to see her friend like this. She held out a hand, slowly, waiting for Catra to take it. "It's just me."

The tension that had been holding Catra upright faded from her shoulders as she hesitantly reached a hand out to meet Adora's. At the touch, she melted entirely, feeling herself fall forward into Adora's arms. Burying her head in the girl's chest, Catra was vaguely aware of Adora rubbing her back soothingly, whispering that she would be okay.

Catra believed her. After all, sitting here in Adora's arms, listening to her voice and hearing her heart beating against her ears, how could she not be okay?

Adora was waiting for Catra to pull away and Catra was grateful for that much. If she had it her way, she would sit there with Adora like that forever but the position made her side hurt. Memories of her nightmare came back with no remorse and she sucked in a quick breath.

"What is it?" Adora asked quietly.

Catra pulled away, holding herself to make up for the absence of Adora's own arms. She looked down, ears pressed flat to her head.

"Was it a nightmare?"

Catra nodded, a sudden embarrassment washing over her. It wasn't the first one she'd had since coming to Brightmoon, but it was the first that Adora had seen. She hoped she hadn't said too much in her sleep.

"You can talk to me about it if you want," Adora told her. As much as Catra didn't want to, she also knew she was too tired to argue and Adora would only keep pestering if she refused.

"I was having a nightmare about..." Catra swallowed, looking down at her claws to avoid any eye contact, "About that night Shadow Weaver attacked me. Except it wasn't really a nightmare if it actually happened."

Adora didn't say anything but stood so she could sit next Catra, the sides of their legs touching. With a long sigh, Catra continued.

"That night in the forest was different from the other times she would hurt me." Catra's grip on herself tightened. "I could tell that this time she was going to go farther than the others. She was going to kill me."

Catra felt Adora rest a hand on her leg. "She didn't though. You're safe now."

Catra shook her head. Adora didn't know how untrue that was, that Shadow Weaver had been in this very same room threatening her to do the woman's dirty work. Adora wouldn't have to know. She wouldn't have to know that Catra tensed at every shadow, that she spent hours every day wondering what would have happened had she not found Adora that night, that she should have died that night.

"Hey," Adora broke through her thoughts. "Are you ok?"

What kind of question is that? Catra wanted to give her some snappy remark. If she was in the Fright Zone, she would've run off by now but in Brightmoon there was nowhere to go. She wanted to push Adora away, to tell her to mind her own business and go back to sleep, to stop looking at her like that, as if she actually cared.

"Was I that bad of a kid?" The words came out of choked lips, without Catra's permission. It must've taken Adora by surprise too because she didn't seem to know what to say.

"I never did anything to her," Catra continued, closing in on herself more. "Nothing a kid wasn't supposed to do."

Adora took a deep breath, thinking back on her own childhood. "We never really got to be normal, did we?"

"It's bullshit," Catra was holding herself so tight she was shaking. Adora moved to pull Catra closer to her, realizing for the first time how small the girl was compared to her.

"I shouldn't be here Adora," Catra said through a strained voice, the comforting touch too much for her. "I don't deserve it."

"That's not true. The only thing you didn't deserve was the way Shadow Weaver treated you our whole lives."

"I just don't understand why she did it."

"Why she attacked you?"

"Why she hesitated." Catra frowned, the memory playing out in her head. "That night, she was messing with my head. She got me to help her escape, not that I knew that's what I was doing. I had to find her before Hordak found out so I went into the forest and..."

She stopped herself. Should she be telling Adora any of this? Probably not. But something felt safe about being in Adora's arms like this so she kept going.

"She came out of nowhere. I didn't have time to defend myself. I don't remember everything she did because it all happened so fast but at some point I was on the ground sitting against a tree. A-and she was standing in front of me and I knew that it almost over y'know? She was done tormenting me and I was relieved. Of all things, I was relieved because she wouldn't be able to hurt me anymore once I was...once I'm..."

Tears were forming in Catra's eyes but she wasn't done. There was still one piece of the story missing and Adora must of sensed it because she was holding Catra a little tighter now, as if scared the reality Catra was describing would come true if she let go.

"I kept waiting for the final blow but it wasn't coming. I waited and waited but she was waiting too. Just standing there." Catra looked down in shame. "And I thought maybe she was hesitating because she couldn't do it. That maybe...maybe she regretted hurting me like that. And maybe she couldn't kill me after all."

Catra's fists clenched and the hot tears streaming down her face fell silently from her chin. "Then she stabbed me. Looked me in the eyes as she did it. She saw all of my weakness right then and it hurt so much more than this stupid thing." She motioned to the wound on her side.

"Catra-"

"She left me there to bleed out," Catra could see the forest now, the silhouette of the only mother figure she had leaving her dying body behind. "And I would've sat there too. I imagined how I was going to die a hundred times. We always knew we wouldn't get happy endings, it was a war, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't ever think I'd die because of her."

Not able to hold it in anymore, Catra's body shuddered with sobs, "But I was scared. I-I imagined my death so many times but I never thought, I never thought I'd be scared. S-so I did what I always do when I'm scared. I ran away."

Catra felt Adora's hands running through her hair as she cried it out. Adora was thinking, probably too shocked by all this to even know how to respond. Catra didn't care though because she didn't mind being selfish right then.

"Well," Adora said quietly, finally breaking the silence, "I wouldn't call it running exactly."

Catra's ears perked up at that. And then she laughed. Damn you Adora but she laughed.

"Y-yeah you're right," Catra smiled sadly, easing into Adora's embrace.

"For what it's worth," Adora said, "I'm glad you did. I'm glad I found you."

Catra looked at Adora for the first time since she'd begun her story and saw the girl had tears of her own streaming down her face.

"Me too." Catra didn't look away. They were so close right then, Catra in Adora's arms, faces inches away from the other, as if all of their fights before had never mattered and all that existed was the two of them in that moment.

The moment passed. Adora pulled away and Catra tried not to look disappointed when she girl stood up. But then Adora grabbed Catra's staff and tossed it to her, grabbing a coat as well.

"Come on, I want to show you something."

•••••

"Adora where are we going?"

The two had been wandering the Brightmoon hallways, Adora leading Catra expertly past the midnight guards stationed sparsely through the castle.

"You'll see," Adora said slyly.

Catra rolled her eyes. "For someone who lectures me constantly about how I'm not supposed to leave your room-"

"Just stop complaining for once and trust me on this," Adora shook her head playfully.

Their footsteps were silent on the tile floors, years of sneaking around the Fright Zone to thank for that. Catra had to admit, wherever Adora was taking them, it hadn't been to any of the spots Catra had visited. Then again, she had only really seen the kitchen, the infirmary, the training rooms, and the meeting room. It wasn't much.

That meant that the winding passageways and tucked away staircase were new territory for Catra. One moment they were ascending a spiraling staircase for multiple floors and the next they were squeezing through narrow hallways that barely fit the two shoulder to shoulder. There were a few windows along the walls and Catra took note that they must be on the top floor given how high up they were.

"Where are we right now?" Catra finally asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"If I had to guess, this is where the Brightmoon guards can go up and fire from the rooftops if the castle was ever under attack. These passageways go all around the castle, hidden behind the walls. You can get basically anywhere from here." Adora ran her finger along a windowsill as they passed it, showing Catra the dust that stuck to her finger. "They haven't been used in a long time."

"Not even in the Battle of Brightmoon?"

Adora shook her head. "Honestly? I don't think they even realize this is all here."

"Then how'd you find it?" Catra asked, thinking about how she could've been using this all along.

At the question, Adora's face grew red. "I, uh, had trouble sleeping when I first got here. Sometimes I would walk around the castle and...well it's not that interesting of a story I guess."

Catra thought maybe that was all, and Adora was just trying to share with her the tunnels she would walk whenever she had night troubles (a thought that on its own she found endearing enough) but Adora had one more surprise up her sleeve.

At the sight of what she was looking for, Adora broke into a smile. "We're almost there. Come on." Running ahead a bit, Catra laughed.

"You know I can't race you right?" Catra tried her best to keep up, her staff clicking as she picked up the pace.

"Oh right!" Adora's eyes widened, slowing down before she smirked at the girl. "Probably a good thing. Knowing you, you would've beaten me anyways."

"So you finally admit I'm better than you at something?" Catra teased.

"Maybe," Adora grinned as Catra finally caught up. The girls were standing in front of an old looking ladder that led up to the roof, a small panel cut out of the top and covered by a heavy door.

Adora climbed the first few rungs and threw the latch open before looking down at Catra who was staring up at her judgingly.

"How exactly do you expect me to climb that?" Catra asked.

Adora thought on it for a moment before climbing all the way up out of sight. Catra stepped closer, trying to see where she was going when a hand flung down from the hatch.

"Grab on."

Catra did so, taking Adora's hand, and was immediately pulled up through the hole, letting out a yelp as her feet left the ground.

"Give me a warning next time would you?"

"What else did you think I was going to do?" Adora laughed.

Catra would've retorted back with some clever insult but when she realized where she was, she felt the words fade away.

They were on the roof, overlooking the water and beyond that the forest. Above them was a clear sky, pitch black in the night, the only light coming from the dim glow of the castle, painting the landscape in soft yellows and oranges until it faded into the purples and greens of the forest.

"Adora...this is..." Catra didn't know what to say. It's not like she hadn't seen Brightmoon at night but there was something so different about seeing it from up there.

"It's incredible isn't it?" Adora found this view had never gotten old for her, the wonder still in her eyes.

Catra felt the wind brush past her and it reminded her of all the times she and Adora would sit on the roof of the Fright Zone along with all of the times she had done it once Adora left. Had Adora been doing the same thing? Had they ever been sitting in the night at the same time, looking up at the same sky?

"Thank you," Catra said, turning to look at Adora, the latter looking surprised.

"For what?"

"For showing me this," Catra blushed. "And for helping me. For letting me stay here."

Adora gave Catra a genuine smile. She sat down on the roof, her smile growing when Catra did the same. The girls sat apart but neither said a word when Catra's tail curled around Adora's waist.

They looked up at the sky for a long while, both able to breathe for the first time in a while.

"Do you ever miss the stars?"

"I've never seen them," Catra shrugged. "You can't miss something you never had."

"I don't think that's true," Adora said wistfully, "Otherwise I wouldn't miss them so often."

Catra looked at the sky, imagining what it would look like if they weren't stranded in the empty dimension. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around the concept.

"I don't know what it is really," Adora whispered as though it were some secret, "But part of me, I don't know, remembers what the sky used to be. Maybe it's just She-Ra, maybe it's something else. It sounds strange, I know."

"You turn into a magic glowing princess when you get mad so I've heard weirder."

Adora didn't really respond, her mind still full of stars. Catra watched her for a moment, and could've sworn they were little kids again, talking about things they didn't understand into the long hours of the night. She blinked a few times, trying to get those memories off her mind. They might be happy memories but they only reminded her of the heartbreak that always came after and Catra was beginning to understand how you could miss something you never had.

"You and Entrapta would get along," Catra mentioned half heartedly. "She's always rambling about space."

"Entrapta?" Adora turned to her suddenly. "She's alive?"

"Why wouldn't she be?" Catra asked before remembering the rebellion had never actually tried to rescue Entrapta. That of course made sense now. Seeing Adora's eagerly awaiting face, she gave in. "Uh, yeah she's alive. She's been working with..." Catra was going to say us but changed her mind, "With the Horde."

"Oh," Adora took in the information. "That's...unfortunate. It would explain why the Horde's technology has been getting so advanced though."

Catra studied Adora's expression, suspecting she was holding something back.

"I think it's my turn to ask if you're ok," Catra said, scooting closer to Adora.

"Yeah," Adora tried for a smile but she looked more guilty than anything, "Yeah everything's fine. It's just crazy how fast people can change sides."

Catra's breath caught for a moment and she realized why Adora looked ashamed. But why would she be ashamed of joining 'the good side' if that's what she considered herself to be?

"Can I tell you something?" Adora asked, staring back at the sky but now more focused on the horizon. Catra followed her gaze. She was looking in the direction of the Fright Zone.

"Spill," Catra focused back on Adora, trying to read her but all she could sense was sadness.

"I've never told anyone this," Adora's heart began to beat faster, "But sometimes when I sit up here I think about what might've happened if I hadn't left."

Catra reminded herself to control her reactions. She didn't want something Adora said to set her off and start another argument. Still, she had a feeling that wouldn't happen tonight for some reason.

"It's not that I regret coming here," Adora continued. "I'm sure if I was given the choice again I'd make the same one but-" Her hands clenched in her lap, "-sometimes I can't help thinking about what would've happened."

"Have you ever thought about going back?" Catra asked. She knew this was different than what Adora meant. Having never left versus going back despite the bad were two very different things.

Adora stayed silent for a long time, so long Catra began to doubt she'd even heard the question until she felt Adora's hand find her's.

"Yes," She said quietly.

Catra's head snapped towards Adora instantly and found the girl staring back at her. She searched for any dishonesty in her expression but found none. Still, she found herself asking, "Are you serious?"

"I know I never could," Adora admitted. "Not really. But...yes, I've thought about going back."

Catra felt like her head was spinning but she tried to keep her cool. "W-Well yeah, I mean. I'm sure anyone would want to go back to a fancy title like force captain."

"That's not why I'd want to go back. I don't care about any of that."

"Oh," Catra said, not daring to look away from Adora's eyes. "Then, what do you care about?"

"You," Adora said without a moment of hesitation. "I'd go back for you."

Catra wasn't sure what to make of that. She felt a lot in that moment but the one thing she could make out in her muddled mind was the feeling of Adora's hand in her's.

It was a feeling she didn't want to let go of.

After that, the two didn't say anything, though as the night went on, they heard each other loud and clear.

At some point they had managed to lie down on the roof, Catra on her back and Adora lying on her chest, her head rising and falling with Catra's easy breathing. Catra had one arm behind her head as a cushion, the other around Adora who had both arms wrapped around Catra's waist. They used the coats as blankets.

Catra had been the first to fall asleep, and this time it was without nightmares and bad memories. Adora, too, was feeling her exhaustion weigh on her, sleep finally catching up with her.

Pulling Catra a little tighter, she shut her eyes and whispered three words into the night — words she knew Catra wouldn't hear but words she needed to say anyways.

As Adora drifted to sleep, she dreamt of those words drifting up into the sky, into the stars.

Chapter Text

"I can't believe you."

"Adora, come on I-"

"No," Adora stood up, walking away from Catra, too frustrated to even look at her. "You don't get to say anything."

"Are you serious right now?" Catra stared at Adora in disbelief. How had she found out? She had been so careful.

"Of course I'm serious!" Adora turned on her. "You think you can just-just betray my trust like that? I can't believe you!"

"I mean," Catra gave up, accepting defeat, "Are you really surprised? You do know who I am, right?"

"I just never thought you would intentionally hurt me like this..."

Catra let out a loud groan. "Oh will you get over yourself? You're so dramatic. It's just a card game."

"A card game that I would have rightfully won if you hadn't cheated!" Adora pointed the stack in her hands accusingly at Catra.

"It was barely cheating," Catra threw her own cards on the table, fighting off a satisfied grin, before flopping onto the bed. "I could've won without it. You're too easy to read. And a terrible liar."

"You aren't allowed to play cards with me anymore," Adora mumbled grumpily, organizing them into a pile, her back turned to the traitor.

"Again, I don't know what you expected from me," Catra teased the girl, flicking her tail in her direction. Adora batted it away. "Oh come on, you can't still be mad at me."

"I can and will," Adora, stubborn as ever, told her, wrapping a band around the cards and throwing them onto a nearby chair out of sight. "And I still won."

"Sure," Catra laughed. "If it makes you feel better, I guess I'll let you beat me at something."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adora bit back her own smile when she turned to see Catra's cocky grin. Should've tossed the cards at her instead.

"It means that I win all the time," Catra shrugged. "Sparring, card games, battles that will determine the fate of all life on this planet. It's kind of my thing."

"Are you sure about that?" Adora raised an eyebrow at the girl. "I happen to recall a certain Battle of Brightmoon-"

"You got lucky," Catra laughed as she pulled Adora onto the bed. They sat there, shoulder to shoulder, no care for personal space.

"You-" Adora pushed Catra playfully, "-were unprepared." At this, Adora struck a pretentious pose. "Guess you simply couldn't handle my impressive almighty princess power."

"Wow, look at me I'm magical and can turn eight feet tall and will save the day with friendship and sparkles," Catra mocked, though she didn't mind Adora bragging. "The Horde now knows to take rainbow tidal waves into account. You may have gotten a small victory then but we'll be unstoppable next time."

"Next time? Ah but you see, I have a trick up my sleeve," Adora smiled in a way that only meant trouble. "I-" She tackled Catra, lightly pinning her to the bed, "-have a force captain in captivity, and I don't plan to ask for ransom."

Catra played along, "Oh no, whatever will I do now..." Smile widening, Catra gripped Adora's wrists and flipped the two so the roles were now reversed, though she was careful not to land them too roughly on Adora's back. "It's alright. I don't blame you for letting your guard down. It can be confusing to understand who's actually pulling the strings sometimes."

"Am I confused?" Or do I have you right where I want you, she seemed to say.

Because this is what it had been for some time now that the two girls were back to familiarity. It was teasing and wrestling and half-hearted insults. It was occasional glances and lingering eyes. It was something neither girl wanted to acknowledge, out of fear of breaking this new old thing they had found again, but it was nice,  like the way the sun hit the blankets just right on a cold morning, or the peaceful quiet that was so foreign to the Horde.

The tablet on Adora's bedside table lit up, making a few chirping sounds, destroying that quiet. Sinking down in dismay, Adora wished she had turned that stupid thing off.

"That time already," Adora sighed, though the two hadn't yet moved.

"Another meeting?" Catra said, getting a confirmatory head nod from Adora. Her grip loosened on her wrists but she didn't release them completely. "Guess I'll have to let you go."

"Do you?" Adora asked in that teasing way again and it made Catra suddenly very aware that they'd been sitting like this for a while. "If I'm a few minutes late-"

"Not risking it again," Catra shook her head and this time she actually did get up, noticing the pout on Adora's face as she did. "I don't need Sparkles coming in here unannounced, or Etheria forgive arrow boy, when you're a no show."

"Trust me, I've been having plenty of talks with them about how doors work," Adora stood up, unwrinkling her clothes. "You almost get caught harboring one of the kingdom's most wanted criminal seventeen times and suddenly there's a problem."

The two lingered a little longer in their places, Adora looking for an excuse to stay but not finding one. "You alright on your own?"

"Always have been," Catra said, pretending not to pay too much attention to Adora who definitely noticed how Catra's tail flicked to betray the truth. "Mind grabbing me some lunch when you're done? As long as it doesn't strain your back carrying it all the way up here."

"Ah, ow," Adora jokingly winced, holding her back which had actually healed nicely these past few days. "Yeah sorry I don't think I can. It's just a lot to add on top of the weight of carrying your half-dead body up three stories."

"Fair enough," Catra smiled as Adora began to leave. "Hey, forgetting something?"

Adora turned around, running different ideas through her head but coming up with nothing.

"The sword?" Catra finally said, handing her the weapon. "Honestly, you have got to stop leaving that thing around. Especially around me."

"Right, in case you decide to become She-Ra again," Adora took the sword and this time truly went to leave. "Honestly you wouldn't look half bad as a blonde."

When the door closed, Catra mockingly said to herself, "I'm Adora, I have a funny hair poof and want to annoy Catra all day." She shook her head, moving to the window to sit down, content with the light airy feeling in her chest that hadn't left her all morning.

She waited for more time to pass, and it wasn't until she was certain Adora wouldn't come back for a while that she went to grab her communicator. As expected, within a minute or two of trying to make contact, Scorpia popped up on her screen.

"Hey! Guys look, it's Catra!" Scorpia waved enthusiastically. In the background, Catra could hear a group of people working.

"We're at Dryl right now," Scorpia explained. "Entrapta wants a lot of her old stuff to be moved up to the Horde so they sent us to sneak in."

"Sneak in?" Catra frowned. "Why would you need to sneak in? Entrapta is already on our side."

"Well, I guess you're right but-"

"Catra," A voice said out of view. "How is it you're still just as judgmental through a screen? I thought the princesses would've softened you up by now."

"Nice try Lonnie," Catra rolled her eyes as Lonnie came into view of the camera, half her face blocked by a large red claw. "Who are you calling soft?"

"You," Lonnie deadpanned. "Thought that was obvious."

A short series of growls behind the camera, as though telling Lonnie to play nice, likely came from Rogelio unless Kyle's voice had suddenly dropped five octaves. Speaking of which-

"Ahhh!" A scream came from off screen. "Get it off! Get it off! Bad robot!"

"We should probably help him," Lonnie groaned.

"Should you?" Catra joked back but Lonnie didn't seem to hear as she disappeared out of view.

"Sounds like you guys are having a blast over there," Catra turned her attention back to Scorpia. "Sorry I'm not there to join you all."

"Well don't worry," Scorpia reassured her. "We know you're doing important work in Brightmoon. Everything you've sent so far has been great. Even if you haven't sent anything for a while...but hey, good old Scorpia's got it all under control over here!"

"Why would she give the robot a flamethrower arm?!" Kyle's voice squeaked in the distance.

"Right," Catra cracked a smile. Scorpia smiled back at her, having noticed Catra had become a lot more friendly during her stay with the rebels. She only hoped that would stay the same when she eventually came back.

Whenever that may be.

•••••

"Adora, are you paying attention?"

"Sorry, what?" Adora looked up at the Queen, the latter staring at her expectantly.

"She asked us if anyone had any useful information on the team at Dryl," Glimmer filled her in.

"Right," Adora nodded before frowning again. "And you're asking me because..."

"Because it's your old teammates," Angela said, putting a hand to her temple in frustration. "I was hoping you'd be able to offer a unique perspective on how they may be operating."

"My old- oh, right," Adora finally caught on, more embarrassed by the second. "I guess I can look into it."

Are you brain damaged? Catra's voice fluttered through her head.

"Yes well, once youve looked into it," The Queen said, "We'll need legitimate battle plans. We have to get a win here. Regaining Dryl for the rebellion would be a significant step forward."

"It's what Entrapta would want," Bow added quietly.

Oh. Right, Adora thought. So maybe she hadn't mentioned the fact that Entrapta was alive yet, but in her defense she never had a good time to bring it up. After all, how would she have even found out that information? Don't worry, my evil best friend told me.

Don't call her evil, she argued back with herself. Maybe more like nefarious...dastardly even. Fiendish?

"Adora," The Queen said again, bringing her back to the present. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course it is," Adora said, a little defensive.

"If you're not up for this-"

"I am," Adora insisted. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little distracted today but I can get you a rough battle plan by tomorrow morning's meeting with the rest of the princesses."

"I hope so," The Queen said sternly before softening up. "For now, that's all I have for you three. Meeting adjourned."

Standing up, Adora was about to make a beeline to the kitchen when Glimmer appeared in front of her.

"Hey, wait up," Bow called out, joining them.

"Uh, hey guys," Adora looked between the two. "What's going on?"

"Bow and I were going to get some lunch and sit in the gardens," Glimmer explained. "We were wondering if you wanted to join."

"It would probably be a lot better than you being in your room all day," Bow added, shrinking ever so slightly under Adora's gaze. "I mean, if you want of course."

"That sounds great," Adora started.

"Great!"

"But-"

"Of course there's a but," Glimmer sighed. "Would it kill you to get some sunlight today?"

"My room has a lot of windows," Adora shrugged. "And it's nothing personal, I just have...plans."

"Plans?" Bow questioned.

Oh no, Adora thought. The miniature Catra in her brain was mocking her again for this. "The, uh, plans. That Angela wants me to make. I need to get a head start on them is all."

Bow and Glimmer exchanged glances, as if they expected this.

"You'll take a break sometime though, right?" Glimmer asked. "Dinner at least?"

Adora nodded hurriedly. "Yeah. I'll see you both at dinner." Feeling guilty, she added, "And maybe we can hang out tomorrow? After the meeting, just make it a day for the three of us."

"Sounds like the Best Friend Squad is back in action," Bow pulled the other two into a hug. "Sea Hawk told me all about this party happening tomorrow not too far from here. We should totally go!"

"Party?" Adora found herself growing just as excited. She liked parties, especially if they had good food. Would Catra like parties? Maybe she could bring her something back.

"We are so going," Glimmer grinned and the three pulled away from the hug. "We'll see you at dinner alright? And Adora, get out of your room today or we will hunt you down ourselves."

"Aye aye ma'am," Adora laughed as the two disappeared around the corner.

She continued to her original destination, grabbed a few sandwiches, and headed back to her room to start on those plans.

Creaking open the door after giving her secret knock to alert Catra, she stepped in the room to find it empty.

"Catra?" Adora whispered. No response.

Before any panic could start to build, Adora was suddenly tackled from behind making her yelp.

"Catra!" Adora said, heart racing. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Ha!" Catra laughed, messing up Adora's hair poof. "I totally scared you."

"Whatever," Adora mumbled, trying to fix her hair.

"Oh come on," Catra teased. "You were all like 'ah no, help!' And I was all-"

"Do you want the sandwich or not?" Adora rolled her eyes, not waiting for a reply to throw one to her.

"What'd the princesses have to say?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"No but I'm sure you're still going to tell me all about it." Catra took a bite of the sandwich, limping back to the bed. She could walk small distances without her staff but still needed it for larger exertions.

"Today actually went well," Adora admitted. "I think things are starting to get back to normal again. I have these plans I need to get started on though." She walked over to the supplies she kept in her room, laying out some paper on the table.

"Boring," Catra muttered. "See, this is why they made you a force captain. You and your charts."

"What's wrong with my charts?" Adora looked up from the map she'd started drawing. "You act like you never had to make any battle plans before. You were a force captain too."

"I still am a force captain," Catra corrected. "And I don't have time for all that paperwork junk. If I have a good plan, then I have a good plan. That's it."

"This is why I win at card games."

"Didn't win."

"That's because you- oh forget it," Adora refused to accept Catra's bait. "Just eat your sandwich, I need to focus."

Adora looked down at the papers in front of her, drawing out a rough outline of Dryl. If it was true that her 'old team' as Angela called it was there then it was entirely possible to assume Adora could find some upper hand.

For starters, she knew Lonnie well, remembered how the girl favored her left side in a fight and would usually stay the most level headed. Rogelio was a tank but could tire easily if they hit him hard enough. Then there was Kyle...she didn't need to think too hard on Kyle.

The wildcard of course was Scorpia. Adora knew almost nothing about her, other than that her and Catra had worked together once Adora left. She couldn't help but blush when she felt the twinge of jealously flit through her thoughts.

Maybe she should ask Catra about Scorpia. Then again, she didn't want to push her limits these days. When Catra had first arrived, it may have been a different story, but Adora liked the way things were now. She didn't want to put this in jeopardy.

But what is this? It was wrong, she knew that much. Catra was still adamantly part of the Horde and yet she didn't seem to be acting like it. Adora refused to get her hopes up that she would one day join the rebellion, but Catra had changed, hadn't she? Even if only a little?

Adora snuck a glance over at Catra, who had finished her sandwich and was setting up another game of cards. She seemed focused as she shuffled the deck but at every little noise, Adora could see her ears pivot in curiosity. There was a way that she sat that seemed so relaxed, no tension or burden of war weighing upon her. Adora could hardly reconcile her with the force captain who had led the charge on Brightmoon, who had worked her way up to second in command.

Catra happened to catch Adora's stare. "What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing," Adora looked away, still smiling though embarrassed she got caught. "I was just thinking about how beautiful of a day it is. Sun's out."

Catra, not buying it for a second, but decidingly sparing Adora the trouble, agreed. Still, when Adora decided to bury herself in her papers again, it was Catra's turn to look. Adora's stupid hair poof was almost golden given the way the sun was shining through the windows.

Beautiful indeed, Catra thought endearingly before turning back to the cards, glancing at Adora every once and a while.

It had been a long time since Dryl. As Adora traced out different entrance strategies, she recalled the labyrinth the castle was. Well, as well as she could anyways. That whole day had become hazy after...

Catra noticed the way that Adora's face fell but couldn't figure out what might of caused it. The frown that set in though, Adora's mind suddenly miles away, prompted Catra to do something about it.

Standing up, Catra walked over so that she was just behind Adora, leaning on the back of her chair. Adora glanced up for a moment at her in surprise, as though she hadn't even heard her get up, before trying to play it off by turning back to her work.

"What is it?" Catra asked, knowing Adora would just end up bottling up whatever was bothering her otherwise.

Adora fiddled with her pen nervously before putting it back down. "It's nothing really."

"Nope," Catra pushed. "It's too late for that. You already made me get up. So what is it?"

"It's just, the last time I was in Dryl," Adora shook her head, as though it would shake the memory out of her head, "There was this...I don't know what to call it. A disk? Whatever it was, it did something to She-Ra."

And now Catra's curiosity was fully piqued. She waited, knowing Adora would elaborate in the silence.

"I don't really know how to describe it." Adora leaned back in her chair. Catra noticed how she was staring at a single part of the table, almost definitely reliving the moment in her head. "It was like this darkness. It just washed over She-Ra. Over...over me. I attacked Entrapta, even tried attacking Glimmer. If they hadn't stopped me, I don't know what would've happened. How far I would've gone."

Catra found that hard to imagine. Adora was tough and a good fighter, but she was never the type to hurt people (at least, not on purpose).

"So it's a stupid magic disk," Catra shrugged. "Doesn't mean anything."

Adora didn't seem convinced. "It's not just that though. It's like..." She was getting frustrated, tapping her fingers anxiously on the deck. "It was like the disk brought something up to the surface that I didn't know was there. It was...it was like..."

"Anger?" Catra tried to help her out. "Rage?"

"No," Adora shook her head impatiently. "It was..." She tried to think back to how it had felt, despite her best instincts telling her to leave that memory be. Still, that day had always bothered her. She had never been able to place it before.

Then it clicked.

"Purpose," Adora mumbled. The word sat like cement in her stomach. "It was like I was trying to fulfill some purpose." Turning to Catra, she wondered if the girl would think she was crazy.

Catra studied Adora for a moment. The latter couldn't tell what was going on in her head in the slightest. Maybe she had said too much.

But then, Catra's expression softened. "Whatever it was, it wasn't you. It was She-Ra."

"Aren't they the same?" Adora asked, noticing Catra look away when she did.

"I guess only you'd know that. But. Whatever that disk thing did, I doubt it actually had anything to do with you. Just another example of why magic is the worst."

"But what if..." Adora just couldn't shake there was something more, something she just didn't understand yet, something right out of reach. "What if this bad side it brought out in me...what if it's not just the disk? What if it just enhanced something that was already there?"

Catra looked at Adora now and saw the fear in her eyes at her own words. How long had Adora been thinking about this? What had she felt under the influence of that thing to be so scared of what she could become? Catra was well aware of the raw power She-Ra held. She was a weapon, whether she wanted to be one or not. Maybe Adora should be afraid.

Looking into Adora's wide, innocent eyes though, Catra couldn't convince herself that was true.

"Adora," Catra moved the plans over, sitting on the table so she was in front of her. "Look. I've known you my entire life. And I know that you are the most annoyingly goodhearted person I've ever met. So whatever bad side you think you might have, it's never going to outweigh all of the other stuff. Alright?"

Adora stared at Catra, processing what she said. Finally, with a small nod, she whispered, "Alright."

"Come on," Catra pulled her away from the boring business table, over to her table with the cards she had conveniently set up. "I promise I won't cheat this time if you promise to stop thinking about all that."

Cracking a smile, Adora picked up the cards laid out on her side before swapping them with Catra's pile to the girl's dismay. "Fine."

Catra rolled her eyes. "You think I'm that low that I'd set you up with a bad hand on the first go?"

"You said so yourself," Adora laughed as she picked up her new stack, a nearly perfect hand. "Nothing's too low for you."

Looking at her own hand, an absolute garbage group of cards, Catra couldn't even be mad.

At least Adora was smiling again.

•••••

It wasn't until the next morning that Adora realized her mistake. The unfinished plans, laying forgotten on the table in the corner, seemed to taunt her as she rushed to get dressed.

"Will you tell whoever is knocking this loud in the morning to please shut up before I claw their arm off?" Catra hissed quietly from her hiding place under the covers.

"I'm coming!" Adora shouted, ignoring Catra. The knocking ceased for a few seconds before impatiently starting again.

Throwing on her jacket and scooping up the unfinished papers, Adora flung the door open.

"Overslept?" Glimmer asked, more amused than anything.

Adora nodded, quickly closing the door behind her. The two walked towards the meeting room, Adora trying to come up with how she would manage to wing this. She was used to performing under pressure, and this was a simple mission after all, but the overthinking perfectionist was clattering around in Adora's skull, angry that she wouldn't have the time to draw up a plan for every letter of the alphabet and then some.

"So..." Glimmer broke the tense silence, "Missed you at dinner last night."

Adora felt another wave of embarrassment wash over her. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot."

"It's okay," Glimmer sighed but she didn't sound okay. He sounded worried. Debating saying anything at all, she finally stopped in the hallway. "Adora, can I ask you something?"

Adora fumbled a bit, not expecting her to stop walking and nearly ran into the princess. Fixing her grip on the charts in her hand she nodded, though she knew she probably wouldn't like the question.

"Are you mad at me and Bow?" Glimmer couldn't meet her eyes. "It's just, you keep avoiding us and we don't know why."

Adora's shoulders dropped. She had been avoiding them, hadn't she? Not on purpose of course. Unless it was on purpose. But she wasn't mad at them. Right?

Oddly enough she couldn't be sure.

"I've just been dealing with a lot," Adora explained weakly. "Stressed with everything going on."

"You know you can talk to us about anything," Glimmer said. "We're your friends. We'd understand."

"I know," Adora said quietly, shooting her a smile. For a moment, she entertained the thought of telling her about what was going on with Catra. What was the worst that could happen?

No, Adora told herself. It was too risky. They would probably want to kick Catra out or make her a real prisoner. And Adora had been too happy these past few weeks to give that up, to even share this private part of her world with them.

"We should get going," Glimmer started walking again. "Everyone's in the meeting already."

Right. The meeting. The meeting Adora was supposed to present her plans. The nonexistent plans. That meeting.

She was going to regret this.

"Glimmer, actually," Adora shifted nervously. "I...I don't have anything to present."

"What?" Glimmer stopped again, looking at her in disbelief.

"I know, I just..." Come up with an explanation, quick. "I mean I have a few notes but-"

Glimmer looked like she was trying to hide it but the stress wore on her words, "Adora, we really needed something here. My mom is concerned about you and I'm doing my best to bring her around but when things like this happen-"

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll talk to her."

Glimmer wasn't finished though. "What's been going on with you anyways? You were practically begging us to let you back in on everything but now that we are, you aren't acting like you care."

"Of course I care," Adora defended herself. "I just have other things going on right now."

"Like what?" Glimmer pressed. "You're in your room all day. You don't talk to anyone anymore."

"Maybe it's because every time I talk to someone it's a lecture," Adora mumbled, knowing she shouldn't.

"Well maybe we wouldn't have to lecture you if you started acting like a member of this rebellion again. It's like you're forgetting there's a war going on."

Adora clenched the papers in her hands, not sure whether she was angry at Glimmer, herself, or something else entirely. "I'm doing the best I can."

"Well right now, that's just not good enough."

Letting the words wash over her, Glimmer turned on her heels and walked away, presumably to the meeting.

In her haze of emotions, Adora didn't have any reason to question why Glimmer hadn't just teleported away. In fact, she didn't even notice the way the shadows in the room had retreated back into their corners as soon as Glimmer left.

Adora, already engrossed in her own inner turmoil, didn't realize she hadn't been talking to Glimmer at all.

•••••

When Adora went into her room, she wasn't surprised to see Catra sitting in bed. Catra, on the other hand, was completely surprised to see Adora back so soon.

"Did you guys already finish the meeting?"

"Meeting was cancelled," Adora lied and, desperate to get her mind off the conversation from before, turned to Catra eagerly. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

Catra looked at her reluctantly. "You want me to leave the castle?"

"With me of course," Adora was already discarding the papers from earlier and instead grabbing a bag. "We can spend the day in town, just us."

Catra perked up immediately at that. "You're gonna let me out into the real world? Willingly? And you aren't worried I'll run away?"

"If you wanted to run away you would've done it already," Adora threw Catra a cloak, in a hurry to leave before anyone could track her down when she didn't show up to the meeting.

Catra wrapped the cloak around her, grabbing her walking sti- ahem, staff. She couldn't take her eyes away from Adora though, knowing all too well something was bothering her. There was another feeling too, something else she couldn't entirely place and yet it was eerily similar, like someone (or something) was watching them. Looking around the room though, Catra figured she must just be overthinking it. Besides, she didn't need to get paranoid on Adora when the girl obviously needed a distraction.

The two snuck out, careful not to be seen. And yet, Catra couldn't shake something was off. Between Adora's sudden change in mood and the feeling from just before, Catra could hear the alarm bells chiming in her head.

And as the two slipped into the forest, as cautious as they had been, neither were aware of the lone figure watching as they left.

Chapter Text

Going to town was out of the question, the two girls would realize soon after they left the castle grounds. After all, it hadn't been all that long ago when Catra had started a fight at the marketplace. If they wanted to keep the peace, and remain undiscovered, they would have to either stay away from civilization completely or find a place no one would pay them any attention.

Not the easiest task for a wanted criminal and She-Ra, the Princess of Power herself.

This is a bad idea, Catra thought. It wasn't like Adora to act on impulse like this. Sneaking out of the castle on a whim, without even a plan? It was reckless and something that both troubled Catra and piqued her curiosity.

"So where are we going?"

"Don't know," Adora shrugged, leading the way through the forest. "Why, do you have a preference?"

"You know this place better than I would," Catra admitted. As they walked, she kept her eyes on Adora. The latter was holding it together well, but her mind was preoccupied with much more than navigation. Her talk with Glimmer, her troubles with the rebellion...she shook her head a little. This whole venture was supposed to be a distraction.

Catra hated not knowing what was going on in her head. She had thought they had gotten comfortable enough to share everything again but Adora was being particularly stubborn this time around. It couldn't just be the princesses, could it?

Just another reason not to join the rebellion, Catra thought to herself half-heartedly. For so long she had worried Adora was happier with these people, and while there was no denying she belonged in Brightmoon instead of with the Horde, could she really say Adora was happy?

A few steps ahead of her, Adora tripped on an overgrown root. Jumping up to her feet and trying to play it off, she shot Catra a dorky smile.

"Nice one," Catra snorted. "And here I was thinking that I'm the one who can't walk."

"It's all fun and games until I need to steal your walking stick," Adora wiped the dirt from her pants, falling back to Catra's side.

"It's not a walking stick," Catra corrected, and even though she sounded annoyed, on the inside she was only thinking about that stupid smile.

Alright, she's not unhappy necessarily, Catra reasoned. She was still the Adora she knew and lov— grew up with. But in the Horde, they only ever had to worry about each other. Small threats seemed so big then. Now, all of the real problems feel as if they're closing in, and out of all the people in Etheria, Adora got saddled with fixing everything. 

Why does it have to be her?

It was a selfish thought. But walking side by side, hands occasionally brushing, just the low hum of the forest life...this was simple. There was nothing out here, no problems, and Catra could forget that the only reason she was in these woods was to distract Adora, could forget the dull ache in her side, felt as though if she were to throw aside her staff right then, running off into the forest without a care in the world, she could be certain Adora would follow and they'd never look back.

"I think there's a town up ahead," Adora said, pointing to their right. "I can't remember the name but I think Glimmer told me about it before. Apparently they have some really good food."

"It's always food with you," Catra teased, glad she hadn't been caught staring.

"Um, yeah. Have you ever tried food?"

"Apparently not, since you always forget to bring me anything."

"That was literally only one time," Adora rolled her eyes. "Come on." Grabbing Catra's free hand, she slowly led them down the dirt path, both girls entirely unaware that the other was screaming on the inside from the contact.

The farther they travelled on the path, the thicker the trees became. Catra was doubtful they were headed in the right direction. Were the woods shifting on them? No one could possibly build anything in this dense of a forest.

To her surprise, however, the sound of music slowly began to fill the air. With it came the smell of all kinds of different foods, most of which were new to Catra. What was confusing her, however, was the origin of these sounds and smells.

"Adora, where are we-" She began to ask before something powdery fell onto her face. Wiping at it, she saw it was some pink substance that stuck to her hands. When she looked up to see where it had came from, Catra couldn't help but gape at the sight.

Above the two girl's heads was an entire town built into the treetops. Massive wooden platforms adorned the trees at different levels, all connected by various rope bridges, vines to swing from, and ladders. Some of these platforms supported entire houses, others were smaller and filled with different street vendors.

All around the town, people were celebrating. Something special seemed to be taking place as people danced and sang, moving freely from platform to platform. They were all wearing different costumes with masks made to look like the forest creatures. In the air, people were throwing colored powder that swirled in the wind, painting the trees in every color imaginable.

Catra looked over at Adora who looked just as awestruck. Something about the wonder in her eyes made Catra smile.

"This is...not what I expected," Adora laughed nervously. "I mean, I completely forgot."

Looking over at Catra and seeing her quizzical look, she added, "It's just, Bow, he mentioned there was a party in town. We were supposed to..." Adora swallowed a bit. That's right, she thought. We had plans today.

'Just not good enough.'

"Hey," Catra nudged Adora, lightly pushing her shoulder with her hand. It was meant to just be that, a simple motion to snap Adora out of it. And while it worked, what Catra wasn't expecting was for Adora to reach up and absentmindedly link her hand into Catra's. If Adora was aware of what she'd done, she didn't say anything.

Catra looked down at their interlocked fingers for a moment in shock but didn't do anything to pull away. She liked how warm Adora's hands were.

"So," Catra cleared her throat, trying to hide her red face, "What's this party thing for anyways?"

"I don't know," Adora said. Taking a deep breath, as if mustering up some newfound courage within her, she turned to Catra with a nervous smile, "Do you wanna find out?"

Catra squeezed Adora's hand, an answer in itself. If it's with you, I'd do anything.

"There's one problem though." Catra wished it weren't so. She pointed towards the closest of the many ladders that stretched to the ground floor of the forest. "I can't exactly climb very well."

Adora tilted her head slightly before an idea popped into her head. Without releasing Catra's hand, she shrugged off her bag before handing it to Catra. "Here, hold this."

Catra raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Adora but slung it over her shoulder nonetheless.

"You trust me?" Adora asked, her troublemaker smile telling Catra the answer to that probably should've been no.

"Of course," Catra rolled her eyes. "What exactly are you going to-AGH!"

Catra had no time to react as Adora squatted in front of her, picking her up so that she was now giving Catra a piggyback ride. She was holding one of Catra's legs on either side of her and Catra instinctively grabbed Adora's shoulders to steady herself.

"Stop laughing you jerk!" Catra growled. "A little warning next time would've been nice..."

"Sorry," Adora stifled her laughter. "But you did say-"

"I take it back," Catra continued to complain as she strapped her staff to her back, stowed safely with Adora's bag. "I don't trust you, actually. You are the absolute worst."

"Stop being such a baby," Adora teased as she approached the ladder. She grabbed onto the first rung, grunting slightly as she pulled herself up. Catra gripped onto Adora a little tighter. "What? You aren't afraid of heights all of a sudden are you?"

"I'm afraid of you plummeting us to our deaths," Catra said as she looked up at the platforms high above her head. "Our very painful, very humiliating deaths."

"You don't have to worry about that," Adora assured her as she slowly but steadily continued up the ladder. "If we fell, I'd probably just land on top of you. So, you know, I would be okay."

"Great."

As they got higher though, Catra couldn't help her nerves actually growing. She didn't like having to depend on Adora so much, and knew if it really came down to it, she wouldn't be able to do much, her agility severely curtailed by her injuries. When she looked down below, her vision danced with shadows. Squeezing Adora a little tighter, she couldn't help but hide her face in Adora's neck. How stable was this ladder anyways? And even though Adora was mostly healed, if she slipped...Catra had a bad feeling about these woods from the second they got there, like something was watching them, and surely any second now-

"Hey," Adora said softly. Her voice had lost its teasing tone, replaced only with warmth. "We're almost there."

Her words had an almost instant effect on Catra because she felt herself calming down. Wherever that random burst of anxiety had come from, it all dissolved as she focused in on Adora, grounding herself the best she could seventy feet up in the air.

When they reached the top, as happy as Catra was to have her feet on solid ground again, she couldn't help but wish she could stay this close to Adora a little longer. Maybe the other girl felt the same too, as she didn't make any immediate move to let Catra down.

But then Catra was grabbing her staff and handing Adora her bag and they were both walking forward with no clear destination in mind.

"Everyone seems so...happy," Catra commented as they navigated through the crowd.

"Well that's what a party's for," Adora explained. "They're celebrations."

"Well it's no wonder we don't have these in the Horde." The two had made their way to one of the bridges, crossing from the heavy movement of the dance floor to a calmer platform filled with vendors and booths. "There's never anything to really celebrate."

"Hey!" A gruff voice called out. "You two!"

Seriously? Already? Catra pulled her hood a little closer around her face.

A large man was approaching them, wearing a mask resembling some sort of boar. He towered over the two, arms crossed. Catra was already gripping her staff tighter when she felt Adora place a hand on her shoulder.

Wait a moment, she seemed to say. Catra begrudgingly listened.

"Is there a problem Sir?" Adora asked, flashing a nervous smile.

"Yeah, there's a problem," The man glowered. He stared at the two for a long while before—

"Where's your masks?" He let out a big booming laugh. "It is Forest Day after all."

"Masks?" Catra asked, not trusting this wasn't some trick.

"Um, we're new in town," Adora explained. "We didn't know we'd need them."

"Well of course you do!" The man slapped Adora on the back hard, and if she weren't She-Ra she probably would've went flying. "It's all part of the fun. It's tradition!"

He started walking over to a nearby booth, waving them along to follow. Sharing a look, the two girls decided he seemed harmless enough and approached the table.

Arranged neatly in front of them were at least a dozen masks, all of different forest creatures. Some Adora recognized, others she didn't. All of them, however, were carefully carved out of fine polished wood, and painted all sorts of beautiful hues.

"The masks are representative of all the forest creatures," The man explained as they looked. "We spend the day honoring 'em, with singing and dancing and-"

"And masks," Catra finished for him. "Got it."

The three stood there awkwardly for a moment before the man gestured again to the table. "Well go on then. Take your pick!"

"I'm sorry," Adora admitted, "We really didn't bring much money and these look-"

"Nonsense," He laughed again, voice echoing in the trees. "It's on the house. Enjoy the day travelers. And don't miss the ending ceremony at night. Perfect place to finish your date if you ask me."

"Date?!" Adora squeaked, face growing incredibly red. "N-No, we're not, that's not what we're-"

Catra couldn't help but laugh at how flustered Adora had become, though luckily no one seemed to notice the red glow on her own cheeks.

"Thanks for the advice," Catra cut in, mercifully ending Adora's rambling. "We'll keep it in mind, isn't that right dearest?" She wrapped her tail around Adora's wrist, smiling innocently at the girl.

Adora, now just as red as her jacket, stammered out some incomprehensible response before ignoring Catra completely to examine the masks. Catra smirked in success before looking at the masks herself.

After careful deliberation, Adora chose one that resembled an avian creature, painted white with gold accents. As for Catra, she selected one with cat-like features painted red and black.

"Suits you," Adora said as she slipped on her mask. It was slightly crooked and came up enough on her face so Catra could see her dorky smile underneath. "How do I look?"

Cute. Very, very cute.

Instead of answering, Catra placed her own mask on her face, surprised by how well it fit. She placed the mask she usually wore in Adora's bag.

"Guess you don't need a cloak anymore," Adora said sarcastically. "We're practically masters of disguise now."

"Not that we'd need disguises," Catra clarified to the man, thanking him again for the gifts and pulling Adora away. "Not subtle."

"Catra, relax," Adora assured her.

"You're telling me to relax," Catra raised an eyebrow. "What has the world come to?"

"Shut up," Adora punched her lightly on the shoulder. "Come on, they're selling all the food in this corner."

Seeing the excitement on Adora's face, how could Catra say no?

She didn't object when Adora took her hand, taking her along with her, either.

Drifting from booth to booth, buying food and admiring the vibrancy of everything, Catra could see the stress falling away from Adora's face. It was nice to see her genuinely enjoying the day, and enjoying it with her no less. And Catra was enjoying herself too, though she couldn't help but feel as though something was slightly off. Every once and a while she'd scan the crowd but would never see anything of concern.

That is, until they reached the theater.

Set up on one of the slightly larger platforms was a wooden stage. People were gathering around it, sitting on the floor and idly chatting before the show started.

"Do you want to check that out?" Adora asked, noticing Catra looking in that direction.

They had been walking a while. She didn't want to admit it but her leg was annoying her slightly from the prolonged use. She hadn't spent so long on it before. It'd be nice to sit for a moment.

"Why not," Catra shrugged.

Everything was fine as they approached and they were about to go sit somewhere off to the side in the back rows when a loud familiar voice shouted from across the way.

"Adora! Is that you?"

"Oh no," Adora groaned. She looked at Catra and an understanding passed between them. Slipping away from Adora, Catra stayed only close enough to keep an eye and ear on her.

"Adora!" The man called again, wearing a serpent mask, pushing through the crowd towards her. He hadn't seen Catra. "Adora!"

"Hey Sea Hawk," Adora greeted. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm the life of any party," Sea Hawk grinned. "It's only natural for me to make an appearance. And I would never miss the Forest Festival. I'm glad you could make it."

"Uh, yeah," Adora nodded, glancing over at Catra momentarily. "I'm surprised I'd never heard about this before. Then again, I guess there's a lot I don't know about."

"Well that's why you've got your good friends to help you out. Speaking of which," Sea Hawk scanned the crowd, "Where's Glimmer and Bow?"

"Glimmer and Bow," Adora repeated flatly, expression suddenly unreadable. Catra frowned. Adora was an open book but for the second time today she couldn't decipher what was going on inside that head of her's.

"Yeah, aren't they with you?" Sea Hawk asked not noticing any change in behavior.

"They're..." Adora thought for a moment before faking a convincing smile, "They went off on their own a few minutes ago. I'd look for them but they ought to have some alone time, if you know what I mean."

"Ah," Sea Hawk nodded in understanding. "Well good for them. Don't worry about third wheeling. I do it all the time, especially since my dear Mermista refuses to come to any parties with me." He wiped away a fake tear as if to emphasize his point.

"You know," Adora threw an arm around him, leading him away from the theater, "I talked to Mermista this morning in the meeting."

"You did?" Sea Hawk asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Adora lied as they approached the bridge. "She mentioned you a few times. Nothing too much but-"

"She talks about me when I'm not around?" Sea Hawk sighed wistfully. "I knew it!"

Impressive, Catra thought to herself. Poor idiot doesn't even realize he's being played. And for Adora to be pulling this off with such ease? Where was this coming from?

"Sure does," Adora released him, stepping back a little so that she was in between him and the theater. "But you didn't hear it from me."

"And what about you?" Sea Hawk asked, leaning against one of the bridge posts.

Adora shot him a questioning look.

"Do you have a special someone you'd want to bring to the festival?"

"Oh," Adora's eyes widened slightly. "Well...not yet. But maybe I'll find her. One day."

"She may be closer than you think," Sea Hawk nudged her playfully. "Well, best of luck to you. I think I'm going to go call Mermista. Aren't those communicator pads Bow made us so cool? I can call her whenever I like. Though, I suppose she doesn't always pick up."

"I guess I should be the one wishing you luck then," Adora laughed. As he walked away, blissfully in his own world, Catra felt that uneasy feeling creep back into her thoughts.

"That was a close one," Adora said as she returned to Catra's side.

"Yeah," Catra watched Adora for any signs that she was upset, nervous even, after that encounter but she seemed completely fine. She wasn't even fazed.

"Oh, the show's going to start soon," Adora pointed out and led them back to their seats.

Sure enough, a few actors were stepping onto stage and a light instrumental filled the air.

"Princess!" One actor called out, dressed in simple robes. "Princess! Come quick!"

"Yes dear villager? What ails you?" Another actress asked, stepping onto stage. Her clothes were slightly more extravagant and her hair was dyed...pink.

"Hey," Catra asked the person next to them. "What's this show about?"

"The Battle of Brightmoon of course," They answered before shushing them.

Oh no, Catra thought. Looking over at Adora they both realized this was going to be a bit of a problem. So much for distractions.

"It's the forest!" The first actor cried. "Something is wrong. The woods are freezing over and the animals are fleeing!"

"Do not fear," The Glimmer actress announced, bristling with authority. She was way taller than the real one. "We will fix this. But to do that, we will need-"

"Oh no," Adora groaned.

"Oh yes," Catra tried not to laugh.

"She-Ra!" A blonde woman leapt on stage, wearing fake golden armor and waving a wooden sword. "I will save the Whispering Woods!"

The other actors left the stage, leaving the fake She-Ra. Now, new people approached the stage carrying cutouts of Horde bots.

"Beep beep!" One actor called out. "We will destroy, beep, She-Ra!"

"This is the best day of my life," Catra laughed at Adora's horrified expression.

Fake She-Ra began to battle the bots, wacking the cutouts with her sword. As she did, one bot that was bigger than the others and carried by two people approached her from behind. An actor threw a rope around her and She-Ra dropped the sword. More bots surrounded her and a look of defeat came across her face.

"There's too many," She-Ra gasped dramatically. "Have I failed?"

Catra looked over to Adora immediately, who's look of discomfort suddenly became much more real.

"The forest..." She-Ra continued her monologue. "It's dying. And if the forest dies, what will happen to those who depend on it?"

Catra shifted slightly, just as uncomfortable. Looking at the captivated stares of people watching the play, a few looking genuinely distressed for the fake heroine, the way that this stupid show meant something to them...what happened to them during the battle?

As she looked closer at the trees, though they were covered in the colored powder, beneath all of that she could see relatively new scorch marks and withered branches. Had the Horde trampled through these trees and she hadn't even noticed? Had she given the orders that gave the trees those scars?

And what about the animals? This party revolved around them right? That's what the man had told them. Her hand traced the edge of the mask on her face slightly. She didn't know what type of creature this was supposed to resemble. She had hardly been able to encounter any natural life within the forest.

She had only ever seen it destroyed.

"Is there any hope?" Fake She-Ra asked. "Is it possible that I can't do this alone?"

Catra reached out to hold Adora's hand. Adora squeezed it back, eyes still glued to the stage.

"She-Ra!" The Glimmer actress appeared, running on stage. "Don't worry! I've brought help!"

Behind her, more actors ran on stage, each dressed as a different member of the rebellion. The fake Bow shot an arrow at the rope and cut it in half, earning a few claps from the audience.

"My friends," She-Ra smiled, jumping back up and grabbing her sword. "I knew I could always count on you."

'We've lost a lot of villages to the Horde. Too many.'

'We couldn't risk you.'

'If you're not up for this-'

'You keep avoiding us.'

'Just not good enough.'

Adora stood up silently, walking away from the performance, careful not to block anyone's view. Catra followed after her, cursing herself for not suggesting they leave sooner.

"Are you alright?" Catra asked once they were far enough away.

"Yeah," Adora answered shakily. "I just...I'm sorry. I couldn't keep watching that."

Catra wasn't entirely sure what to do but she awkwardly pulled Adora into a hug, who seemed shocked by the gesture.

"It's okay," Catra insisted, ignoring a few of the stares they were receiving as well as her own nerves. "You don't need to apologize."

Catra was worried that wasn't enough (or possibly too much) but Adora seemed to relax slightly, hugging her back. When the two pulled apart, Adora looked a little less rattled.

"It's been a long day, huh?" She said weakly.

Catra nodded. "You want to head back?"

Adora thought about it for a moment. "No. It's alright. I don't really want to go to the castle right now. Besides," She smiled at Catra, "We wouldn't want to miss the closing ceremony. The sun is going to set anytime now."

Catra smiled back at her, and she couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach at the implication.

As they walked away from the stage, determined to not think about all of that anymore, a lone figure watched them leave, long fingers curling into a fist. Behind her mask she smiled.

Adora was right. It would be dark soon.

•••••

As night fell, the village in the trees began to glow. The powder, which now adorned all of their surroundings, gave off faint light that painted everything in soft pinks and purples, greens and blues.

People were gravitating towards a large platform towards the center of the village. The loudness of the festival had died down, replaced with soft murmurs and delicate music.

At the center platform, the trees opened up in a circle, revealing the night sky. A few moons peaked over the leaves.

Standing on the platform, Adora looked up longingly at the sky and Catra looked longingly at Adora.

"I'm glad we did this," Catra said, gaze unwavering.

"I am too." Adora turned to Catra, then took a quick glance at the people around them. The music had become a little louder, a slow melodic song circling the air. A small group was the source of it, propped up on a small makeshift stage, two playing string instruments. People were beginning to ask others to dance, holding each other in their arms and swaying to the music.

Adora smiled nervously at Catra before reaching out a hand. "Shall we?"

Catra felt she could just melt on the spot. She strapped her staff to her back, wobbling for a moment before taking Adora's hand. Catra placed her other one on the girl's shoulder and felt as Adora hesitantly put a hand on Catra's waist.

The third member of the band approached the mic and their voice, silvery and calm, washed over the crowd.

"Cold bones, yeah, that's my love. She hides away, like a ghost."

The dancing came naturally to the two girls. Catra had worried about her leg but found that with Adora supporting her, she could match the steps perfectly fine.

"Does she know that we bleed the same? Don't wanna cry but I break that way."

Adora was always there, wasn't she? Catra had made more than enough mistakes along the way. She didn't deserve to be here, she thought, but how could she think that when Adora was holding her like this and not letting go.

Despite everything, all the terrible things Catra had done, the fighting and the heartbreak, the leaving and the finding each other again, Adora was always there. And she still hadn't left her, not yet.

The music swelled, the two instruments working together in tandem, as if they were made solely for the other, their notes a wordless promise to make music together for the rest of their existence.

"Cold sheets, but where's my love?"

Adora had been nothing but kind to Catra after saving her that night all those months ago.

"I am searching high, I'm searching low in the night. Does she know that we bleed the same?"

Adora was always gentle too. Even now, she was so delicate despite the strength she was capable of. The callouses on her hands were rough to the touch but the light squeeze, the closed eyes, the even breathing-

"Don't wanna cry but I break that way."

Catra felt safe here, safer than she had ever felt before.

"Did she run away? Did she run away, I don't know."

If she could ever be so lucky, maybe Adora felt that way too.

"If she ran away, if she ran away, come back home."

Adora did.

"Just come home."

And what a freeing feeling it was. To feel all of her troubles wash away, for Catra to be the only thing to matter to her in that moment. Adora wasn't second guessing herself or putting aside what she wanted for once in her life. The war, the world, it all paled in comparison.

All she wanted was Catra, to be here with her. Happy. Out of harm's way.

"I got a fear, oh, in my blood."

The world was a scary place, easy to lose each other in.

"She was carried up into the clouds, high above."

The thought of losing her...

"If you've bled, I bleed the same."

She would do anything to keep from losing Catra ever again.

"If you're scared, I'm on my way."

Catra had no intention of leaving though. How could she?

"Did you run away? Did you run away, I don't need to know."

She should have done this a long time ago. Catra removed her mask, then placed her free hand on Adora's cheek, sliding her mask up off her face too.

"If you ran away, if you ran away, come back home."

She leaned forward until their foreheads were touching.

"Just come home."

They both opened their eyes slightly, acutely aware of how close they were. Then, they closed the gap, lips meeting in the middle.

Adora pulled Catra closer, and Catra trailed her hand down to Adora's neck, deepening the kiss. Everything felt so natural, just like dancing. Even when they pulled apart, foreheads still touching, they felt as if this was the way they were always supposed to be.

"Wow," Adora breathed, making Catra laugh stupidly.

"Don't ruin this, dork," Catra smiled, though a deep involuntary purr from her chest gave away her own happiness.

They continued to dance, with Catra resting her head on Adora's chest. She could hear Adora's heartbeat and it was now her favorite sound in all of Etheria.

The music faded away to a lingering melody but the two stayed close. They would of stayed that way forever if not for the ripple of excitement from the crowd. They both looked up to see the reason why people stayed until the closing ceremony.

The forest animals were flooding in from the trees. Down on the floor, deers ran through, their horns glowing in the moonlight. Squirrels ran up the trees in swirling patterns, as if they were dancing too. The girls ducked as birds swooped overhead, dipping and spinning in the air. More animals than either girl had ever seen in their lives filled the forest, taking their breath away.

Everything was so perfect. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Catra's ear twitched as a shocked gasp came from behind them. She turned slightly and felt her stomach drop.

"Adora," She brought the girl's attention to the person behind them.

He was frozen in surprise, eyes wide even behind the fox mask he wore. Adora didn't recognize him at first, not able to see as well as Catra could, but when her eyes landed on the quiver of arrows strapped to his back and the familiar boots peeking out from the bottom of his cloak, it clicked.

"Bow," Adora let go of Catra, approaching him hesitantly. "Bow, I...I can explain."

No, Catra thought, seeing his breathing getting faster, seeing the confusion in his eyes, the betrayal. No, no, no.

"Bow," Adora pleaded.

He stepped back from them, shaking his head slightly in denial, before running off in the other direction.

"No," Adora's voice shook. She couldn't lose everything, not like this.

"Stay here," Adora ordered, running off to follow him.

"But-" Catra clumsily tried to follow her but with her staff forgotten and stowed away, she tripped when the weight of her leg gave out, exhausted from a day of full use. On the ground she felt frustrated tears spill from her eyes as Adora disappeared into the crowd.

A few people looked at the commotion but most were distracted by the animals and the lights. That is, except for someone whose eyes were locked onto Catra and Catra only.

She glided, still unseen, over to where Catra knelt, a cruel smile playing on her lips. Placing a hand on the side of Catra's face, the girl jumped at the surprise touch and pulled away in terror when she saw the figure looming over her.

"Catra," Shadow Weaver cooed. "It's time you came home."

Chapter Text

All else faded away into the darkness. No music. No laughing, no idle oblivious conversation, no shouting for the person you love to come back.

Just breathing. Ragged, choking breathing.

It was as though all of Adora's senses were being shoved through a filter, her vision black except for the man running ahead of her and nothing else.

Not like this. Not like this. Not like this.

Her footsteps pounded on the wooden platform to the rhythm of those words, to the rhythm of each rapid breath. She couldn't help the frustration fogging up her senses, because she had a right to be angry, didn't she? For once, just this once, she had finally found something she wanted. How dare someone try to take this away from her?

Bow stumbled slightly but he never stopped moving forward. He stole a glance over his shoulder, locking eyes with the girl chasing him. He looked scared.

Taken away. And for what? Was she not allowed this one bit of happiness?

Not like this. Adora wasn't about to lose everything that mattered to her, not like this, please. She couldn't. It was all slipping through her fingertips, slipping into darkness. Catra. Her friends. The rebellion. The war. All of it was slipping. What happens when she has nothing left to hold onto?

Bow, in his panic, made a wrong turn. Perhaps he had thought there would be a bridge when he rounded the corner of the large tree trunk but to his dismay there was only a ledge. He stumbled to a halt, almost tumbling over. He looked around but there was nowhere to go. He was tucked away in a corner, with no crowd, no wandering eyes.

No witnesses.

Breathing. Sharp, panicked breathing. She had caught up. Bow was a cornered animal, looking at Adora and then the ledge behind him. There was nowhere else to run.

Adora stopped in front of him, senses still foggy with anger. Bow was eerily aware of his two choices, the danger both in front of him and below.

"Please," He backed away, putting the most distance between the two that he could without falling off the ledge. "Please d-don't hurt me."

Hurt you? Adora squinted through the fog, those words a painful pull back to reality.

"I...I'm not," Adora shook her head, trying to ground herself, trying to breathe, "Why would you think I want to...to hurt you?"

Bow laughed nervously, borderline hysterically. When he spoke, his voice cracked. "Oh I-I don't know, Adora. Maybe it's because you're chasing me with a knife?!"

"What are you talking...about..." Adora trailed off as she looked down at her own hands. Sure enough, the dagger that she had kept strapped to her hip, the gift she had received from Catra, was held firmly in her palm. She didn't remember even taking it out.

She must've looked terrifying from Bow's perspective. Brandishing a knife, hunting him down, that anger that scorched her lungs and burned bright in her eyes — truly, how could he think she wasn't about to hurt him?

"I'm...I-I'm sorry," Adora stammered out, feeling sick. She immediately put the knife away, her eyes lingering on the golden blade for a reason she couldn't place. "I don't know what came over me." She looked back up at Bow, who was still staring at her distrustingly. "Look. We need to talk. About what you saw."

And what did he see? Bow still hadn't entirely processed that just yet. Adora. And Catra. He had so many questions, and yet, now he had so many answers. The reason Adora had been distancing herself. The reason she had been sneaking off and unfocused.

A terrible thought crossed his mind.

The failed missions. The meetings that never got anywhere. The hesitation Adora had when fighting her old Horde squad.

The lack of hesitation she had when chasing after him.

The look in her eyes, even now, of someone with too much to lose.

"I'm going to ask you something," Bow said, choosing his words carefully, "And I need you to answer me honestly.

Adora nodded, a thousand possibilities of what he could ask running through her head. "Of course. Ask anything."

Bow took a deep breath. For just a moment, he glanced behind him, down at the dizzying forest floor only a step away. Then, he met Adora's eyes, desperation meeting desperation.

"Who's side are you on?"

Adora faltered. "What? What does that even-"

"Who's side are you on?" Bow repeated shakily. "Are you working with Catra? With the Horde?"

"Are you serious right now?" Adora took a step forward making Bow tense. Realizing what she was doing, she took a couple steps back. She had to watch herself. Now wasn't the time to come off aggressively.

"What else am I supposed to think? I-I don't like it either but, Adora, you've been acting weird for-for months!" His fingers itched for his bow but he didn't move, his eyes wandered to Adora's hands which lingered all too close to that knife. "How long have you been in contact with Catra? S-Since the Battle of Brightmoon? Since before that?"

"Bow-"

"Were you ever even on our side?" Bow felt tears coming on, overwhelmed by his racing fears. He held his head in his hands, his eyes squeezed shut as his lungs tightened. "Is this all just some game to you? H-Have you been playing us this whole time? How many times have you lied to our faces?"

"Bow, no," Adora begged. "I wouldn't lie to you. I-"

"Of course you would!" He shouted, eyes closed so he couldn't see the hurt on her face. "You've been lying to us this whole time! Y-You just lied, right now! D-Do you even realize that? Do you-" He took a wavering step back, forgetting where he was for a moment. When his foot met air, he realized his mistake and let out a choking scream.

Adora lunged forward, grabbing his hand before he fell into the dark down below. They stayed that way for a moment, and for a few terrifying seconds Bow thought she wasn't going to pull him up. But then he felt her pull him back to the ledge and his feet were on solid ground again. They both stood there, the adrenaline wearing out of them.

Bow didn't take his eyes off of Adora as he wiped away the tears falling down his cheeks. When he spoke again, he was quieter, more collected. "Sea Hawk. He, um, he called me."

Adora looked over at Bow unsurely.

"He, well I don't think he meant to. He was trying to get a hold of Mermista, but he called me by accident. He told me you were here at the festival. A-Apparently with me and Glimmer too. Which I thought was pretty strange considering we've both been at the castle looking everywhere for you after you just disappeared this morning."

"Glimmer..." Adora mumbled, remembering their interaction from earlier. "Is she..."

Bow shook his head. "No. She's not here. She doesn't even know I'm here."

Adora nodded slowly. "Are you going to tell her? About..." She couldn't finish the sentence. About Catra? About us? Whatever it is 'us' even is supposed to be after tonight?

"That depends," Bow admitted. He felt his anxieties settling down, more willing to listen than before, though he remained a healthy bit on edge. "You need to explain everything. No more lying. No more games." He debated it in his head a moment before stepping towards Adora. "Please. What has been going on?"

Adora was at a loss for words. Where does she even begin? She took the smallest look over her shoulder but she couldn't see Catra so far away, hidden from the crowd.

Bow was still waiting patiently. He was really giving Adora a chance, but why?

You don't deserve his kindness.

Adora squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back tears of her own. The rage in her chest was gone, replaced with sheer desperation and fear, like she was the one on a ledge and now it was Bow reaching for her, a dim bit of hope in an otherwise hopeless situation.

Maybe I don't deserve his kindness, but I can earn it.

"Catra, she came to me one night. She was..." Adora swallowed down the memory of that night. There had been so much blood. "It was bad, Bow. She was hurt and if I hadn't taken her in, she probably would've died. And I couldn't," Adora's voice broke, "I couldn't just leave her like that."

Bow took in the new information slowly. If what Adora was saying was true, then it was likely anyone would've taken Catra in. But there was more to it than that, even he could tell.

"I let her stay with me," Adora continued. "It was just supposed to be until she was healed. Then she could go back to the Horde."

"But she didn't go back."

"No. She didn't."

"And...you think that's a good thing?"

"Honestly?" Adora sighed. "I don't know. But I'm glad she stayed. I wouldn't trade that for...well, anything. These past few months have been rough for me but Catra, she...she makes it better." Adora looked up at Bow, smiling in full sincerity. "I know I should've told you all. I know that I don't really have anything to justify keeping this a secret but...I couldn't lose this. I can't lose this."

Bow was silent for a while. It was a lot to wrap one's head around after all. On one hand, he was happy his friend had found someone she cared about so deeply. On the other hand, he felt guilty that she needed to hide this at all, that she had to turn to someone in the Horde for the comfort he hoped the rebellion could give.

And, despite how much he didn't want it, he also had to be realistic.

The rebellion was in bad shape. They were losing more territory by the day. If Catra had any hand in it...

"I know what you're thinking," Adora said, seeing the look on Bow's face, "But it's not like that."

"Do you know that for sure? Do you think she's a good person now?"

"I think she's always been good. She just wasn't sure how to be that person until now. Growing up the way that we did..." With a long sigh, she reflected on those bad memories. "I don't blame her for not wanting to leave at first."

"At first? So she is with the rebellion then?"

"Um," Adora shifted nervously, "Well, not exactly? It's...complicated."

"Adora-"

"I know!" Adora cut him off, feeling his frustration. "She knows she's welcomed here, or, at least I mean, if she wanted to join the rebellion. But she's just so stubborn." Adora groaned. This wasn't coming out the way she wanted. "I've asked her to join, but if I push her too hard on it, she just shuts me down. But that, that doesn't mean she's with the Horde either...I-I think. It's not like she's gone back to them, so that has to mean something, right?"

Bow didn't look very convinced.

"She's harmless," Adora promised. "It's weird right now, I know that, but I truly think we can trust her."

Bow tapped his foot nervously, crossing his arms. He thought about Catra, about all of the trouble she had put them through. About the Battle of Brightmoon and how broken Adora had looked when she thought she had lost her friend for good. But then he thought back to how he had found them that night, how he had noticed two strangers sharing such a sweet moment only to realize who they were when he got closer. And it hadn't been Catra that made him gasp. It was the way Adora was looking at her, with so much love and admiration. It had shaken him so thoroughly because he had never seen her look like that, and if she cared that much about a Horde soldier, then what could that even mean?

His face went through a range of emotions before finally mumbling out, "I don't like this. I don't think this is a good idea. But..." He saw how Adora's eyes light up at the word, "If she makes you happy and you really, truly, trust her, then...then okay."

"Okay?" Adora asked, hesitant to get her hopes up.

"I won't tell anyone," Bow assured her. "I won't even tell Glimmer. But I think you should, soon. When you two are ready for that, of course."

Adora couldn't believe what she was hearing. She finally felt like she had a solid grip on everything and she never wanted it to slip again. A wide smile grew on her face as she pulled Bow into a crushing hug, eyes watering with relief.

"Thank you," She whispered.

"Of course," Bow whispered back before pulling away. He offered her a genuine smile back. "Just, be careful okay? I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'll be careful," Adora nodded rapidly, near-giddy now that she knew there was nothing to fear. "I will be so careful. The most careful. Careful is, like, my middle name! A-And my last name. It's...it's a middle-name-last-name combo, that's how careful I'll be."

"Right," Bow couldn't help himself from laughing. Now that the intensity of all of this had subsided though, he wasn't sure what exactly was supposed to come next. He actually felt bad for ruining his friend's moment now that he thought about it.

"There's, uh, still a party going on," Bow said, face heating up in embarrassment. "You've been gone for a while now. I'm sure there's not much of a difference if you're gone a little while more."

"Are you sure? You don't think the others-"

"Adora," Bow cut her off. "Go. I'll make a cover story for you. It won't be a very good one, probably, and the Queen is definitely going to chew you out tomorrow, if Glimmer doesn't get to you first." He laughed sheepishly at that.

"I'll take what I can get." Adora hugged him once more before beginning to walk back in Catra's direction. "Thank you, again."

Bow watched as she turned around, her walk turning into a slight jog and then a run as she hurried back to Catra's side. As she disappeared into the crowd, he couldn't help but wonder if he made the right decision.

The consequences of getting this wrong were just too dire.

•••••

As Adora moved haphazardly through the crowd, her only concern was finding Catra and telling her the good news. She's probably so worried, Adora thought, feeling guilty for leaving her alone so long.

Which is how she found Catra. Alone.

The girl was standing up, half facing away from Adora. When she came closer, she could see Catra aggressively wiping away tears.

"Catra?" Adora called out in concern.

The girl jumped at the sound, turning to look at Adora. She looked rattled. No response came from her trembling lip.

"Catra?" Adora immediately softened, putting two hands on her shoulders, squeezing her reassuringly. "Are you okay? Did something happen while I was gone?"

Tail flicking nervously, Catra wanted so badly to tell Adora the truth. "No," She said instead, her voice fragile. "I was just...just worried about you. I didn't know what happened or where you went."

"I'm sorry about that," Adora pulled her into a hug, cradling the girl close, feeling how her body collapsed a little as she rested her weight on the girl. "It's all okay now though. Bow, he's going to keep our secret. We're going to be just fine."

No, Catra thought weakly, scanning the crowd over Adora's shoulder for shadows. We aren't.

"Come on," Adora pulled away, wrapping her arm underneath Catra's to help support her up. "We can sit down for a moment. Do you want that?"

Catra nodded, allowing Adora to lead them somewhere quieter. They sat on the floor, leaning against an old tree trunk. Catra squeezed in as close to Adora as she could, laying her head on the girl's shoulder. Adora adjusted her arms to hold Catra carefully, running her free hand through her hair.

"Adora," Catra choked out unsurely at the touch, "I-" What do I say? I need to tell you something? I don't deserve this? I'm scared? I want to stay here forever? I wish you hadn't left, again? I love you?

I saw her.

It was too much. Catra broke down, sobbing into Adora's shoulder. She felt Adora hold her tighter, could hear Adora reassuring her softly.

"It's alright," Adora whispered. "I was scared too. I thought...I thought I was going to lose you. But you're here. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here. We're going to be alright, I promise."

Catra wanted to believe her.

They stayed there for quite some time, until Catra's panicked sobs turned into quiet sniffles and then into a low, sleepy purr as she fell asleep, safe in Adora's arms. Adora, eventually, fell asleep too, exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster she had been on that day.

The two wouldn't return to Brightmoon until long after the darkness faded and the sun shone through the leaves of the forest.

•••••

"Bow?" Glimmer called out into the vast empty corridors. She had been searching for him for a while now.

"Bow? You there?" Her voice echoed in the hallways. He had been with her all morning when he said he needed to go do something vague. She hadn't seen him since. He wasn't in his room, wasn't in the war room or the training room. The last anyone else had seen him was the meeting.

Glimmer let out a sigh, recalling what a mess that had been. First Adora is a no show and then she goes to Adora's room only to find her missing, the only evidence of her presence being the unfinished plans on her desk.

Trying to explain that to her mom? Not exactly fun. They would have to send out a team to Dryl tomorrow regardless and simply hope it wouldn't end in disaster like all their other missions.

"Bow?" Glimmer popped her head into the kitchen. "Are you in here?"

She was only met with silence back.

"Great," Glimmer muttered to herself. "Now they're both missing." Her concern was only growing by the minute. She knew Adora didn't want people to worry about her but Glimmer couldn't help it. They were close friends after all...at least, she hoped.

Adora has been acting so strange lately though. Not to mention...

Glimmer glanced around the empty hallway, feeling a sense of growing unease. The castle had been feeling much colder lately, though she couldn't quite place why.

Not wanting to be alone much longer, Glimmer pulled out her communicator pad. She was about to press Bow's contact when a shadow down the hallway caught her attention. Walking towards it, nerves on edge, she inched around the corner to see-

"Hey Glimmer," Bow greeted cheerfully. "There you are. I've been looking for you."

"You...you have?" Glimmer sounded surprised. "But I've been looking for you. Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know," Bow's smile didn't falter. "Around. I'm glad I ran into you though. I just wanted to check in...after how this morning went."

Glimmer stowed away her communicator pad, a frown returning to her face. "I just don't get it Bow. Are we doing something wrong?"

Bow took a deep breath, walking over to Glimmer and putting an arm around her, leading them towards her room. His skin was notably cold to the touch.

"She's been distant lately, that's for sure." Bow grimaced. "Sometimes I feel like she doesn't even want to be here at all."

"In Brightmoon? But-"

"I mean, she's been so distracted lately," Bow continued unfazed. "Barely pays attention in meetings, doesn't ever hang back with the group, always dismisses our attempts to reach out. What do you think she's doing in her room all day anyways?"

"She's probably depressed," Glimmer admitted. "You know how she gets when she doesn't feel useful. I don't even blame her. She keeps getting pushed to the side, for good reason maybe, but that can't be easy. When my mom used to do that to me-"

"But we give her plenty of opportunities," Bow cut in. "That last mission-"

"She got hurt. That's not her-"

"-and today's meeting."

"Maybe it's personal," Glimmer attempted to pull away from Bow but his hold on her was tighter than she anticipated. "We're fighting her old friends."

Bow nodded, a dark look crossing his face before he said, "Do you think she's having second thoughts about who she's loyal to?"

"What?" Glimmer looked at Bow as if she didn't even know who he was. "No, of course not."

"It's just..." Bow stopped walking, squeezing Glimmer's shoulder a little too tight before letting go to stand across from her. "That last mission, she only got hurt because of that Kyle guy. Now Dryl..." He watched Glimmer carefully.

"But..." Glimmer didn't want to even entertain the thought. But as princess of Brightmoon, head of the rebellion, she had a responsibility to consider it, didn't she?

"It's just a thought," Bow said, smiling as he saw the seed planted in Glimmer's brain. They continued to walk, Glimmer thinking everything over in silence.

When they reached Glimmer's door she was almost disappointed. She had sought out Bow looking for comfort but if she was being honest with herself? She now felt much, much worse.

"I want to make it up to her," Glimmer finally broke the silence. "We need to let Adora know how much she matters to the rebellion, at full strength or not. Maybe then she won't have any doubts. If she's even having any."

Bow nodded but Glimmer still felt like something was wrong. Something about him, it just seemed...off.

"Bow," Glimmer looked around nervously, as though voicing her concerns was some taboo. "Have you felt any different lately?"

Bow was quiet, calculating almost. "What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain," Glimmer shrugged, shrinking in on herself slightly, "But lately I've felt like the castle doesn't feel...safe anymore."

A look of concern flashed across Bow's face but it didn't quite meet the eyes. The eyes were cold. Glimmer, who was looking down at the floor, didn't notice.

"Not safe?"

"Like," Glimmer tried to put this feeling she'd had for a while now into words, "Like there's been this dark energy around the castle. Everywhere I go. It's almost as if something's...watching us? If that makes sense."

Bow didn't say anything so Glimmer kept going.

"I know it sounds crazy, but the other day when I was recharging I just couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't alone. It was like someone was watching me. Like it wanted something from me."

"Your magic." It wasn't a question. More like an answer.

"Maybe," Glimmer sighed, feeling as if just talking about it might make it true. "I've just been paranoid I guess. I was thinking about telling my mom."

"Your mom," Bow repeated emotionlessly. Glimmer glanced up at him but couldn't tell what he was thinking. Seriously, what is up with him?

"Well, yeah. I mean, if something is wrong in Brightmoon-"

"Nothing is wrong in Brightmoon," Bow said with such finality that Glimmer was taken aback. He reached out, placing a hand on her cheek. Cold palms. "I'm sure you've just been stressed out. You should get some sleep."

His words washed over Glimmer and she felt her eyelids growing heavy. "I should get some sleep," Glimmer mumbled her agreement though she couldn't puzzle out why.

"We can talk in the morning," Bow continued, his voice soothing, his hands cold, his eyes...what was happening to his eyes? "When you wake up, you'll feel better."

"I'll feel better." Glimmer could feel him guiding her inside the room, heard his goodnight wishes as she laid down in bed, heard the door close behind him. "When I wake up."

That wasn't Bow, her mind screamed its last hazy thought before her eyes fell shut and the entire encounter washed away, leaving only the vague feeling of dread behind.

Nothing is wrong in Brightmoon, his voice, mixed with another, floated through her head. But something is very wrong with Adora.

Chapter Text

If Catra could go back and change what happened, she would. For starters, she would go back and make sure that she never went to Adora the night she was attacked. Perhaps she would have told herself to stay in those woods, or better yet, she'd tell herself not to even bother looking for Shadow Weaver in the first place, to hell with Hordak's wrath. The consequences couldn't possibly be worse than what she faced now.

Walking alongside Adora through the secret passageways to get back to their room, a thick impenetrable silence hanging between them, Catra knew in her heart that the worst punishment of all was Adora's kindness.

She hadn't pushed. Never brought up Catra's breakdown, even when they woke up still lying on the ground, tangled limbs and red swollen eyes. She also hadn't brought up anything that had happened before that either. The party, the dance...the kiss — what would have been the best night of her life if not for Catra's own mistakes catching up to her.

Why did she have to come to Brightmoon? Catra never should have crossed that line with Adora and now she was sure that the one thing that made her happy was going to be the death of her. Worse than bleeding out. Worse than suffocating.

Adora was biting the inside of her cheek, a nervous fidget of her's. Every once and a while she looked like she might say something but never worked up the courage in the end. She was trying to be respectful of Catra's boundaries and Catra hated it because she truly didn't deserve that.

Not after what Shadow Weaver told her last night.

"Catra...it's time you came home."

"W-What are you doing here?" Catra choked out. "Get away from me!"

"But you haven't even heard my offer."

Catra pushed herself to her feet, struggling to stay upright but her own spite holding her steady. "I don't want-" She grunted from the effort, "-anything from you."

"You will, once you hear what you've done."

Catra squeezed her eyes shut at the memory. Something, she needed to do something, but what? If she told Adora everything then she'd lose her for good. But if she didn't, she risked Adora getting hurt. If that were the case, it was possible she'd still lose Adora in an even worse way.

Was it selfish of her to wait? To hold her tongue? To stall for just a little more time until the last possible moment to keep living in a world where Adora didn't hate her yet?

And if Adora did get hurt, would Catra be by her side? Would she be the reason for it? Or would Adora be alone so Catra would never see the moment it clicked, down to the exact second the realization washes over her? Would that be better?

Maybe. Cruel and cowardly as it was.

It was all so much and the passageway was growing too thin, the bedroom nearing closer, and all Catra wanted was a little more time to walk in the same space and breathe in the same air before she lost it all.

"I haven't done anything."

"Now we both know that isn't true," Shadow Weaver tsked at her. "Why, you're the Horde's great weapon. Their double agent. Their brave soldier on the front lines."

"Alright, you've made your point," Catra looked around warily though no one was listening. "What do you want then?"

"You must be mistaken," The cryptic witch let out a cruel laugh, "I don't want anything from you. After all, you've already given us everything we need."

Catra's glare only hardened. "Everything you need for what?"

To anchor her thoughts, Catra wanted to reach for Adora's hand but before she could make up her mind and do it, they reached the end. Adora peaked out of the corridor to look into the outer hallway. With a quick signal that the coast was clear, the two slid out of their hiding place and into their room.

Adora closed the door softly behind her, taking a seat on the bed and shrugging off her jacket. Catra watched her, standing awkwardly in the center of the room a few feet away. God, how she wanted to go to her, but it would've been wrong. The two avoided eye contact, Adora studying her hands while Catra stared down at her feet.

"So," Adora finally broke the silence, taking a deep breath. "Should we talk? About last night? I know it was pretty, um, intense. I mean, a lot happened. I-If you want to, of course." She added that last part hastily at the end, cringing inwardly.

It was probably eating her up, not knowing where they stood, Catra reasoned. Last night had been emotionally exhausting and once it all wore off, the sudden rift between them was sending plenty of mixed signals.

The look on Adora's face nearly broke Catra's heart. She looked hopeful but in a restrained way, like she was afraid to get her hopes too high. There was a nervous edge to her voice, the kind that trembled and begged the question: "Did we ruin this?"

If Catra could go back and change what happened, she would sit by Adora's side, cup the girl's face in her hands and kiss her over and over again until all that worry washed away, whispering reassurances that she wanted this, wanted her, and that everything would be okay.

Instead, Catra stayed where she stood. The closer she got to Adora now, the more it would hurt later. She couldn't lead the girl on, not when she knew what she knew.

"Thanks to your unparalleled intelligence work," Shadow Weaver's voice dripped with giddy venom, "The Horde finally has everything we need in order to land a crippling blow to the rebellion."

"What is there to talk about?" Catra asked, keeping a neutral expression.

Adora seemed taken aback but she hid it well, eyes only widening a little. "Oh, well I just thought...I-I guess I'm just confused. About us."

A crippling blow? Catra's eyes flickered to the direction Adora left. "That's...that's great news."

"Is it?" Shadow Weaver could see right through her. "Because I was going to ask if you'd like to return to the Horde with me victorious now that your work is done, but it seems some complications may have arisen."

"No complications," Catra bit back. "But it doesn't make sense for me to leave now. I'm closer than ever." Her voice grew quiet at the end, the guilt cracking her facade.

"Too close perhaps."

"I meant what I said," Adora continued when Catra stayed silent. "I'm not going anywhere."

"The only one who's too close right now is you, so back off already. Why are you even bothering to take me with you? I thought you were just going to take credit for my work again like you always do."

"I just wanted to extend the offer to leave while you can. Seeing how at the week's end," Shadow Weaver tilted her head to take in Catra's reaction, "Brightmoon will be reduced to ash. It would be a shame for the Horde's hero to return home in a body bag...assuming we'd even find you in the rubble."

Adora's voice wavered, "I-I'd understand if you want to forget what happened last night. We won't ever have to talk about it again, but can you please just say something?"

"And if I don't come with you to advocate that your life actually means something to Hordak? What then?"

"You will come with me if you aren't a fool. Then again," Shadow Weaver slid closer, "I wouldn't be surprised if those princesses warped that weak will of your's. Desert to the rebellion's side and see what happens." She circled Catra, making the already jittery girl's skin crawl. "You can return to Lord Hordak's side with all of the power you could ever want at your fingertips...or you could throw it all away over your weak attachments."

Catra shoved Shadow Weaver away, claws grazing her but not deep enough to cause any real damage. "Stop it. Stop acting like you actually care about what happens to me. I'm only in this mess because you tried to kill me."

"And now I'm giving you your only hope at being saved. Lead the charge that will end the war. Or, be the traitor you always have been and die a meaningless death with the rest of them."

"You're bluffing. You need me."

"Not as much as you may think."

"I'm your ticket back into Hordak's good graces."

"You are nothing!" Shadow Weaver snarled, losing her cool for a moment before pulling herself back together. "You are nothing more than a pawn in a game that you cannot even begin to fathom how to play. If you want to throw your life away then get on with it, but don't say I never did anything for you."

The woman dissolved into the shadows but the darkness surrounding Catra never felt so suffocating.

"Catra?"

The girl jumped at the sound, turning to look at Adora who looked just as much a mess. Having her suddenly in front of her instead of the sorceress gave her whiplash. It didn't make sense for someone so bright to take her place.

"Catra? Are you okay? Did something happen while I was gone?"

It was all just cruel, so cruel, and if Catra could go back and change what happened, she would have never met Adora, never would have put her through any of this pain. She would have taken Adora's offer the first time she asked her to leave the Horde and she would have gone back and ran away with Adora sooner, when they were kids, before the manipulation ruined them and before the war drove them apart, so that maybe they would grow up to be better.

Catra wanted to be better, especially when Adora was the best she knew.

"Please say something."

She looked up to see Adora standing in front of her, eyes pooling with enough desperation for Catra to drown in.

"I can't-" Catra started but it came out too choked and she had to clear her throat before continuing, "I can't do this."

Coward.

Catra couldn't meet Adora's eyes, as though not seeing the heartbroken look on her face would make this any easier.

It was simple really. Adora was too good and whatever good Catra had, if she even had any to begin with, would rot away as soon as Adora inevitably left.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here. We're going to be alright, I promise."

She squeezed her watery eyes shut, apparently not out of tears from last night. If Adora said anything else, Catra didn't hear it but she did hear the door shut behind her once Adora walked away.

Catra was out of time.

The only thing she could do now was move on to the next step. She'd pack a bag and fix what she could, preferably without having to get Adora any more involved. Already Catra knew she wouldn't give anything else to the Horde. No more being a pawn. She would figure out what they were planning before the end of the week and send a message back to the rebellion.

Through all of this and well after, she would stay in hiding, at least until the Horde lost interest in her. Radio silence was the only option, which meant Catra would be well and truly alone.

Even if she got a proper goodbye, it wouldn't be enough.

There weren't many belongings to collect. Her staff, her communicator, her cloak and the mask from last night. The vial of medicine that Catra had never taken. She turned it in her palm, wondering what would've happened if she had just used it and went back to the Horde sooner. It didn't matter now. She wrapped it in the cloak and placed it in her bag with the rest of her things.

Slinging the bag over her shoulder, Catra took in the sight of what had been her home for the past few months now and wondered if this would be the last time she was ever here. Her eyes, in their gazing, landed on something on the bed.

Adora, in her daze, had forgotten her jacket. The red leather rested on the bed, standing out against the creme colored sheets.

Catra put her bag down, her focus now entirely on this piece of clothing. She ran her hand over it, wondering how the outside could be cold to the touch while the inside still trapped Adora's warmth. Hesitating, knowing it was a bad idea, Catra picked it up and put it on.

The sleeves were a little too big on her.

Catra crumpled to the ground, clutching the jacket close to herself as she felt the loss weigh her down.

Fucking coward.

•••••

Adora sat in the meeting room alone, head in her hands. It's not that she didn't prepare herself for that reaction from Catra. If she were being honest with herself, they had been pushing their luck from the moment Catra came to her. Now, the reality was setting in.

What was Adora thinking? Of course nothing would come out of that kiss, nothing could. They were on opposite sides of a war and even though things weren't as black and white as they used to be, there were still lingering loyalties standing in the way. In no world would this be an easy revelation.

That was why the two had been brushing around the subject after all. It was like holding a sparkler over a pool of gasoline. Even if they had always known this might happen, to some degree, that they couldn't simply keep sneaking glances at each other forever. Eventually a spark would catch. Eventually someone wouldn't look away.

All Adora knew was that she wanted Catra more than anything. If Catra needed time, she had the time to give. At least she didn't doubt that she liked her back. She initiated the kiss after all, much to Adora's pleasant surprise.

The ghost of Catra's lips brushed against her own and she smiled lightly despite herself at the thought that maybe it'd happen again.

They'd figure this out, with time. She was confident of that. They had gotten this far already so it stood to reason that they'd get through this too.

The door creaked open and Adora snapped her head towards the sound.

"Adora?" Glimmer blinked in surprise from the doorway.

"Hey," Adora waved awkwardly, "Weird to see me in the meeting room?" It was supposed to be a joke but Glimmer didn't seem to find it all that funny.

"We were looking for you all day yesterday," Glimmer walked up to her and Adora tensed slightly from habit but was surprised when Glimmer pulled her into a hug instead. "I was so worried."

This is a change, Adora thought, considering Glimmer was the reason she took her impromptu day-off in the first place.

"Uh, right," Adora fiddled with her sleeves when they pulled away from the hug. "I meant to apologize for that. It's just after our talk earlier, I guess I needed some space."

"Our talk?" Glimmer frowned. She wasn't sure what Adora was referring to. The last they talked was when she and Bow invited her to dinner, which she never showed up to.

"Yeah," Adora's voice had a hint of bitterness to it. "I guess it really doesn't matter though. You were right. I haven't been focusing enough on the rebellion and I'm ready to get back to work." Mumbling, though she shouldn't have, she added, "Assuming that's good enough for you."

Glimmer felt like she was missing something. She was still a little light-headed, had been that way all morning though she couldn't figure out what could've caused it. She just remembered waking up with the urge to talk to Adora. What were the chances that, after looking for her non-stop yesterday, her friend would just be sitting in the first room she checked?

And what was with the weird attitude? Was Adora mad at her? Sure, things had been a little tense between the two but had she done something wrong?

Something is wrong with-

"I heard from some of the guards that you sent out a team to Dryl this morning," Adora broke through her thoughts.

"We had to act," Glimmer answered, wishing her brain didn't feel as foggy as it did. "We can't afford to lose Dryl, with or without a plan." She realized what she implied when she saw Adora's downcast expression and was about to attempt to remedy the situation but Adora started talking before she got the chance.

"If there's anything I can do to make up for everything, I'll do it."

Glimmer's paranoia died down as she looked at Adora, getting the feeling she really meant anything. Pity wasn't the right word, Etheria knew they were both a mess, but desperation was something Glimmer didn't like seeing on Adora. When would she realize that she didn't have to keep proving herself to them?

Taking a seat next to Adora, Glimmer reached out a hand. "There is one thing you can do. You can talk to me about what's going on."

Adora immediately threw up those walls, no matter how shaky the foundation. "Nothing's going on."

Glimmer gave her a 'Seriously?' look that made Adora shrug. "I mean it. Something has been bothering you for a while now and as your friend, I just want to help."

Maybe if Adora had taken Glimmer's help and listened to Bow's advice to tell her the truth sooner than later, everything would've been different.

Unfortunately, Adora can't go back and change what happened.

Instead of opening up to her friend, a shrill alarm cut through the castle's new sound system (installed by Bow during the rebuild for emergencies just like this).

"Is that-"

Glimmer was already out of her seat, teleporting out of the room. Adora followed quickly behind her, running to catch up.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is," Adora shouted over the noise, though seeing as they were headed to the armory along with many of the other guards, she felt the odds weren't in her favor.

"This isn't good," Glimmer mumbled repeatedly to herself. "This isn't good. Almost everyone is at Dryl right now. This is not good."

"Glimmah!" Queen Angela rushed into the hallway, the three stopping near the armory doors. "Brightmoon is-"

"Under attack," Glimmer finished for her. "I'll help you guard the runestone."

"No, we'll need fighters on the ground. Swift Wind already flew in to inform me that there are troops surrounding the castle with weapons and tanks we've never seen before." The Queen turned to Adora. "Can you fight?"

"Dying to," Adora smiled, cracking her knuckles to prove her point.

"DID SOMEBODY SAY SWI- OW!" The horse's intention was to fly through the window but instead he just crashed into the glass, bouncing right off of it. "Ouch, wow, you guys really reinforced those didn't you? I-I'm okay! I'll just...wait out here...with all the scary guns."

"I'll take care of him," Adora winced at her flying companion, who was already out of view again. She turned to Glimmer, an understanding passing between them. They would continue their talk later. Right now they needed to armor up and prepare for the worst.

"Be quick," The Queen urged, already moving away from them and heading in the direction of the runestone. "We don't yet know what the Horde is planning so stay vigila-"

BOOM.

An insufferable blast of heat exploded through the hallway, shaking the floor beneath their feet. Adora barely had time to pull Glimmer towards her, under her shield, before the room collapsed completely on top of them.

It took a moment for Adora to come to, but when she did, her ears were ringing and it took some effort to open her eyes from the ash coating her face. She was kneeling on the ground, curled around Glimmer under the shield that had thankfully kept them safe from the worst of it. Glimmer was conscious but her head was buried in Adora's chest with her eyes still closed. She held her shaking hands to her ears, whimpering slightly in pain.

Perhaps it was for the best that Glimmer hadn't looked around yet. Adora's eyes zeroed in on it immediately but she couldn't react just yet. Not now.

"Focus," She whispered to herself, tearing her gaze away. She pushed Glimmer off her chest slightly and put her hands on the other girl's, pulling them away from her ears. "Glimmer. You need to go."

"What?" Glimmer shouted back. When she opened her eyes they were unfocused. Before Adora could help her, Glimmer tried standing up on her own but stumbled when she did. It was then that Adora noticed a decent sized gash on the back of her head that was steadily dripping blood. Adora must not have pulled her under the shield as fast as she thought.

"Glimmer, can you hear me?" Adora repeated herself louder. Glimmer nodded, meaning she hadn't lost her hearing completely. "You need to go, okay? Can you teleport?"

"I-I think so," Glimmer groaned and started to look around but Adora turned her shoulders away from the destruction around them, making sure the girl kept her eyes on her.

"Get to the runestone," Adora instructed. "It'll help heal you. Someone needs to defend it."

Glimmer frowned, her foggy head trying to connect the dots. "But I thought my mom was-"

"Glimmer," Adora cut her off sternly. "Go."

"Y-You're not telling me something."

"I know," Adora nodded and she would have to make that right later. "But you need to go. Now."

Glimmer still seemed unsure but didn't have the mental wherewithal to argue back. She closed her eyes, focused, and teleported away. Adora could only hope she had gotten where she was supposed to go.

Alone now, Adora let out the breath she was holding, her resolve crumbling like the building around her. Her whole body shook as she got to her feet, eyes glued to what she hoped Glimmer wouldn't see — or rather...who.

There had been three other people in the hallway with them when the blast went off. Two guards and Queen Angela.

Adora stumbled over to where the woman was lying under a large piece of ceiling, only half of her body visible. Similar to Glimmer, she was steadily losing blood from her head, but unlike Glimmer, the once mighty queen was unmoving. Complexion unnaturally pale. Eyes open and unseeing.

Reaching a trembling hand down, Adora tried for a pulse though she already knew there would be none there.

Why didn't you protect them?

Moving onto the other two, the results were grimly the same.

How could you have let this happen?

Adora transformed into She-Ra, moving the debris off of the bodies. She then moved the three out of the way, trying to find a safe spot to shelter them from the destruction. As she placed Angela, leaning her against the wall, she couldn't help her gaze lingering on the Queen for a little too long before she had to step away.

If she didn't get a grip now, she would never recover. Shoving down her despair, she forced herself to examine the rest of the damage.

There was a massive hole where the armory once was, extending deep into the castle. The damage seemed to be on the inside of the building, oddly enough. Most of the exterior walls were still intact. Unless the Horde somehow dropped a bomb in the middle of Brightmoon, this was an inside attack. Seeing as they hadn't been completely vaporized, that likely meant that this was a series of multiple small bomb attacks going off all at once rather than one big one.

Looking outside the now shattered windows (so much for reinforcements), she saw the troops on the forest line were advancing. Luckily it seems Glimmer had gotten some of her strength back as a forcefield began to envelop the area. That would buy them some time at least.

"Adora? Adora where-" Swift Wind flew into the room, taking in the destruction. "Woah. Are you okay?"

Adora wasn't sure how to answer that question. All she knew is that what was left of the rebellion needed her to keep it together. She needed to be better, the time had come to make a use of herself and she couldn't squander it.

Right to business. "I need you to check as many of the destroyed floors as you can. Look for survivors."

"It's pretty bad out there. That blast took out half of the castle."

"All the more reason to evacuate before they can take out the other half. Get as many people out as you can. Hopefully-"

"Adora!" Bow came rushing in. His skin was also covered in ash, signaling he likely got caught in the blast too. He was running with a limp but aside from that and a few cuts had come out fine. He tackled She-Ra in a hug as soon as he got close enough. "You're okay!"

"Glimmer is too." She debated saying something. Neither Bow nor Swift Wind had seen the others. That would have to come later. "Do you know how many of us made it out?"

"Spinnerella and Netossa were with me. They're already out there fighting. General Juliet is getting a group together too. They were on the south side of the castle and weren't hit by the blast."

"Good. Here, you go with Swift Wind to get survivors to the south side. Meet us back up front as soon as you can."

"On it," Bow climbed onto the horse's back, then called back, "Adora?"

"What is it?"

He gave her a knowing look. "The explosion, I don't know how close it was to your room but I wouldn't blame you if you went there first. The others can hold their own a little longer."

It dawned on Adora what he meant. Without another second to waste, she shouted her thanks as she ran off.

•••••

Catra was under one of the tables braced for another explosion when the door got kicked open. She flashed her claws, ready for a fight but when she saw She-Ra, she jumped to her feet, moving as quick as she could towards Adora without her staff. Adora met her over halfway, wrapping her in the tightest hug she could manage.

"Thank Etheria you're safe," Adora whispered, having feared the worst. If she noticed Catra wearing her jacket, she didn't say anything.

"They're out there, aren't they?" Catra hardly needed to ask. She expected an attack but this soon? This advanced? Shadow Weaver had given her a week but of course she would lie. The time to torment herself over this would come later. Right now she had other things to worry about than murdering her old mentor.

"Bow's taking a group to safety towards the south end of the castle," Adora explained hurriedly. "You need to meet him there." She was already letting go to Catra's frustration, already about to jump into a fight she wasn't ready for.

"Adora wait," Catra pulled the girl back into her arms, ears pressed down so they betrayed her vulnerability. "Please, you have no idea what's out there."

"It doesn't matter," Adora shook her head frantically but didn't try to wrestle out of Catra's grip though she easily could in her transformed state. Maybe a part of her wasn't ready to stop being held just yet. The other part of her was screaming at her to focus. "It's my job to protect this place. I need to do this."

"If you go out there you might not make it back."

"O' ye of little faith," Adora let out the smallest of laughs, looking down at Catra and trying to hide the sadness creeping into her voice. "Heard that in a play once. One that was better than the last one."

Tentatively Catra cupped Adora's face, leaning forward until their foreheads met.

Adora's words lost their humorous tone as she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Catra's chest shuddered with a subdued sob. "Nothing I say is going to stop you from going out there."

Adora looked more resigned than anything.

"But you're going to ask me to stay anyways."

"Please," Catra's voice was wrought with everything she hadn't said yet, "Please Adora."

"It'll be okay," Adora wiped away the tears on Catra's cheeks. Empty promises. Not even Adora sounded convinced. "I told you I wasn't going anywhere, right? I'll be back before you know it."

It took an eternity for the two girls to pull apart but somehow they did. She-Ra disappeared through the door, running into the mess Catra had made.

Catra blinked through her tears, trying to focus. The last thing she wanted to do was hide out with Arrow Boy but she also knew if she tried to fight it would only cause more issues. Friendly fire, not to mention she'd get distracted by Adora which wouldn't help anybody.

She grabbed her bag and her staff, ready to search some of the lower floors on her way to safety when she heard a faint buzzing noise. Frowning, she reached into her bag to see her communicator lit up with an incoming call. Looking around, a bad feeling rising in her chest, she answered it.

The screen was dark but the voice was unmistakable.

"Hello Force Captain," Hordak sounded more cheerful than usual. "I'm glad to hear you weren't killed in the blast."

"What have you done?" Catra growled, claws extending.

"No, by all means, what have you done."

"I didn't know about this attack," Catra walked over to the windows, trying to see the fight below. "Since when did you think leading another assault on Brightmoon would be such a bright idea?"

"Since you gave us every reason to."

"I didn't give you anything like this."

"But you did," Hordak cooed and Catra could just see that arrogant smile on his lips. "If it weren't for you distracting Adora, the princesses wouldn't have been forced to send their best fighters to Dryl, only to leave the castle primarily undefended."

"That wasn't even on purpo-"

"And if you hadn't gotten Adora out of the castle last night, she might have noticed our new bots scaling her wall."

"But-"

"And of course," Hordak took great delight in this one, "We would have never even known about those secret passageways to hide all of our bombs in if the two of you hadn't spent so many nights wandering them. It's hard to find something nobody is looking for."

"That doesn't make any sense." Catra shook her head in denial. "I didn't give you any of that information."

"No, you didn't. But you didn't really think we'd trust you in Brightmoon all on your own, did you? This communicator actually served two purposes: as a decoy for you and an antenna for the real spyware. Your force captain pin."

Catra paled, looking down at the pin on her belt. She had gone everywhere with that thing, never thinking much of it at the time. It was just supposed to be some useless piece of metal.

"We listened to all of your conversations, mapped out everywhere you went...believe me Force Captain, we know much more than you think."

The sounds of gunfire sounded in the distance, echoed within the call. Wait, was Hordak here?

"It's a shame you chose to die with her," Hordak sighed dramatically. "You could have been a great second in command had you not squandered it. At least you served us well while you could."

"I'll die before I give you anything again!" Catra snarled.

Hordak just laughed. "I'll give Adora your regards...right before I gut her."

As soon as he ended the call, Catra took the pin off her belt and threw it against the wall, getting some satisfaction at seeing it break apart to pieces, then stomped on it until the bits were unrecognizable. If only she could do that to Hordak's face.

Catra could've choked on the rage she felt but she remembered what Adora had wanted her to do. She would find Bow. She would maybe even help them fight. And even if she lost Adora for this when the battle was over, she would be making damn sure she wasn't going to lose Adora.

If there was ever a time to join a crazy rebellion full of princesses with a death wish, Catra supposed now would be a good time to do it.

Especially seeing as the second round of bombs just went off.

Chapter Text

“Look out!”

The high-pitched scream came from Catra’s right and before she even had time to blink the sleep from her eyes, she had been tackled to the floor.

“What the- Adora!” Catra groaned in annoyance. She was vaguely aware of the flashing red lights all around them and the sound of people shouting orders. When she turned to one side, she could see Lonnie and Rogelio running towards the exit. On her other side, Adora was shaking her awake.

“Drill 797!” Adora hurriedly explained. “Come on, we gotta go!”

Somewhere in Catra’s half-asleep brain, she recalled what those words meant. Drill 797. Building collapse survival. Search and rescue. Salvage.

“Seriously?” Catra whined, already getting to her feet. “Again? But we already had one a month ago.”

“Stop standin’ around!” A force captain yelled somewhere above them. As if on cue, the room’s loudspeakers boomed again and holograms of falling ceiling rained onto the floor.

A small hand wrapped around Catra’s, pulling her out of the room. Catra caught a glimpse of an annoyed Kyle sitting on his bunk, arms crossed and wristband turned red.

Now that Catra and her squad were older, they were being put through more advanced drills. Goodbye were the days of plain and simple fire alarms. No, they had to prepare for the entire Fright Zone falling into a sinkhole. As if they would ever actually need this practice.

“We should check for others,” Adora thought aloud, eyebrows creased with worry, already moving towards the other rooms in the hallway.

Catra rolled her eyes. Of course, only Adora would be concerned over people in a fake drill. Dodging more debris, Catra weaved through the chaos following after Adora. She tried not to dwell on the fact that, even though it was completely ridiculous, it was sweet that Adora would think about the others. Adora was always like that. Selfless. Caring. Sweet. Cute-

“Shouldn’t we get to the shelter?” Catra called out, rubbing away at the red in her cheeks. She’d blame it on the fact that someone was blasting the heaters (blah, blah, immersion is essential , or something to that effect, Catra never listened to Shadow Weaver anyway).

“If you were trapped in a burning building, wouldn’t you want someone to help you?” Adora shot Catra an amused look.

“That’d never happen to me,” Catra stuck her tongue out at her friend.

“You didn’t even wake up to the alarms,” Adora laughed. She waved Catra over to another hallway, notably deeper into the Fright Zone and away from the exits. Typical.

They got to a door that was blocked by fake chunks of debris, voices coming from the inside. “Help! Is anyone out there?”

Adora turned around to look at Catra with an ‘ I told you so’ already on her lips.

“Whatever,” Catra groaned. They went to the door, both grabbing the rubble from the bottom. With a grunt, they lifted it to the side, clearing a way in.

“Over here!” The people called. “Hurry, we have one injured!”

“We’re coming!” Adora shouted to them.

The room was dark and filled with smoke, the only light being the red wash of the hallway. Adora squinted, having a hard time seeing. Catra, on the other hand, could see perfectly fine. She grabbed Adora’s hand and helped guide her through the area, pushing her out of the way of a hologram or two. Once they had safely navigated to the back of the room, they found two soldiers sitting against the wall.

“Oh no…” The first soldier sighed, obviously not thrilled with having to act. In a monotone voice, she said, “I have been horribly injured. I sure do hope someone saves me and brings me to a medic before I die a tragic death.”

“The horror!” The soldier next to her threw a hand over their forehead. “Please, bring us to safety!”

“Yeah, sure,” Catra said, reaching out a hand to help the second soldier to their feet. Adora was helping the first up, slinging their arm around her shoulders to keep them upright. Catra most certainly was not taking advantage of the darkness to admire the way Adora’s arm muscles flexed as she carried them.

“This is the part where we get to the exit, right?” Catra asked, leading them back out into the hallway. The smoke made her eyes burn and she let out a few coughs.

“Oh please, oh please,” The monotone soldier grumbled, “Please get us out of this horrible nightmare.”

“Almost there,” Adora reassured the group, sounding chipper as ever, if not a little out of breath from basically dragging a grown adult in full armor behind her.

When they reached the exit, Adora handed the woman off to the fake medic team. While she did that, Catra fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist. She wasn’t sure when Shadow Weaver had time to sneak these onto them in the night, or how they managed to convince the rest of the base to set up these stupid drills, but she certainly was growing tired of them.

“Alright,” Adora came back up to Catra. “Ready for round two?”

Catra thought about it, tail flicking mischievously. “How about we make this more entertaining?”

“You don’t mean-”

“A bet?”

“A bet,” Adora grinned, already on board.

“Alright, here’s the rules,” Catra explained on the spot. “Whoever saves the most people wins. We both found those two, so they don’t count.”

“Fine. Bonus points if the person’s injured.” Adora rolled her shoulders, wincing at their budding soreness. “Because that sucked.”

“You’re such a baby,” Catra joked, shoving Adora aside and running back into the building. She laughed when she heard Adora yelling at her, following not too far behind.

After thirty minutes, Adora had eight saves with two extra points. Catra had nine.

“Someone’s losing,” Catra taunted as she dropped off another ‘injured’ soldier -- literally dropping them on the floor. “That’s eleven points! Suck it!”

Adora had been taking a break, leaning against the wall of the medic tent but now she stood up straight ready for a challenge. She ran past Catra back inside. Catra followed at her heels, thinking it’d be funny if she tried to swipe Adora’s next save right out from under her. She could make fun of Adora over that for weeks!

Catra’s wristband beeped. Smoke inhalation at ninety-five percent. Reaching maximum threshold before asphyxiation. Recommended action: retreat.

Her ears twitched as she heard Adora’s go off too. “Hey, we should head back!”

“So I can let you win?” Adora yelled back. “Yeah right!”

Catra shook her head at Adora’s stubbornness. There wasn’t any real danger of course. The smoke around them was mild at best and the watches were just on timers, trying to mimic the real threat of smoke inhalation, so naturally Adora was going to try to beat the clock just to spite her.

Catra knew, because that’s exactly what she would have done with the roles reversed.

“Seriously, let’s get out of here,” Catra tried to convince her. They both turned into a dead end and Catra smiled triumphantly. Now she was sure to win. Leaning against the doorframe, Catra opened her mouth to gloat when something above her head caught her eyes.

“Catra!” Adora shouted, rushing straight towards her. Catra felt herself get pushed out of the way and watched with wide eyes as, clear of the destruction, she saw the hologram fall right on top of Adora.

“Ah, no!” Adora gasped dramatically. Her wristband turned red as she fell to the floor. “I was...too young. I had dreams, dreams Catra!”

“Dead people don’t talk.” Catra nudged Adora with her foot. “And you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Are you sure about that?” Adora raised an eyebrow at her. “That was purely strategic. Because now I just saved you. That’s an extra point. We tie.”

Catra stared at her in disbelief. That didn’t count...did it count? Seeing Adora’s cocky grin, Catra didn’t have the heart to ruin her fun. “Fine. We tie. Happy?”

“Most definitely. Want to carry my body back to the morgue?”

“Nah,” Catra laid down next to her. She checked her wristband. Ninety-nine percent. “I’d rather your sacrifice be in vain. It's more tragic that way.” The two stayed on the ground, the smell of smoke in the air as they waited to be found. Oddly enough, even with the alarms blaring in the background, it was a rare moment of peace for them.

Who knew the world could look so beautiful as it burned around them?

•••••

Drill 797. Building collapse survival. Search and rescue. Salvage.

Catra still remembered that drill from when she was a teenager but she never thought she would have to put it to use. Back then, it had seemed so pointless. The Fright Zone would never be under attack, at least not to that degree. They were supposed to be the offensive force after all, not to be concerned with inside attacks.

As kids, her and Adora had treated it like a game. That night of the bet Shadow Weaver had chewed them out for it.

“Catra, you need to take this more seriously.”

“I was messing around too,” Adora interjected. “It was both of us-”

“Perhaps. But you only got eliminated because of her negligence. Why do all of these drills if you waste them?”

“Hey, we saved more people than each squad combined,” Catra countered back.

“And once they healed, did you expect them to find your bodies? I’d hardly call that a success.”

Don’t take her too seriously, they had said. It’s not a big deal, they told themselves. Catra had gotten her rations cut in half for mouthing off, and Adora got the typical ‘be better’ speech – the usual punishments. It was all just part of the game.

They would run that drill a few times a year. There was never any warning. One moment they would be minding their own business and the next they were running through the halls of the horde, smoke burning the backs of their throats and grins on their faces.

It was a game. Just a game, that was it. Seeing who could rescue the most people. Who could get out of the buildings fastest. Who could extinguish the most fires. They would laugh, laugh, as the world fell apart. They hadn’t understood.

Catra didn’t have the luxury of ignorance anymore. Preparing for war, she found out the hard way, was extremely different from living in the real thing.

If you failed to escape the drill, you were eliminated. A red wristband and a disappointed supervisor, nothing more. In the worst case scenario, maybe you’d be scheduled for extra training time.

What Catra wouldn’t give for that to be the worst thing to happen to her now. Running through Brightmoon’s collapsing towers, she wished the destruction around her was just the result of holograms and props, that the people lying unmoving in the hallways were just actors or cadets with red wristbands.

A wall collapsed to her left and she jumped out of the way, biting the inside of her cheek to stifle a scream of pain as she landed roughly on her bad leg. Her staff had been lost in the second blast, only serving to complicate her escape.

Find Bow. That was the only thing on her mind as she maneuvered through the crumbling castle. Eventually she had to find an escape, anything that meant getting out of this death trap and out into the open air. She kept her eyes peeled for any cracks in the walls, for any sunlight seeping in, but all that was around her was ash.

“I’m gonna kill Hordak,” Catra grumbled to herself. If he really was here, then maybe she’d get the chance, though she wasn’t exactly in peak fighting shape at the moment. “I’m going to kill him and then I’m going to kill Shadow Weaver.”

Because surely, that woman had everything to do with this. Catra was actually surprised that she hadn’t shown up to gloat too. Knowing the witch, Shadow Weaver was probably watching from the sidelines just like she always did, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

“H-Hello?” A small, muted voice called in the distance. “Please, can anyone help me?”

Catra’s ears twitched and she turned in the direction of the voice. It sounded like it came from downstairs. There was a hole in the floor, broken tiles jutting out at odd angles. Light emanated from it, the orange glow of fire illuminating the rim.

“Please,” The voice cried again. “A-Anyone? I can’t move.”

Catra hobbled over to the hole. Her eyes searched down below in the flames, landing on a broken beam of wood. She could just make out a figure lying underneath it, squirming slightly.

Looking around, Catra saw a staircase close by but it was blocked by debris. There was no way she’d be able to get it clear in time before the fire spread through the whole room below her. Cursing, Catra dropped down, falling gracelessly with a scream of pain quick to follow.

She pushed herself to her knees, crawling towards the person. The smoke forced her to stay low, and if she were being honest, she wasn’t sure how much longer her leg could hold out.

Getting closer, Catra could see that the person was a young man who was part of the kitchen staff judging by his apron. Vaguely, Catra did realize she was in the kitchen now. Under the beam, he was using one arm to try to push it off him while his other arm laid limp at his side.

“Who is that?” He choked out, squinting through the smoke. “Can you h-help me?”

“Give me a second,” Catra groaned. She tried pushing the beam off on her own but wasn’t strong enough. Looking around, her eyes landed on a steel rod not too far away. Grabbing for it, she ignored the immediate burns she received and used it as a lever to lift the beam up, putting her full weight on the end nearest her. It worked, the man rolling out before the beam collapsed, crushing the tile beneath it.

“Th-thank you,” The man cried, clutching his arm close to him. “Thank you!”

“We’re not out...yet…” Catra huffed. They still had the issue of being inside a burning kitchen without many viable exits. “Think you can...walk alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” He answered shakily, standing to his feet as if to prove it.

“Good…” Catra mumbled. “Go get someone. Get...help.”

“I’ll bring you with me-”

“I’m fine,” Catra gritted her teeth, trying to stand and falling back down when she put weight on her bad leg.

“Let me help you,” The man insisted, already trying to pick her up. “You saved me. I can’t just leave you after that.”

The two shuffled forwards, towards two double-doors that had been jammed shut. Catra put her weight against one, trying to fall backwards to open it. The man pulled on the other. Both efforts seemed futile.

“I’m so s-sorry,” The man started to cry again, clearly overwhelmed. “You wouldn’t be stuck here if-if it weren’t for me.”

“Shut up,” Catra elegantly retorted. There was no way she’d be giving in this easily. The fire roared behind her but she did her best to ignore it creeping closer towards them. Maybe she could find the rod again, pry it open?

A loud clang rang out through the room as something hit the doors from the other side. The two frowned, then another sound of metal hitting metal.

“Get back!” Shouted a muddled voice. They didn’t wait to see what happened if they didn’t. Scurrying backwards, they backed away just in time for the doors to explode open.

In the smoke, Catra could make out a figure standing in the doorway. He came closer, holding out a welcoming hand.

“You?” Catra frowned.

“Me,” Bow grinned ear to ear. “As much as I’d love to engage in some good old fashioned banter with you, we should probably get to safety first.”

Catra eyed his hand distrustingly. Finding Bow had been one thing but caution was what had kept Catra alive. He waited patiently, not forcing anything. His smile seemed genuine.

Taking his hand, Catra let him support her weight as they walked away. The man from the kitchen followed close, wiping away his tears.

As they turned a corner, the sunlight came into view and Catra thought she might cry herself at the sight. They left the castle behind them, entering a clearing a good few feet away. There was a makeshift tent set up with what was left of Brightmoon’s nurses tending to the wounded. Bow was going to take Catra to them but the girl shook her head, refusing.

“You’re hurt,” Bow insisted.

“I’m not gonna die,” Catra countered. “Just give me a few minutes to rest and I’ll be fine.”

Bow tsked at that, setting her down and walking over to the supplies. He sat down next to Catra and started bandaging her burned hands. She was going to argue but Bow was working fast and she knew he wouldn’t stop anyway.

“Excuse me,” The man from before walked up to them. “I just wanted to say thank you, again. For saving my life.”

“Oh, of course,” Bow smiled up at him. Catra hadn’t really been paying attention when Bow nudged her. “He means you too.”

“Huh?” Catra looked up at him. Getting a better look, she saw that past the black smudges on his face and the bruises, he was smiling down at her. His pink hair had a split in it on the side where a long cut ran all the way down to his ear. One of his arms was in a sling.

“Thank you,” He repeated warmly. “My name’s Soda Pop by the way. What’s your’s?”

Catra shifted uncomfortably at the attention. “Catra.”

“Well Catra, it was nice to meet you. I hope I’ll see you around.” Then he left, joining two other girls that were waiting off to the side for him. Catra watched as they both hugged him, gushing over how happy they were that he was safe.

“You did that,” Bow nudged Catra again. “He wouldn’t be alive if you didn’t do something.”

He also would have never been in this situation if I hadn’t screwed up so bad, Catra thought but she didn’t say anything to Bow. Not to mention, it felt kind of nice for some reason, to be thanked. She didn’t remember if that had ever happened before.

“I’m going to go back and see if I can find anyone else,” Bow said, standing up. “You stay here. Adora would kill me if something happened to you.”

Adora. Catra desperately wanted to know if she was alright. Part of her wanted to sneak off and go see the fight happening on the other side of the castle but she also knew that could only lead to more trouble than it was worth.

Bow ran off, back into the thick of it. He glanced up at the runestone where he could see blasts of magic shooting out at random from the balcony. His own heart twisted in worry as he thought of the person he cared about fighting for her life too.

Catra flopped to the ground, closing her eyes for a moment. The exhaustion of everything that just happened was weighing her down too deep. If she had her eyes open, then perhaps she would have noticed that from the runestone was coming two types of magic: Glimmer’s and something much darker.

•••••

Glimmer grunted in pain as her back hit the railing.

“I expected better,” Her attacker drawled out, looming over the princess’s small form. “From what I heard the keepers of Brightmoon’s runestone were supposed to be powerful. But I suppose you never were your mother, were you?”

Struggling to stay focused, Glimmer’s eyes trailed up to the woman’s face, or at least what was there to see with the mask covering most of it.

“Shadow Weaver…” Glimmer groaned out. “I don’t know...who you think you are but-”

“I know who I am,” Shadow Weaver growled menacingly. “I am the one who will rise from the ashes of this war more powerful than ever. And what are you supposed to be?” She raised her hands that glowed with dark magic and Glimmer felt her insides churn as she placed one on the runestone. “A broken princess?”

A pull in Glimmer’s gut made her double over. Her head was pounding from before and her vision was blurry but she was able to keep her eyes open enough to see a trail of bright light being sucked out of her, into Shadow Weaver’s free hand extended towards her, turning dark red.

“A weak-willed, impulsive, reckless girl who will always live in her mother’s shadow? Who’s only real talent is her ability to fail so spectacularly?”

A voice in the back of Glimmer’s head was screaming at her to get up. She had to protect the runestone. Adora was relying on her. Her mom was relying on her.

And why wasn’t her mom there? She thought that Angella had said she was going to protect the runestone. Adora had been the one to tell her to go instead, but why?

“Something…is wrong with Adora,” The words slipped out of Glimmer’s mouth before she could stop them.

No, that couldn’t be right. But something was wrong in Brightmoon. Glimmer had felt it as soon as the bombs went off. It was the sudden feeling of something missing. It grew the closer she came to the runestone. That empty pit in her stomach that was carving her insides out worse than Shadow Weaver. Like there was a vacuum that had torn a hole through her magic, a link broken in the chain. Something had chipped away from her, detached, close, but with a cut connection.

Get up, the voice said again but it didn’t sound like her’s.

Glimmer pushed against Shadow Weaver’s magic. She wasn’t some battery for her to siphon power from. She had to get up, focus.

“You won’t get...away with this,” Glimmer fought to stand up, feeling lightheaded. Using her magic to counter Shadow Weaver’s only made it more vulnerable and out in the open.

“I already am,” Shadow Weaver wasn’t even breaking a sweat. “Thanks to you, of course.”

Glimmer faltered, if only momentarily. “What is that s’pposed to mean?”

“None of this would have been possible if you didn’t let Adora stay here with you.”

That made Glimmer’s blood burn bright with rage. She fought against Shadow Weaver’s magic with more force than before. “That doesn’t even make sense…Adora wouldn’t-”

“Such a naive little thing,” She cooed, though she stumbled backwards from the sudden push. “Always making the wrong decisions. You can ask her yourself, if she’s still alive. All of this was only possible because of my dearest pupil.”

Glimmer’s head was pounding. Her mouth moved involuntarily, “Something is wrong with-“

No, don’t listen to her. The voice cut through her thoughts but it wasn’t unpleasant. You are stronger than her.

A tear fell down Glimmer’s face but she wasn’t sure why.

Take the magic. It's yours now.

Screaming from the sheer effort, Glimmer redirected her energy. Instead of pushing against Shadow Weaver’s magic, she pulled. The woman seemed surprised, not ready for this sudden change, as she clumsily grasped for control back.

Glimmer refused to let her have that though, feeling her own magic coursing through her like never before. It felt more full, more tangible than before. She could have sworn she sensed something familiar about the magic too. It felt like it belonged to someone else but Glimmer wasn’t stealing it. It felt more like a gift.

I’m so proud of you, Glimmer.

It felt bittersweet.

The runestone glowed brighter than ever before, drowning out the battle below in light momentarily. Shadow Weaver covered her eyes from the blinding light but Glimmer felt her vision focus. The cut along the back of her head closed up and the fog lifted from her clouded mind.

“Thank you,” Glimmer whispered (to whom, she wasn’t sure). Channeling the newfound energy, she felt her body grow light as she teleported, breaking the spell between her and Shadow Weaver. Appearing behind the woman, her father’s staff appearing in her hand and the faint glow of pink wings behind her, she swung her weapon down.

The staff hit Shadow Weaver’s dissolving form as she shrunk away into what little shadows remained. The runestone’s light diminished to a more natural glow and Glimmer stood alone.

Her entire body was humming with magic. She could feel it pumping through every vein and mixing with the air she breathed. Testing out her new powers, she teleported around the area, not feeling the magic fade.

“I have my full powers,” Glimmer said aloud in wonder. But how?

She didn’t let herself think about the answer as she rushed to the railing. Down below she could see She-Ra who was tearing through entire rows of tanks only to be shot at by new ones. As though it were second nature, her body moved fluidly through the fight, sword meeting hit after hit. This seemed almost too easy for her.

The same couldn’t be said for the rest of the fighters. On the other side of the clearing, what remained of Brightmoon’s forces were struggling to hold off the Horde attacks. Bow was nowhere to be seen. Spinnerella and Netossa were holding it together but were outnumbered severely.

Glimmer wanted to jump into the fight but hesitated, waiting to see if the voice from before would tell her what to do.

Silence. She was on her own now.

Wiping away the tears from her face, she cast a protection spell and trusted that nothing would be able to attack the runestone now. Her people needed her down there.

Even as she teleported away, Glimmer understood that everything had changed.

•••••

Adora wouldn’t say she thrived in chaos. She was always on the move, yes, and she found it hard to relax when things were too quiet, but that didn’t mean she necessarily liked fighting.

In the Horde, she enjoyed training. She spent her free time in the gym or planning, studying or going for a run. In the simulations though, Adora excelled because she had to, but not because she wanted to.

With every slash of her sword, Adora felt like she had somehow made the wrong decision. This couldn’t be the way things were meant to be. Tanks. Bombs. War. Death. How had she ended up here?

Another tank exploded in front of her and she saw its driver jump from the hatch. They ran towards her, wielding a taser that She-Ra easily disarmed. With a kick to the chest, she sent them flying out of view before swiveling on her heels towards the next adversary.

It was one fight to another, her entire life it felt like. Why? She had been born into a war and given a role that she had no choice but to accept. Certainly, she couldn’t be more qualified than anyone else in the rebellion to be the princess of power.

And what does that even mean? Princess of power?

Adora chewed on the thought as she summoned her shield to block a shot from behind her, then threw it like a frisbee at the gunman. It hit their helmet, bouncing off and back into She-Ra’s hands.

People kept telling Adora she had some great destiny, that she was supposed to bring peace to Etheria. Or was it balance, Light Hope had said?

One fight to another, Adora didn’t feel all that great and powerful. If this was the destiny she was meant to fill, she wasn’t sure she saw the purpose. Of course she wanted to fight for her friends, for the rebellion, but when did it end?

Angella. She-Ra swung her sword down on an advancing bot. Is it Adora’s destiny to tell Glimmer that now she’s lost not one, but two parents to this war?

Glimmer, Bow, she remembered the looks on their faces. Remembered — another horde bot down — the look of fear Bow had worn hanging off that ledge, remembered the look of disappointment on Glimmer’s face every time she failed a mission.

Two Horde soldiers closed in on her from opposite directions. She-Ra leapt up into the air causing the two to run into each other and fall to the ground. When she landed, she grabbed them both by the backs of their armor and threw them away from the battle.

Catra. Adora had something to fight for that went deeper than a rebellion. She had to survive this to get back to Catra. Adora had promised.

Would Catra be in one of these tanks if she hadn’t come to me that night?

Maybe. Probably. But Catra was different now and so was Adora. These few months meant something and if Brightmoon was destroyed now then it would all be for nothing.

The battlefield got washed out by a sudden blast of white light, coming from the runestone. She-Ra felt the ripple of magic, feeling her own energy boost for a moment before the light died down again. She wasn’t sure what was going on up there but she only hoped that had been a good thing and that Glimmer was safe.

“Y-You’re not telling me something.”

Adora squeezed her eyes shut at that, trying to focus. A maniacal laugh from a few feet in front of her brought her hurtling back to reality. Her eyes snapped open and before she could think she was already rushing towards him sword first.

“Hordak!” She-Ra snarled, swiping at him only to be blocked with a sword of his own. It seemed to be a new attachment, decked out in advanced tech. His entire armor looked new actually. She saw something in his chest that looked like it might have been first one’s tech.

“Adora,” Hordak parried her blow, stepping back to put space between them. “It's so nice to see you. I was worried you wouldn't show, seeing as you’ve been hiding from us for so-”

She didn’t let him finish, already readying another attack. Adora used her shield to catch his sword, trying to find an opening with her own.

“You’re going to pay for this,” Adora promised, voice low and dangerous. She felt that itch under her skin, an anger that had been lying dormant bubbling up to the surface. “You killed good people!”

“Only because you weren’t good enough to protect them,” Hordak hummed, knowing just how to hit Adora where it hurt. Literally, in this case as he dodged her stab and returned one of his own, slashing her across the arm.

Adora didn’t feel the pain. She attacked with more fury. If she was angry at herself then fine, she’d take that anger out on him. “I might not have been able to protect them but I’m going to stop you. Right here, right now!”

“What’s the point?” Hordak titled his head at her. “Brightmoon is gone. You’re fighting for ghosts.”

Adora shook her head. That was a lie. All anyone in the horde ever did was lie. She couldn’t trust a single one of them.

“Look around you,” Hordak continued. “You’re the only one left.”

It wasn’t true. All anyone does is lie. They all just lie. You can’t trust anyone but yourself. But you’ll fix it, won’t you? Dark spots danced in Adora’s vision as she landed a hit on an exposed bit of Hordak’s leg. He stumbled but didn’t fall.

“Why are you doing this?!” Adora shouted. “Why wage war on Etheria?!”

“Because like you I have a divine purpose,” Hordak entertained her question. “I was sent here to conquer. But unlike you, I will succeed in my mission. I will fulfill that purpose.”

Purpose. The word rang around in Adora’s head with a vengeance. A new savagery built up in her throat. Though her vision was dark, she thought she saw clearer in the shadows.

“I will bring balance to Etheria,” Adora hissed through gritted teeth, swinging her sword with deadly intent. “I will fulfill that purpose, not you!”

“Well,” Hordak blocked with some effort, that sadistic grin still on his face, “You’ve done a fantastic job so far.”

Adora’s hits grew in number but so did Hordak’s blocks. She wanted to try to cut the sword off of his hand but she couldn’t see how. The metal was resilient even against her magic. Hordak didn’t have the same complications. Biding his time, he found the perfect moment to execute a disarming maneuver, sending She-Ra’s sword flying into the water. As she spun to watch where it landed, he kicked her square in the back.

The effect was immediate. Her entire back lit up in pain as though it were on fire and she fell to the floor, feeling out of breath. She flipped over to look up at him, only to see his sword at her neck. His boot held her in place, crushing her back into the rocky ground further.

“Over so soon? Pity.” Hordak eyed his blade hungrily.

“Get on with it then,” Adora spat, feeling with dread how the blade poked at her when her throat moved from speaking.

“I could,” Hordak pressed a little deeper, the tip breaking skin just enough for a trickle of blood to run down Adora’s neck. “But before I do, I have a question for you.”

He leaned in close, his weight dangerously close to falling onto the sword. The pressure in Adora’s chest tightened.

“Tell me,” He asked with a knowing smile, “Where is Catra right now?”

Adora froze completely at that. It seemed to be the response Hordak wanted.

“If you hurt her-”

“Hurt her?” He laughed. “Are you really that naive?”

Adora wanted him to stop talking. She wanted him to finish the job and cut her throat before he said what she feared was coming next.

“Didn’t you wonder how we knew when to attack? Where?” He continued, sickly sweet, “Did you really think she was on your side? That she wouldn’t betray you? Or did you just not want to take off those rose-colored glasses and see her for what she really is.”

“She wouldn’t.”

“She did.”

Adora watched him, feeling her heart leap into her throat. He couldn’t be right and yet it made sense, didn’t it? It was more believable than to think the Horde had just happened to be always one step ahead. But that would mean every mission, every meeting, every smile, every look, every touch, everything...no.

All anyone does is lie.

“I was going to kill you,” Hordak twisted the sword in his hand contemplatively, “But call it what you will...pity. Mercy. Or maybe I just know you’d suffer more if I didn’t. So, I’ll give you this instead, Adora. A gift.”

Pressing down with his foot one last time, he growled, “My gift to you is that you may live with your mistake.”

The pressure released from Adora’s chest but she couldn’t breathe any easier. A small trail of blood flowed from her neck, mixing into the water. The sound of fighting surrounded her but it faded to nothing more than background noise.

She stared up into the sky, watched the smoke rise into the air. Then she smiled. And then she laughed.

“Purpose?” She wheezed, tears building in her eyes. Was this all there was?

Because certainly, this was all Adora had ever known.

Chapter Text

When Glimmer finally found her, she was still in the water.

If it hadn't been for the glint of She-Ra's golden armor, reflecting the orange sun that hung low in the sky, Glimmer might not have seen her at all.

Silently, Glimmer approached. Even when she came into Adora's line of sight, the girl in the water did nothing but stare back up with a numb expression.

Try as she might, Glimmer struggled to find what to say, her face screwing up in frustration when the words failed her. The battlefield was eerily quiet and it felt like a sin to break that silence because it was the one thing that hadn't been broken yet.

The castle, what remained of it, still had smoke billowing from its once mighty towers. The soldiers, Glimmer's soldiers, were milling about aimlessly if they weren't being attended to by a medic, hushed voices and shell-shocked faces.

After Hordak gave the signal to retreat, the Horde forces had vanished just as rapidly as they had come. Gone. The only proof they had been there being the smoldering wreckage and the acrid smell of sulfur burning the throats of the people left to breathe it.

It was so calm now and that was more unsettling than anything else.

What had she said to him? Glimmer wished that hadn't been her first thought when she saw Hordak spare her friend's life from across the battlefield. She hadn't been able to help in the moment, occupied with her own fight, and she still felt the ghost of her gut twisting when she thought the warlord was about to deal the finishing blow.

Except, he didn't. He left and he took his army with him. What had she said? What did she do to get him to leave? It shouldn't have been Glimmer's first thought. She should have been relieved when he walked away, leaving the rebellion to fight another day, but there was a dark storm brewing in Glimmer's mind and it wasn't going away.

Staring down at She-Ra, that numb expression meeting her own tired eyes, she didn't feel any better.

Glimmer knelt down beside her and reached out a hand.

She-Ra stared at it for a moment and then, ignoring the gesture, pushed herself to her feet. With slow steps, she walked only a few feet away before picking up her sword. Glimmer watched as she examined it, holding it like it was some foreign thing. Like it didn't fit in her hands anymore. Like it wasn't her's.

Adora's gaze still wouldn't meet Glimmer's. The way she was standing was stiff and Glimmer bit back her immediate response to ask her about her back. Like that would ever go over well.

"What happened?" Glimmer asked instead, breaking that impenetrable silence. Though She-Ra gave no reaction, Glimmer knew she heard her.

The reflection in her sword...it didn't look like her, did it? It was a face Adora didn't know. A blank canvas painted with blood, bruises, and tears, dotted with two once striking blue eyes that were now so hollow they were grey.

"Adora," Glimmer tried again and when she stepped forward, she stumbled. The princess was exhausted and on the verge of collapse but she staggered toward her friend until she could reach her hand. She took it in a weak grasp. "Please. What happened? What did...did Hordak say?"

Silence. The sword in one hand, Glimmer's hand in the other. But they weren't Adora's hands, were they? Her skin was stretched over borrowed muscles, over a body that Adora never owned.

"I saw you two fighting," Glimmer continued because now that the silence was broken, she had to fill it. "I-I thought he was going to...I wanted to help, I swear. Everything was just happening so fast and I thought he was about to-"

"Something's different," She-Ra mumbled, letting the sword tip touch the ground while she raised Glimmer's hand up, examining it like she had her weapon. "You're different. There's more power coming off of you than usual."

For some reason, Glimmer really didn't like that that was the first thing she had to say. Fumbling for an explanation, her voice came out small. "My connection to the runestone is stronger. I-I don't...I don't know why."

A betrayal of emotion. A twitch of the brow and a flash of a frown on She-Ra's face. She squeezed Glimmer's hand tighter and then let it go, taking a step back.

"I'm sorry Glimmer," Adora sounded steadier than even she expected and it was the first time she looked Glimmer in the eyes.

"Don't," Glimmer whispered, shaking her head. Her own eyes were stinging with unexplained tears. "Don't, don't say that."

"Glimmer."

"N-No, okay? Please don't say that because, because there's nothing to be-"

"Glimmer," Adora interrupted with a soft seriousness to her tone. "I know this isn't easy for you to hear but I know you felt it. When it happened."

"No, you're wrong-"

"She's gone, Glimmer." Maybe a part of Adora wanted to reach out to Glimmer, fingers twitching forward, but She-Ra didn't move. She kept the distance. "I'm so sorry-"

"No!" Glimmer refused to acknowledge even the thought. Denial was supposed to be the first stage of grief but that wasn't what Glimmer was feeling, right? Because for her to be in denial, she would have had to lose someone. And she couldn't lose someone again, she just couldn't.

She-Ra wasn't panicking. She was standing right there, staring at Glimmer with that all too blank expression, so surely nothing could be that wrong, right? Not when Adora was this calm. That had to be right.

Something is wrong with Adora, the storm clouds rumbled in the distance, growing agitated and restless in Glimmer's head but all it did was make her want the comfort from her friend more.

"Please, Adora," Glimmer stepped towards her and tried not to take offense when She-Ra tensed. "Please tell me she's okay. She's my mom and all I have left...I need to know she's okay."

Glimmer reached out and wrapped her shaky arms around Adora, leaning her weight onto the other girl because she could hardly stand at this rate. "Please," She begged with tears pooling into her eyes, tears she was not about to cry because nothing was wrong. "Tell me my mom is okay. You saw her, a-and you wouldn't lie to me so...so..."

Glimmer whimpered into Adora's chest, her pleas nothing more than an unintelligible mess. She begged for the mercy of another lie but somewhere deep down she knew the truth.

"I'm sorry." It was the only thing Adora could offer.

How pathetic. How do you expect to fix anything when you break everything you touch?

Adora couldn't do this. Glimmer's touch was like fire against her skin. There was so much to fix but she couldn't do it like this. She couldn't give closure to Glimmer or offer any justification for what had happened to Angella.

If she hadn't been so slow, she could've saved them both. If she had learned how to heal when she was supposed to, she could've helped Angella before it was too late. If she had been less selfish and weak, she could have prevented all of this from ever happening.

"I'm sorry," Adora said again. Glimmer didn't know how much weight those two words carried.

With some difficulty, Adora untangled Glimmer's hold on her. Still, she let the princess lean on an outstretched hand, but even having Glimmer at arm's length felt like too much. Especially when Glimmer refused to see the blood that stained the very hands keeping her standing.

"We should get to Bow." Once again, Adora thought she sounded all too detached, like the words were coming out of someone else's mouth. "Do you know where he is?"

At the very least, the sudden topic shift was enough to shock Glimmer out of her spiral. "He's, um...I think someone said behind the castle. H-Healer's tent."

Bow can help. He's always known what to do. And Glimmer deserves the comfort of someone like him.

Of course, that implied there was 'someone like me.' The thought made Adora's head swim. She couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand herself. Her grip on her sword tightened, a useless attempt to keep herself grounded. First she had to get Glimmer to Bow, then she could deal with her own inner turmoil.

"Can you take us to him?"

"I...I think so." Glimmer wiped at her eyes but more tears readily replaced them. Sucking in a shaky breath, she concentrated and the two felt the familiar tug of teleportation pull them away.

A camp had been set up behind the castle, with a main tent in the center and a few others scattered about. Glimmer quickly scanned the area until she found Bow who was getting his vitals checked by a medic. Without thinking, Glimmer moved towards him only to almost hit the ground. Luckily Adora was able to stop the fall, carefully guiding her towards Bow who had just noticed them.

"Glimmer?" His eyes widened a bit and he rushed towards them, ignoring the medic's complaints. Disregarding the soreness of the fight, he took Glimmer into his arms, embracing her like he thought he'd never get to again. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was going to look for you but the doctors said-"

Whatever explanation he was giving faded into muddled background noise as Adora stood off to the side, unsure of what to do. At least when Glimmer showed up she had a tangible goal. Get her somewhere safe. Get her away from you.

But now Adora was floating in the unknown again. She had left herself back in the water, looking up at an orange sky like the one she grew up with, shivering because the water was so cold even though the air was sweltering around her.

It felt surreal when she caught a glance of the castle behind her. What was once her room had been reduced to rubble and her mind immediately went to who she had left in that room. Had she escaped in time? Had she gotten to safety?

Had she known?

Adora's heartbeat picked up speed. On the outside nothing changed but, unseen to the others, her chest was tightening and twisting with an unforgiving grip on her lungs. Everything was unfocused and dizzy, the silence from before pooling into her head, dimming her surroundings as she fell further into the darkness. She was outside her own body, helpless, all of those terrible thoughts blaring through her head on repeat.

"Tell me. Where is Catra right now?"

Had she known?

"Did you really think she was on your side? That she wouldn't betray you? Or did you just not want to take off those rose-colored glasses and see her for what she really is."

You see her clearly now, don't you? You brought her to Brightmoon. You did this, Adora. And you're the only one who can fix it.

Adora wanted to scream, she wanted the voices to stop, and she wanted to curl up into a hole and cry, and she didn't know what she wanted but it all felt out of reach. Maybe that was the problem. How many times did Adora need to prove it to herself before she realized that she wasn't allowed to have what she wanted, was only allowed to have a small glimpse of happiness before it was inevitably pulled out from underneath her.

"Hey."

Adora recoiled from Bow's touch, not even realizing he had approached her. With a scan of the area, she realized that Glimmer was being attended to by the medic that had been helping Bow earlier. As for Bow, he had a patient but weak smile on his face and a hand on her shoulder. With She-Ra's armor on, she couldn't feel any warmth from the touch.

"How are you holding up? Glimmer mentioned you saw Hordak?" His questions were so full of concern. That you don't deserve.

Adora swallowed her panic down long enough to mumble a simple, "M'fine."

Bow wasn't convinced by that for even a second. So, naturally, he did what he thought would make his friend feel better.

"If you're worried about...y'know, her," Bow leaned in to whisper, "I can show you what tent she's in. Last I checked, she's still here. She actually helped me save-"

"Take me there."

With a gentle nod, Bow led the way to a small tent set up a little ways away from all the commotion at the center of the camp. Adora stopped at the closed entrance, motionless.

"I'll make sure no one bothers you two," Bow promised, waiting for a response. Still Adora didn't move yet, clearly torn over something. Admittedly Bow thought she would've ran in already. That and he certainly thought it was a little strange that she hadn't transformed back yet, wondering if she might've been doing it to hide any injuries. He had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't be the first time she'd done that.

"If you need anything, you'll know where to find me," Bow finally said, then motioned over to where Glimmer was sitting now. With a hesitant last look, he walked away, moderately debating changing tactics and dragging Adora over to a healer knowing realistically that would be impossible.

"Thanks," Adora whispered. Short and too quiet for Bow to hear.

Taking in a deep breath, Adora pulled the tent flap open and stepped inside.

•••••

After Bow had shown her to the private tent, Catra hadn't moved from her spot against the wall in the corner. Racked with guilt and unsure where she even stood anymore in this pointless war, she left the fighting up to the others for today. Logically she understood that it would have been a mess if she went out there.

The more illogical, louder part of her was furious that she was hiding in a rebellion tent like some coward when she knew that Adora was in danger.

"I'll give Adora your regards...right before I gut her."

It was absolute torture waiting. Hordak's grim promise was all she could think about, conjuring up images of Adora, fighting and dying, all because of Catra's stupid mistakes.

"It'll be okay," Adora wiped away the tears on Catra's cheeks. Empty promises. Not even Adora sounded convinced. "I told you I wasn't going anywhere, right? I'll be back before you know it."

Adora better come back because she sure as hell wasn't the one who deserved to die out there.

When Catra heard the rustle of the tent flap opening, she tensed up, waiting in anticipation to see who would enter. At the sight of familiar blonde hair and a golden sword, Catra shot up without even feeling the pain in her leg to tackle Adora in a hug, nevermind the current height difference or the way She-Ra's armor was cold against her fur.

All that mattered at that moment was Adora and just Adora. Catra needed this. If it bothered her that She-Ra wasn't hugging back, Catra didn't show it. (And perhaps those stolen seconds were selfish on her part but she soaked them in regardless. Maybe because she knew this could be the last time she'd get a comfort like this again, as small as it may have been.)

"I was so worried," Catra admitted before her brain could stop the flood of words spilling out. "I thought...I-I don't know what I thought would happen but you're alright and...and...I'm so sorry. For everything."

Up until Adora had walked into the tent, she hadn't been sure how she'd react. Part of her wanted to keep up the cold indifference that was so easy to hide behind She-Ra's face but Catra never made anything that easy for her. As each prolonged second passed with Catra holding her like she'd never let go, an unsteady and involuntary purr rumbling through her chest, the cracks poked through Adora's poor facade.

With a dull thud, the sword fell to the ground out of her loose grip. At the same time, She-Ra melted away, leaving only the sad and broken mess underneath.

Adora's legs gave out as soon as she didn't have She-Ra holding her up anymore. She dragged Catra to the ground with her, finally allowing herself to wrap her own arms around Catra and bury her head in her shoulder as she sobbed.

Finally in her own skin again, Adora already wanted out. It hurt too much and she hated the person She-Ra left behind. Her mistakes were going to drown her. Everything was just a blur of pain and confusion...except for Catra.

It had always been Catra, because if anyone could help her fight back the onslaught of voices it was Catra, and if anyone was going to get through the walls Adora built then it was Catra. Adora sobbed, mourned, for everything that led them to this moment and she was shaking because they weren't done yet.

"You're alright," Catra hoped Adora could hear her. "You're going to be alright."

The lack of the word 'we' was entirely intentional. Tears of her own slipped down her cheeks but she didn't wipe them away, not wanting to waste even a second of holding Adora like this.

But then, Catra had to question if this was even helping at all. Why was Adora even turning to her for comfort after everything? Was it possible she somehow hadn't found out about Catra's secret? That had to be it because why else would Adora even be here? How could she stand the sight of Catra if she knew what she had done?

Though Catra hadn't joined in the fighting, she had put her ears to good use. Secluded as she was, it didn't take long to overhear enough pieces of the different medics' worried chatter.

"Just a kid too...having to find her like that."

"Already took him...get the burns checked out...but the Queen..."

"There was nothing we could do...dead on impact...wouldn't want...but someone has...tell the princess."

Did Adora know what Catra's actions caused, intentional or not? Was she there when it happened? Catra didn't really know the Queen, never got the chance to, and now she never would.

"I'm sorry," Catra whispered again to the girl crumpled up in her arms. It came naturally to her to press a quick kiss to the top of Adora's head as she swallowed down her own cries. "You didn't deserve this. I-I'm so sorry Adora."

So slow it was almost unwilling, Adora pulled away from Catra. Reaching up, she placed a hand against Catra's cheek, frowning as her thumb wiped away a few tears.

In a perfect world, she'd tell Catra that she had nothing to be sorry for. But the darkness decided it was time to strike and Adora could almost feel it weave between her fingertips, under her palm, seeping into her skin, traveling up her arms to her chest, and impaling itself through her already weakened heart.

"I saw Hordak out there..." She began, hoarse from the crying. "He said...he said some things. About you."

This was it. The end. Catra was done for. "Adora...I-"

"Tell me he's wrong." Adora was begging, not asking. There wasn't any accusation or bite behind it. "Just tell me he's wrong and you didn't know about any of this. Tell me you weren't giving information to the Horde and I-I'll believe you. Catra, please I'll believe you but you have to tell me."

And Catra knew she was telling the truth. Adora was giving her a way out, right here and now. As broken down as Adora was, there was no doubt in Catra's mind that she could lie and Adora would never question her again.

"Tell me. Please."

But Catra couldn't bring herself to lie even one more time. "I can't."

Was this what Hordak wanted? Is this why he hadn't followed through on his promise to kill Adora? So Catra could pull the trigger herself and watch the way the last trace of hope faded from Adora's eyes? Two words was all it took for Catra to do what years of the Horde's manipulation, months of a raging war, and the weight of the entire world couldn't.

Catra delivered the fatal blow.

There was a time not too long ago when this was what she wanted, or at least what she thought she wanted. To see Adora hurt, to see her suffering, because maybe, somehow, someway, it would justify her own pain.

The day Adora left her for the rebellion, Catra had been so lost, but then she was bleeding out and Adora risked everything to heal her. Thinking back on it, Catra couldn't remember a single day since then that Adora hadn't been there for her, even at her worst. And she knew what she could be like at her worst.

Adora had trusted her, given her a home when she had nowhere to go, reminded her what it was like to be loved when the woman who raised her, who's love Catra had been chasing since she was a kid, was torn out of her reach for good.

Not for the first time, Catra wondered what might've happened to her if she hadn't found Adora the night of the attack. If she had just...stayed there and let the injuries take her...

But she couldn't blame anything on that night. Catra didn't deserve to die — not until she took that stupid deal with Shadow Weaver that is. As if she ever needed to prove herself to that witch or to the Horde. As if she cared about who won this pointless war.

All Catra ever cared about was Adora and she still managed to fuck it up. Every. Single. Time.

Adora's wide eyes were locked with her's and Catra could practically see all of the thoughts racing through her head. Her hand, still cupped on Catra's cheek, trembled then slipped away, but as the last bit of her fingertip grazed her jawline, she hesitated. It was less than a second but Catra felt the brief pause and that was what did her in.

Because beautiful, loving, perfect Adora still didn't want to let her go.

"I know it was wrong," Catra started, knowing there was no real excuse for any of this but trying anyway. "I...I didn't think I had any other choice at the time."

Adora's frown deepened as she let what Catra said process in her mind. At the time. How long has this been going on? She didn't want to feel the anger bubbling up in her throat but she couldn't help the frustration laced throughout her words when she asked, "So what are you then? A traitor? A double agent? Or just an idiot?"

Catra winced at Adora's tone. "Is there an all of the above to that question?"

"Stop kidding around," Adora warned. It'd be easier to be intimidating if it weren't for the tears she was rapidly blinking away. "Seriously, Catra, I want to know. Was this your plan from the start? Did you know I'd take you in?" As a paranoid afterthought, she added, "I mean, did-did Shadow Weaver even attack you?!"

Even Adora knew that was a completely unreasonable accusation. Adora herself had sewn Catra's stomach shut, had set her broken leg, had seen firsthand what that woman was capable of, and yet at the same time Adora didn't know what she could trust anymore.

A distant, low voice seemed to whisper 'Trust Me' as that scorching anger burned inside her chest a little brighter.

At the mention of Shadow Weaver, Catra felt her own familiar demons rearing their ugly heads, all of her nasty defense mechanisms ruining whatever careful approach she had wanted to try for. "Are you serious? Do you really think I'd need to lie about Shadow Weaver trying to murder me? You can't really be that dense, can you?"

"Apparently I was dense enough to think you could change," Adora shot back. She scooted away from Catra and got to her wobbly feet. "Dense enough to think, oh I don't know, maybe you weren't actually the villain everyone wants you to be. Y-Yeah, typical stupid oblivious Adora, right?" She sounded worryingly genuine. "What a real idiot I am to want you to stay here when nothing good was ever going to come out of it."

Catra faltered at that. Nothing good, huh?

With a deep breath, Catra tried to recalibrate. This wasn't how she wanted this conversation to go and Adora wasn't the one in the wrong here. Mildly calmer, she tried again. "I shouldn't have said that. I...of course you aren't an idiot. All of this is my fault and my fault alone, got that? And for the record, it's not like I was thinking about spying on the rebellion when you found me. I was just...just scared, okay?"

She had to force that word out because she hated admitting it. It was the lowest moment of her life, on the brink of death, clinging desperately to a life she wasn't sure she even wanted all that much.

"I didn't have a place to go back to in the Horde," Catra continued. "Not when Hordak made it clear he'd kill me if I screwed up again. It was either bring back Shadow Weaver or die. That was it. And I wouldn't have ever thought Brightmoon was a real option. I didn't really care what I had to do so long as I could somehow prove I was worth being kept alive. It was all I could do to survive."

Survival was all Catra knew, all she could focus on since she first opened her eyes to a world of loathing and violence. Every missed meal, every concealed scar or slap in the face, broken fingers, pulled tail, every little 'Be better Catra', 'You're such a nuisance Catra', 'Should've left you on the side of the road to die', every second of the pain and the longing for a motherly touch she'd never get, all of it...she deluded herself into thinking it made her stronger. She started to welcome the low expectations because it meant she had something to prove. The torment she invited made her more resilient because look at all of this darkness and look at how she survived.

It took Adora to remind her that she wanted to live.

It was Adora who made her stumble out of that forest, like an invisible string was tugging her to her feet and into the arms of the only light that shone bright enough to fend off the dark allure of death. There was a time Catra believed nothing could snuff out that light. Adora would always be there for her. Just like she promised.

With the way Adora was looking at her now, Catra should've known better.

Closing in on herself, unable to meet Adora's furious gaze, Catra looked down ashamedly. "I wasn't trying to hurt you when I found you that night. I wasn't...wasn't thinking about spying or the Horde or anything like that. I just...I wanted to find you."

The fire in Adora's chest flickered momentarily. Catra sounded sincere. Adora wanted wholeheartedly to believe that was the truth, and then she would take Catra in her arms and kiss her gently, apologizing and promising they'd move past this. They'd figure it out.

But then the voice came back with a vengeance, all too overwhelming. Wincing, she closed her eyes as a sharp pain flared through her head.

Liar! All anyone ever does is lie. How naive can you be? She's using you, again.

Adora had to shake her head to quiet the voice before she forced herself to turn back to Catra. She had been hoping it'd calm her down but it didn't work. All Adora saw was red.

"Will you stop with the mind games already?!" Adora shouted over the noise. She didn't know who she was asking that to.

Catra. She's the cause of all of this. Focus. Fix this.

"I mean, seriously!" Adora let out a slightly hysterical laugh, "Is that all this is to you? Some game? Did you think it would be fun to see what you could do right under the rebellion's noses?  D-Did all the sneaking around make you feel clever? Did you like seeing me let my guard down, so oblivious-"

"Of course not!" Catra cut her off, panicking a little at how worked up Adora was getting. "I didn't want to hurt you-"

"But you did!" Adora clenched and unclenched her shaking fists because her anxious energy needed an outlet and she could feel the tears clouding her vision again. "You messed up and it hurt people! So many people, so-" Her voice cracked into a high rasp. "All the battles we lost and the surprise attacks. Angella-" The name got caught in her throat, blocking her airway, a step away from hyperventilating. You messed up. You messed up.

Adora had always been louder than Catra, bigger too, and Catra suddenly felt so small. She didn't want to be scared, because it's Adora who would never hurt her, who always pulled her punches when they fought, but when Adora stepped closer she felt boxed in. The tent seemed a little darker.

"Was everything you said just a lie to get close to me? To use me?" Adora nearly growled, not seeing the way Catra shrank back or the way her ears pressed flat against her head. "All of those late night talks, the roof, the...the party..."

Visibly deflating, Adora was shaken out of her rage by the memory. It had only been a few hours ago. How was that possible? That so much could have changed in the span of a few hours? What was once the happiest moment of her life was now tainted with the bitter taste of betrayal.

And suddenly Adora wasn't so big anymore, Catra realized. Now Adora was the small one, fractured glass in Catra's hands.

"Was any of this real?" Adora whispered, more despondent than ever before. "Were...were we real?"

Catra wanted to reassure her a million times over that yes, yes we were real. She wanted to kiss Adora again and again until the other girl understood it wasn't a lie or a manipulation. She wanted to tell Adora that she was awake that night on the roof, that she did hear what Adora whispered when she thought she'd never hear it...and that she had wanted to say it back.

One look at Adora was enough to tell Catra that could never happen. She had done so much damage already. It'd be cruel to let Adora love her, familiar to fall back into the hatred Catra had come to expect. Then, Adora wouldn't have to waste her time on a lost cause.

So, she didn't say anything. Catra just let Adora fill in the blanks however she needed to. They stood there and it felt as though they had never been farther apart. Without even a parting touch, Catra could feel Adora let go.

Adora stepped away, turning her aching back to Catra. One hand ran through the loose hair that had fallen from her ponytail. The other rested on the small blade strapped to her belt, tightening her grip around the hilt.

Whether Adora realized it or not, in letting go she had just given herself room to hold onto something else. Something she couldn't see yet, something far worse than the knife she flipped in her hand subconsciously, just once before sheathing it again.

The voice in the back of her head was quiet now but not gone. Like white noise, Adora could just sense its presence but didn't have any will left in her to question it. If she were honest with herself, it felt familiar at this point, like an old friend that had been by her side for a while now.

You know what you have to do, don't you?

Adora sucked in a deep breath, collecting herself before she spoke. The steady indifference was back except it was her own voice this time, no She-Ra to blame.

"I think you should leave. Glimmer isn't going to be happy when she finds out you're here. You won't be safe. I'll buy you enough time to get out but after that...I'm done protecting you. Understand?"

Catra nodded, swallowing the sob clawing its way up her throat. She wasn't about to cry in front of Adora, especially when she only had herself to blame. Adora hadn't turned around to see her response anyway, but she wasn't actually looking for an answer either. She was already gone.

Slicing through the back of the tent with her claws, Catra prepared herself to leave too. With the emotional pain diluting most of the physical ache of her body, she hadn't realized just how much her leg hurt until she tried to walk. Dizzy from the sudden wave of agony, she scanned the room for anything to support her weight with.

In the haze of her tears, Catra's eyes landed on something on the floor: She-Ra's sword.

Catra fought back a bitter laugh before stumbling into the woods without it, support be damned. She rationalized it by convincing herself that the pain wasn't nearly punishment enough to atone for what she'd done and when she finally collapsed on the forest floor, vision going in and out, Catra swore she saw shadows.

With all that darkness, she wasn't sure how she'd survive. That is, if she even had a reason to anymore. In her delirium, she genuinely believed for a moment that she had imagined everything, that the cruel reality was that she had never gotten back up after Shadow Weaver's attack and this was all just one last nightmare to carry her fitfully into oblivion.

Closing her eyes, she welcomed it. There was no light to guide her to safety this time. No one to-

Catra sank into unconsciousness just as her ears twitched to the sound of approaching footsteps.

Chapter Text

Eight minutes. That’s how long it took for Adora’s entire world to fall apart, from the moment she walked into that tent, to the moment she walked out. Her life as she knew it, not for the first time, had slipped through her fingers and shattered onto the floor. Now the fragments floated through the air, colliding into one another, begging for her to piece them back together before they drifted completely out of reach.

Catra was gone. In a way, Adora felt like a part of herself had left with her.

In those eight minutes that Adora lost everything, Bow had been busy trying to hold on to what little he had left. For all of eight minutes, he never left Glimmer’s side. Not even for a second.

She was being looked over by a medic. Mostly she was quiet aside from answering a few of the medic’s questions, always with a short, clipped response. Bow sat at her side, holding her hand. Their thighs touched with how close they were, offering a little extra warmth, a sense of something solid and tangible amidst the fractured wasteland Brightmoon had been reduced to.

That wasn’t to say Bow was at peace. Yes, he was grateful to see Glimmer safe, maybe more than he’d care to admit, and that alone had eased a fair amount of his nerves.

Still, his eyes involuntarily scanned the area as if he was waiting for something else to go wrong. He couldn’t convince himself the fight was over just yet. Silently he dared anyone to try anything, sitting up a little straighter and squeezing Glimmer’s hand a little tighter. Go on, he seemed to say. Try to take this away from me.

He kept his bow and arrows close. He stayed alert – or paranoid, though there was hardly any difference anymore. His gaze kept lingering on the tent off to the side of the field where he left Adora and he tried not to let his paranoia fester into something worse. (“Tell me he’s wrong.”)

He trusted Adora. She could handle it, whatever it was.

Trust, but how could one trust anything, anyone? Nothing was safe anymore, not even Brightmoon. The Horde could come back at any moment and that’d be the end of everything.

When the first bomb went off, Bow had been up in one of the towers sitting on a window ledge, reading a message from his dads. They wanted him to visit soon.

At the time, the worst thing he had to worry about was his parents. He never even had the chance to think up a response before the whole castle was uprooted with a violent tremor. He didn’t remember slipping off the ledge so much as he remembers just falling. One moment he was sitting in quiet contemplation and the next he was hurtling towards the ground.

Luckily for him, he had his arrows. Twisting so his back was to the ground, he managed to shoot a grappling arrow up, the hook activating in time just barely to hook around the top of the blasted wall. The rope snapped taut and sent Bow swinging through a shattered window on one of the lower floors. He dropped unceremoniously in a rough pile on the floor.

He wouldn’t realize it until much later, not until the fighting was over and his adrenaline-drugged brain stopped blinding him to the pain, but he twisted his ankle in the landing. At the time, his injuries didn’t matter.

All Bow understood was that even though his feet were on solid ground for now, he wasn’t safe. He was alive but he wasn’t safe.

Once he’d gotten his bearings, he had run further into the destruction, thinking about his fathers still, of all things.

What would they say if they knew he was running towards the danger? Would they be angry? Would they be proud? He hoped so.

Would he be around to ask them himself when this was all over?

He passed other survivors but he never stopped for long if they could handle themselves. To some degree, he registered that the other princesses and soldiers were gearing up for a fight. Horde forces were advancing. But where was Glimmer? Adora?

He kept running.

The farther into the ruins he had gone, the worse it got. He found Adora. He didn’t find Glimmer. Falling debris, smoke. He limped around a corner. He found Catra and Soda Pop. Keep going. Back towards the destruction. More survivors. His ankle buckled under his weight for a moment but he scrambled back up, forward, forward. Make them proud. A figure lying unmoving in the distance–

“Excuse me Sir,” A nurse with a kind face placed a hand on Bow’s shoulder, holding a cup of water with the other. “You should drink something. Small sips.”

Bow did his best to blink away the memories as if they had only been a bad dream and took the water with a grateful nod. The warm liquid was rough against his throat but he knew it was for the better, that he needed it lest he risk dehydration on top of everything else.

When the nurse left, Bow began his rounds again, his eyes scanning carefully across the field, to the tent, (“Was any of this real?” Adora whispered.) and then back to Glimmer.

The medic was nearly done examining the blow to Glimmer’s head but the latter was getting impatient if Bow had to guess judging by the small huffs of irritation that Glimmer let slip.

“I keep telling you, it's fine,” Glimmer clearly was trying to keep a level tone but it came out snappy all the same. “The runestone healed it for me. The blood is just…left over.”

The medic attempted to explain in the most placating way, “Your majesty, I understand but it’s my duty as the royal physician-”

“Others are in worse shape than I am right now,” Glimmer argued back. Bow felt her scoot back a little, her leg pressing more against his. “If we want to discuss duty, then it is my duty to see that help is given to those who actually need it. Me? I’m…I’m fine.”

Bow couldn’t help but wince, not because of what Glimmer said but because of the look of pity that fell across the medic’s face as an immediate response. If Glimmer, who was stubbornly refusing eye contact, had seen that? She likely would have lost it completely.

Word, it seemed, had traveled fast. Everyone knew by now that the Queen was dead. Most knew it was Bow who officially found her and carried her out of the wreckage. When he found her, the fighting had just ended and he had collapsed as soon as the body had been whisked away out of his hands. He didn’t know where she, or any others who had fallen, were being kept.

(“I think you should leave.”)

He couldn’t begin to imagine what Glimmer had to be going through. She’d lost everything in a matter of seconds. That kind of pain was beyond his comprehension. He could try imagining how he’d feel if his fathers or one of his brothers died but for it to actually happen? In your own home no less, with no warning?

The medic finally did leave after that, which meant Bow and Glimmer were alone. Not knowing what to say, if there even was anything to say, Bow just silently put an arm around Glimmer’s shoulders, hoping the half hug would be at least better than nothing.

Glimmer seemed to accept the gesture. Despite it, she still felt alone, like there was this gaping cavity in her chest that couldn’t be filled no matter how hard she longed for it. This, with Bow, was nice but it didn’t make her feel any fuller. She reckoned nothing would for a while.

“Where’d Adora go?” Glimmer finally asked.

“Adora?” Bow tried not to sound too startled. His eyes darted to the tent but nothing had changed. “Oh…I think she, um, went to get her injuries checked on.”

“Really?” Glimmer didn’t sound like she believed him, which, granted Adora’s track record, wasn't too far of a stretch. Glimmer didn’t push much though. Just said, “I’m worried about her.”

“Me too.” Bow had more reason to worry. If he was honest with himself, he had never completely trusted Catra but from what he had seen, he also didn’t have any reason to think she was behind this. For starters, she would’ve likely died in the attack if he hadn’t found her. Secondly, she had been trying to help. And third, Adora had vouched for her. Adora said she trusted her. Adora wouldn’t have lied.

But paranoia painted the dirt beneath his boots red. He wanted to run over to the tent Adora was in, arrows notched, and do what a good soldier was supposed to do: fight the bad guys and protect the ones they love.

He hoped he knew who the bad guys were. He hoped they weren’t who he feared they were.

Bow must have been looking at the tent for too long because Glimmer’s gaze followed. Not knowing what she was looking for, she didn’t zero in on the tent – but rather a flash of movement behind it.

Her eyes narrowed and on any other day she would have chalked it up to her mind playing tricks on her. Instead, when she realized exactly who she saw, Glimmer gritted her teeth and teleported without another thought.

Bow, who had still been holding her hand, startled at the sudden jump. He fell on his butt as he landed roughly in the new space, somewhere on the edge of the forest. Glimmer, on the other hand, had landed on her feet and was already taking a running start at the culprit locked in her sight.

“What in the-”

The Horde soldier didn’t have time to respond as a sparkly fist slammed into the side of her face, sending her stumbling backwards. Glimmer didn’t allow her to get her bearings before landing another blow to the stomach.

This time, the Horde soldier had enough time to sort herself out, dodging a right hook from Glimmer and kicking the princess square in the chest. Glimmer went flying backwards, only to teleport midair on top of her attacker.

At this point, Bow had figured out what was happening and dutifully notched a stun arrow when a vaguely familiar voice cried out through the clearing.

“St-Stop please! We don’t mean any harm!” A scrawny blonde teen in Horde armor stumbled out of the bushes, holding both his hands up in surrender. Kyle, Bow recognized.

“Speak! For! Yourself!” Lonnie grunted as she thrashed around, trying to throw Glimmer off.

At the same time as Glimmer summoned her staff, Bow released his arrow, hitting Lonnie in the knee, sending a shock through her body. The effect was immediate. Both her and Glimmer fell to the floor in a pile, only for Bow and Kyle to surge forward. Bow pulled Glimmer away and Kyle knelt down to check over his friend.

“Let me go!” Glimmer struggled in Bow’s grip but if she really wanted to, they both knew she could just teleport. Maybe something more than Bow was holding her back – the worry on Kyle’s face for starters.

“Oh man, this is bad. I-” Kyle stammered out, looking between Lonnie and the others. “Listen, we-we don’t need to fight. We have another down, just, please-”

“Kyle,” Lonnie snapped at him groggily, shoving him away with what little strength she could muster. “Will you please not tell the enemy all of our vulnerabilities?”

“S-Sorry…” He then leaned in to whisper sheepishly, “But if they can help-”

“Why would we help you?” Glimmer snarled, finally giving up and staying in Bow’s grasp. She spoke with authority though, a vengeful Queen at her full and bristling power. It was enough for even Bow to feel a shiver run down his back. “After what your people did, give me one good reason why we shouldn’t take you both as prisoners right now.”

“Do you even have a prison left to put us in, Princess?”

“Lonnie, don’t antagonize her!” Kyle groaned before getting to his feet. “I-I’m sorry about her. It’s been a really stressful day and-”

“Stressful?” Glimmer scoffed.

“-and our friend, Rogelio, he’s hurt pretty bad. He won’t wake up and when the retreat was called, we couldn’t carry him back on our own. We were-were just trying to get some medical supplies. We swear!”

Glimmer and Bow exchanged cautious looks. This guy didn’t look like he’d ever won a fight in his life and while Lonnie put up a good struggle, the stun arrow had exhausted a lot of whatever reserve energy she had been running on.

“Your friend. Where is he?” Bow asked.

“I-I can show you-”

“No,” Lonnie shot Kyle a glare. “You can’t.” There wasn’t anger in her face. There was fear, shared in both their expressions. Whoever this Rogelio was, they seemed to care about him.

“If there are more Horde soldiers in the area, it's for everyone’s best interest that I know about them,” Glimmer threatened, though seeing the worn faces of these soldiers (teenagers, hardly any older than her) was softening her resolve. She didn’t want to feel bad for the enemy. She wanted to hate them for everything that happened. Swallowing down her frustration, she added, “We can offer first aid. But we have to have eyes on-”

“Absolutely not,” Lonnie growled. She struggled to her feet, Kyle moving to support her up. “We don’t need the rebellion’s help for nothing. And we sure as hell aren’t about to lead you to one of our own just so you can attack him too.”

“You people attacked first!” Glimmer lost her temper again, and Bow squeezed the hand on her shoulder to try to reel her back. She kept going regardless. “I should have known better than to try helping criminals like you. Are you even really here for medical supplies? Or were you just planning your next surprise attack? I bet your friend isn’t even real. You’re probably just a bunch of spies trying your luck while the kingdom’s vulnerable.”

“Ha,” Lonnie couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. “Like we need more now that the damage’s done.”

A stark silence fell over the clearing as the implications of that sentence washed over the two rebellion fighters.

Glimmer, voice colder than when the Whispering Woods froze over, asked, “More what?”

Lonnie and Kyle seemed to have a silent conversation as they exchanged looks. Bow couldn’t know for certain what they were saying but Kyle seemed to be heavily discouraging Lonnie from talking more.

His eyes darted to the tent. From this distance, he could see clearly what looked to be a large tear in the back.

“More. What?” Glimmer asked with the same icy inflection.

“You that slow Princess?” Lonnie finally answered despite Kyle’s silent protests. “Thought you’d have figured it out by now but apparently you need a criminal like me to spell it out for you.”

“Glimmer, maybe we shouldn’t-” Listen to her.

“Are you trying to say there are already spies in Brightmoon?” Glimmer asked, the calm disguising the fury.

But it made sense. It was the only thing that made sense. The inside attack, loss after loss, every step forward followed by three steps back. The uneasy feeling she’d had in the castle, like someone was watching, like something is wrong with-

“Who?” A one-word question, punctuated with the eerie glow of her staff.

Bow was frozen in place, watching helplessly. He didn’t reach out when Glimmer slipped out of his grasp. The tent was torn in the back and something was oh so undeniably wrong.

Lonnie and Kyle seemed to weigh their options before coming to a silent agreement. What was the harm now that everything was over?

“If we tell you…then you have to let us get medical supplies for Rogelio,” Kyle said, the first real confident thing he’d said the whole time.

Because maybe it wasn’t her, Bow had to reason. Maybe it was some other Horde soldier in Brightmoon.

“And you let us leave without any more trouble.” Lonnie stumbled forward, forcing Kyle with her seeing as he was still holding half her weight. “We got a deal?”

Glimmer’s staff still glowing with a crackling energy, she asked again. “Who?”

Lonnie hesitated for only a moment before admitting, “Catra. She’s been in Brightmoon for a while now.” More to Kyle, she added, “Still don’t really know how she managed that.”

“Well, Adora’s always had a soft spot for her. I’m not surprised she let her-” Kyle was cut off as Lonnie’s elbow dug into his gut, the girl sending him a withering glare. The damage, however, was done.

Glimmer had faltered, her staff flicking momentarily before burning even brighter than before. “Adora knew Catra was here? Are you sure?”

“Um, well…” Kyle looked ashamed as he mumbled quietly, “For what it’s worth, I-I don’t think they were working together. And Catra left already anyways so-”

“Wait, you know that for sure?” Bow asked Kyle, but his eyes were still on the tent and there was a growing feeling of dread pulling into his stomach. “She left?”

“We just saw her go off into the woods before you got here,” Lonnie confirmed. “She’ll be long gone by now.”

Glimmer was less concerned with that. Catra was one problem but that at least made sense. It was what she could expect from someone like that.

But Adora? Adora knew? She knew?

Bow realized all too late that Glimmer was looking around until she finally caught sight of Adora on the other side of the ripped tent. He shouted, “Glimmer wait!” but it wasn’t in time. Glimmer was gone.

“So,” Lonnie broke the awkward silence. “About those medical supplies-”

“Take whatever you want from the reserve tent,” Bow answered succinctly. “Get what you need and get out before Glimmer comes back.” He was ready to run off but he stopped, knowing he had to ask.

“Catra…was she really the one who sold us out?”

Lonnie and Kyle both looked guilty. It was answer enough.

There was shouting in the distance. Bow sucked in a breath and then he was off, running towards the destruction.

•••••

Adora hadn’t always been good at lying. Growing up, it was always the other cadets in her squad who had to fabricate the cover stories, always Catra coming to the rescue when the two of them got caught. They used to joke that Adora couldn’t lie to save her life and for a time that used to be true.

But then came the first lie: the night she had snuck her oldest and closest friend past two guards on the nightshift who had to sit through her pathetic blundering as Catra’s life hung in the balance. It had been an utter disaster and if there had ever been a time that Adora deserved to be caught in this whole mess, it would’ve been right then and there.

By some miracle, she got away with it and in doing so unlocked a door previously closed. Little white lies turned into subtle deception until she couldn’t see the outright manipulation, to the point where it became second nature to find a lie on her lips.

“I’m done protecting you. Understand?”

Adora hadn’t always been good at lying. She didn’t realize that was something she could become. She couldn’t see it when she started lying to herself, but just because she didn’t know she was doing it didn’t make her any less skilled at it.

To some degree, the suspicion had always been there. Adora wasn’t naive enough to think there had been no ulterior motives to Catra’s stay in Brightmoon but if she was finally being honest with herself, Adora had been actively pushing aside every single doubt she had because for the first time in a long time, Adora had been truly happy.

The bliss of ignorance had been intoxicating and now that she stood outside that tent, hands shaking, coming down from that high and crashing down to messy reality, she felt the withdrawal kicking in. Already she longed for a redo.

It was possible that in another life, Adora would’ve walked back into that tent and found her place back in Catra’s arms. If things had gone just a little different, she would’ve asked Catra to stay, damn the rest of the world falling apart around them.

Adora would never know if she would’ve done that, given enough time, because the opportunity to act was taken from her by the telltale shine of teleportation and rough hands shoving her against the tent wall.

“What is wrong with you?!” Glimmer’s voice cracked from the sheer volume. The spots where Glimmer had slammed her hands against Adora’s shoulders were buzzing from the aggressive touch, static coursing through Adora’s bones.

It could have been comical, how casual the thought flitted through Adora’s mind. She found out.

It wasn’t relief that she felt. The ever-present guilt saved Adora from the euphoria of having it all out in the open, but it certainly felt surreal. Anticlimactic, even. For months Adora had been hiding and lying and now? It was all over.

“Stop staring at me and say something!” Glimmer demanded, and if hot angry tears were streaming down her face, she didn’t notice.

Adora dazedly hoped that if Catra hadn’t left yet, then she’d hear the commotion and get going while she still could. The thought almost made her laugh again because she never would have thought she’d want Catra to leave, even if it was only because she didn’t want to see Glimmer tear her limb from limb. But Adora asked Catra to leave and she should be angry, you ARE angry, and wasn’t it just the night before that-

“Adora!” Bow had come running up, huffing at the pain it brought his ankle, chest heaving from the effort. “Glimmer. Hold on a second-”

“No.” Glimmer snapped at him but her glare stayed unwaveringly glued to Adora. “I want to hear what she has to say for herself.”

The tent wall was electric against Adora’s aching back and she wanted to squirm away from the space Glimmer had cornered her in. All of her instincts told her to fight, to shove back, her knife was acutely pressed against her hip-

A fist slammed into Adora’s jaw, the clicking of her teeth against each other stunning her out of whatever spiral she’d been stuck in. Adora was only vaguely aware of Bow’s protests as the pain flared up across the side of her skull, pulsing to the beat of her rapid heart.

Something dark inside of her screamed for retaliation, to punch back or Worse but Adora shook her head harshly. The pain only worsened, the urge growing stronger.

“I-I don’t want to hurt her,” Adora whispered shakily to herself. She felt she was balancing on a tightrope over a dark chasm calling her name and those words spoken aloud were her only safety net keeping her from plummeting down, down, down.

“Hurt who?!” Glimmer was currently shoving away Bow who was growing tired of holding his friend back. “Catra? Are you seriously still trying to defend her after everything she’s done?”

“Glimmer, please, will you just calm down a minute?” Bow pleaded. “We can talk this out without any- hey, come on!” She ripped from his grasp, pivoting on her heels to confront him now.

“Oh, you want to talk it out? Sure, why don’t we go to the war room and- oh that’s right.” She threw her hands up. “We don’t have one anymore!” Glaring back at Adora, she asked, “And whose fault is that?”

That blow hurt worse than the punch in Adora’s eyes. Because really, how was she meant to justify any of this? How was she supposed to stop her blood from boiling when every mistake kept hitting her in waves, ebbing and flooding. She was angry at herself, at Catra, at the Horde, at Glimmer, at Bow, at the voice in her head screaming for some sort of action because you’re a soldier Adora, start acting like one.

Bow and Glimmer were busy exchanging their own heated words. Any other time and Adora would’ve been able to appreciate Bow defending her but even that was pushing her to the edge. She didn’t need him to explain away her mistakes when she knew this was her fault.

“I’m sorry.”

When the two didn’t hear her, Adora stepped between them, fixing Glimmer with a look like it was the first time she was actually seeing her since the confirmation began. The rage in her eyes tore Adora apart and she knew the words weren’t ever going to be enough. Still, she repeated, “I’m…I’m sorry.”

“Are you serious right now? Sorry?!”

Pathetic girl, stand your ground! Give that Princess a real reason to be sorry.

“No,” Adora mumbled to herself, another mistake as she realized Glimmer thought she was answering. Recovering quickly, she rambled, “No, I mean, I know that’s not enough, but it’s the truth.”

“So now you’re interested in the truth? How long?” Glimmer shoved her again. “How long was Catra in Brightmoon?”

Adora isn’t sure why she felt compelled to tell the truth now but she does, and she can’t help the bite behind her words, a strange conviction, because a part of her still didn’t regret any of it and she’d be damned if anything more was taken from her, if Glimmer soured the already bitter memories any further. “Three months. She came to me, injured. She needed my help-”

“And you didn’t think to tell someone?” Glimmer scoffed. “Because you knew it was wrong!”

“I knew you only would’ve wanted to lock her away in a cell,” Adora countered. “You...you wouldn’t get it. She was my friend-”

“She was a force captain who repeatedly attacked us, kidnapped us- and you honestly thought it would be okay to let her run around the castle?” Was this why Brightmoon hadn’t felt safe lately? Glimmer was certain it had to be. “But no, it’s all okay because she’s your friend, right? That makes up for everything!”

Adora felt lightheaded. She placed a hand on the wooden post of the tent behind her, one of the corner beams meant to support the cloth tarp. The wood felt smooth under her knuckles, irking her. She’d rather there be a few notches or splinters to run her fingers along, anything to keep her grounded.

“Glimmer,” Bow sent Adora a sympathetic look. “It’s more complicated than you think.” And while he knew it wasn’t his place to say, he also knew Adora would never admit it, no matter if he begged her to. “I think…Catra was a bit more than that.”

“More than…” The realization washed over Glimmer gradually and for a moment there was only concern, sympathy, in her expression. But then, the look was replaced with suspicion, betrayal over not being told sooner (guilt for never knowing). “You never mentioned anything like that to us before.”

Because it’s a weakness.

“Can you blame me?” Adora’s breath caught as she frowned, trying not to show the burning pain of her head splitting open so clearly on her face. “It’s not like you ever asked either. It wasn’t important.”

“Wasn’t impor- Adora! Do you realize that information is extremely important? We are fighting a war and if you’ve been having conflicting loyalties-”

“Of course I have!” Adora feels her whole body ignite in flames as something within her snaps. “Of fucking course I would have a hard time fighting against the same people I grew up with! But that never mattered to you, did it? As long as I was able to fight for the rebellion, who cared if I had to betray everyone I had ever known or trusted or lo-” She choked on her own words and continued in a strangled voice, “So yes, of course I took Catra in because before the rebellion, me and her were all each other ever had!”

Glimmer stared at Adora in conflicted silence and Bow just looked like he pitied her and- SMASH! Adora slammed her fist into the closest thing she could, the wooden pole of the tent, snapping the thick beam in two.

“You’re angry. That’s good.”

Adora let out something between a gasp for air and a ragged laugh. There was no pain in her knuckles despite everything else hurting so much. The headache eased as though rewarding her for the momentary relinquishment of control.

“You’ll need that one day.”

Flexing her hand, Adora sent a glare at Glimmer that sent chills down the young Queen’s spine. “You don’t get to lecture me. Not when you have no clue who I was before I came here. You never even made the effort. And now you don’t get to condemn me after one mistake when all I have ever tried to do for everyone was what I thought was right.”

Glimmer wished she could see it that way. She wished forgiveness was a virtue that could come easier to her. Part of her couldn’t help but wonder how her mom would have reacted to all of this. Probably better.

“Maybe you had good intentions,” Glimmer started, a little more restrained but not by much, “But that doesn’t change what happened today. We can’t make mistakes like this. Tell me the truth. Did it really never occur to you that Catra would do this?”

Adora knew what the true answer was but at this point Bow stepped in again. “You can’t fault Adora for wanting her back, Glimmer. We would have done the same for each other. Catra was hurt, like dying hurt. And, I don’t know, if you came to me asking for help, I think I’d take you in no matter who’s side we were on. What if she just-”

“How do you even know all of this?” Glimmer cut him off. “About Catra.”

Bow turned nervously to Adora, who shook her head no, before admitting, “I found out yesterday.”

And just like that, whatever hope there was of getting through to Glimmer was lost. “You too?!”

“I saw them together but Glimmer, if you had seen Catra-”

“You knew and you didn’t-”

“Let me talk!” Bow raised his voice uncharacteristically, hitting his limit too. It was as if there was an angry energy surrounding all of them, poking and prodding and bringing out the worst in them. “If you saw her, you’d see the difference. Catra seemed just like any one of us, not some Horde fanatic. And Adora…” He trailed off, growing quiet again. “I’d never seen her look like that.” It’s how I sometimes look at you, he wanted to add.

“They seemed happy, Glimmer. How was I supposed to take that away from them?” But if he had, this wouldn’t have happened, right? Because according to what he learned, he had made a mistake trusting either of them.

“That’s not good enough,” Glimmer sighed, running a hand through her hair and pulling a little. “You should have told me.” She turned back towards Adora who somehow managed to stand tall when really she wanted to shrink back with every word Glimmer threw at her. “You should have told me. I don’t care about why Catra was here or if you thought you were doing the right thing or any other excuses you two come up with. My home is destroyed! My mom…my mom’s gone…and it’s all because you-” She jabbed a finger at Adora, “-were too dumb to realize that people like Catra can’t change! Horde soldiers can’t be trusted!”

The anger was ebbing away, a boiling sea simmering on the horizon, promising in anticipation a tidal wave to come.

“I came from the Horde,” Adora offered stiffly. “You were able to trust me. Why did I get to be different?”

Glimmer seemed taken aback by the question. Fumbling for her words, she finally sputtered out an indignant, “Trust you? How am I supposed to ever trust you again after this?”

And maybe she didn’t really mean it, maybe she would regret it later, but Glimmer was exhausted and she didn’t have any room for anything else besides her grief. “Why don’t we be honest with ourselves for once, Adora. The only reason we ever trusted you in the first place was because of She-Ra. Without that stupid sword, you never would have been worth the trouble. The truth is, things would have been so much better if you never came to Brightmoon!”

Adora wished she could have been surprised but there wasn’t a single lie in the world that she could have told to convince herself that wasn’t something she didn’t already know.

“Glimmer.” Bow gave his friend a scolding look. At least he seemed shocked, if not horrified. Was he angry? Yes. At Adora? Yes, he was. But he wasn’t angry enough to think she deserved that.

Glimmer knew Adora didn’t deserve that. There would come a time, not even that far in the future, when she would go looking for Adora to apologize but in the heat of the moment, she couldn’t even look at Adora, let alone take what she said back.

Storming away, Glimmer was headed to the runestone. It was the only place in the castle that was left unmarred.

The rational side of Adora told her to go after Glimmer. To finish the conversation with a level head. To fix the mess she made.

But you were never that good at fixing anything, were you? How utterly useless.

Bow let out a deep breath, feeling frustrated tears sting his eyes. He didn’t understand how Glimmer could be that cruel and he didn’t understand when Adora had gotten so quick to anger or how she could have been so willingly ignorant – or how he had gotten caught in the middle.

“Bow.” Adora stepped forward. She sounded scared when she asked, “What am I supposed to do?”

She asked but Bow wasn’t standing in front of her anymore. He was sitting in an alliance meeting, watching his two best friends exchange passive-aggressive remarks at each other. He was sitting on a window ledge and the world was giving way beneath him. He was dangling over a dark forest and Adora was hesitating to pull him back up.

“I think you’ve done enough for now,” He croaked out because he didn’t have the mental wherewithal for anything else. Hopefully she’d get the implied message: we all need some time to cool off, go get your wounds checked out, we’ll figure it out later. That’s what he meant.

That’s not what Adora heard when there was a much more resilient, much more insistent voice in her head shouting over everything.

You can fix this. It’s not too late. Do you believe me?

Adora wasn’t sure why she went back into the tent, or what was still standing that is. Privacy? It’s not like she was alone (You trust me, don’t you?). Her sword was still lying by the entrance but Adora walked past it. Instead, she stood in front of the torn exit, running her fingers along the claw marks.

It terrified her. Whatever this voice was. That wasn’t a lie. She wasn’t sure if she was losing her mind or if she was just giving her subconscious too much credit, but as Adora gazed out at the dark tree line and at the sinking sun, she was willing to hold onto whatever hope she was promised. Real or not. Lie or not.

You can fix it all, Adora.

Something was calling Adora into the woods, into the darkness, and as her feet pushed herself forward, moving as though they had a mind of their own, she didn’t care if this was the right thing to do or not. She just wanted to fix this.

Let me show you how.

Chapter Text

If it weren’t for all of the noise around her, Catra would have thought she was back in Brightmoon in those groggy few seconds upon waking up, when her mind hadn’t yet caught up to her surroundings, thoughts thick with the fog of sleep.

She was lying on something soft and the morning light was just barely creeping in, warm sunbeams falling across the thin blanket draped over her chest. It could have been a morning like any other if Catra didn’t know any better. She could open her eyes to see Adora drooling in her sleep beside her, or maybe the other girl was already up, waiting at the table in the corner with breakfast.

“If this is your way of saying sorry for starving me earlier-”

“That’s not what this is about!” Adora defended herself but her voice pitched higher, a dead giveaway, and the nervous laugh that followed didn’t help her point either.

Catra rolled off of the bed and made her way over to sit in the chair across from Adora, that teasing grin on her lips. “I just don’t see why you have to wait for me to get up so you can eat your own breakfast.”

“You know, not everything is about you.” Adora rolled her eyes. “Maybe I’m just not hungry yet.”

Catra smiled knowingly before swiping some fruit from Adora’s plate. Before Adora could protest, Catra already was saying in her most innocent voice possible, “What? You said you weren’t hungry.”

That same day, Adora had gone to a meeting with the Princess Alliance to discuss an outpost that the Horde had recently taken occupation of after the Battle of Brightmoon, some tower overlooking a strategic pass.

They didn’t let She-Ra go and Adora had mentioned it offhandedly in her frustration when she got back to the room. Not giving it much thought, Catra had sent a heads up to her old squad. Scorpia mentioned a rebellion defeat a few days later.

Of course Catra would only think about that now of all times, when she wasn’t even sure where she was or how she got there or who was banging all of those pots together so loudly so early in the morning.

With a deep groan, Catra tried to stretch but found any movement whatsoever sent sharp pains all throughout her right side. A pathetic yelp slipped past her and she had to ball up her fists in the blanket to keep her claws from sinking into the offending leg.

Catra’s vision was slow to focus, both from the waves of pain and from the aftermath of passing out. It was hard to tell how long she had actually been asleep.

Whoever was in the kitchen clearly had no intention of letting her sleep any longer. As the blurriness waned, Catra could make out a figure moving hastily around, grabbing a jar of something here and a spoon to throw there. Another figure, one much larger, was standing in the doorway.

Instinctively, Catra let a low growl build up in her throat. She wasn’t exactly the shining image of a threat at the moment but she had to at least put up a fight to these…kidnappers? Is that what happened?

“Oh good, you’re awake!” A familiar voice said, still far too loud in Catra’s opinion. And that voice…her hair rose as she realized exactly who it belonged to.

The figure in the doorway was, in reality, only halfway in the small hut, seeing as the rest of him couldn’t fit. Just the annoying half was visible, glorious mane rippling in the morning light. He was smiling, which Catra didn’t think horses should be capable of doing, as he stared eagerly at the waking girl.

“Swift Wind?” Catra groaned, holding her forehead as the throbbing pain behind her eyes worsened.

“That’s me!” The horse confirmed, as though there were any other talking horses around that Catra could have mistaken him for. “Once again, I have come to render aid to the fair citizens of Etheria who need me! Rest assured-”

“Stop…stop talking.”

Through her fingers, she looked at the horse with narrowed eyes before glancing back to the other person in the room. The small woman had apparently found what she was looking for in the cabinets, carrying over a saucepan bigger than her head over to a small oven.

Getting a better look at the place, Catra realized she was in a small hut. It was cozy, not too cramped, and had only natural lighting. She was lying on a cot pushed to the back of the hut while the woman worked in the kitchen area. The ‘door’ Swift Wind stood in was actually just a curtain that draped around his shoulders as he observed. Just outside the windows, Catra could see trees. They must have been somewhere deep in the forest.

“What is this place?” Catra asked, voice going in and out. She winced at the way her throat ached when she spoke but she pressed forward, never one to let a little pain set her back. “And who’s the old hag?”

“Prickly as ever Hope, aren’t you dearie?” The woman cackled as if Catra hadn’t just insulted her but rather made a funny inside joke. “So busy, busy all the time for Madame Razz.”

“Razz….” Catra recognized the name, recalling a few times Adora had mentioned her. “You’re Razz?”

“Who else would I be?” Razz asked, mixing something together in the saucepan. “There is only one Madame Razz, or so I’ve been told. Just as there is only one Hope. You!”

“That’s not my-”

“Just go with it,” Swift Wind cut in. “She does this to Adora all the time. If you ask me,” He stuck his neck out more as if that actually got him any closer to Catra and stage whispered, “She’s a little crazy. One time she thought I was a dragon-”

The sound of a broom bopping against horse skull cut off the sentence. Catra wondered if she listened closely enough whether she’d hear the thud echo around in the space his brain should be.

“I think I like her,” Catra couldn’t help but mumble. She forced herself to hiss through the pain as she sat up successfully this time.

“You never come to visit me for tea,” Razz said as she poured something into a cup and waddled over to Catra. She held the cup out expectantly but Catra wrinkled her nose at it, not trusting this stranger in the slightest. “I tell her to invite you all the time but does she listen?”

“Yeah, I’m not drinking that.”

“It’ll make you feel better dearie,” Razz insisted, shoving the cup into Catra’s hands impatiently. “Drink, drink! It won’t fix everything, you made sure of that, but it'll ease the new aches.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Catra’s ears pressed back at the comment. She didn’t like the way this woman talked as if she already knew everything about her.

“The potion!” Razz tutted, seemingly annoyed that Catra wasn’t keeping up. “Mara worked so hard to get it for you too. Ah, but I don’t blame you for not trusting magic. Mara struggled with it too, still does.”

A crestfallen expression fell over Razz’s face and for just a moment she stopped moving. Catra ignored that, thinking instead about the potion. A quick scan of the room told her that her bag wasn’t with her and the realization hit that she lost it in the blast. That stupid potion was probably long gone now.

The drink in her hands was waiting for her untouched. With a tentative sniff, Catra could guess this was probably magic too and, despite hating how Razz knew it, she really didn’t trust magic. Not after all the trouble it’s given her. Magic usually meant pain in her experience.

Razz must’ve sensed her discomfort because she brightened up and began urging Catra to drink the tea again. “You’ll need your strength for later dear, do drink up.”

“What’s it supposed to do?”

“Heal you! I already said that…I think I did anyway. But it’ll only heal the recent injuries. I’m afraid it’s much too late for your leg-“

“My leg is fine,” Catra snapped, but who was she kidding? Naturally she had been concerned when her recovery progress began to plateau weeks ago. She could walk for the most part but the pain was always there, like it hadn’t healed quite right. What other reason would she need the staff still, after months? It bothered her, of course it did, but she’d never let herself even consider permanent damage as an option. She had to heal so she could-

So she could go back to the Horde? That had been the original plan. To stay with Adora until she could return because the Horde was never going to patiently help her recover. Because…because Adora had always been the one to take care of her, had been the only comforting touch she’d known, who’d dropped everything the moment Catra came to her.

And now it was all gone.

Razz felt more like a poor substitute to what Adora had given her. The woman cared enough to not leave her for dead in the woods at least, but she didn’t even call Catra by the right name. This hardly seemed to count.

With a sigh, Catra set the tea aside, not bothering to even take a sip. If it was supposed to heal her, then she didn’t want it. She deserved every ounce of agony to make up for what she should have been feeling the whole time in Brightmoon but never did.

For every second Adora had eased her pain, Catra wanted to hurt.

•••••

Traveling through the forest, Adora didn’t make a sound. She didn’t need to be stealthy because she was already miles away from Brightmoon after walking all night. Still, it felt better hiding in the silence.

Adora stepped heel to toe, the brush barely disturbed as she avoided any twigs to snap or leaves to crush. She stuck to the thicker parts of the trees, avoiding obvious pathways.

There was no clear destination in mind. Adora merely wandered the shifting woods, letting the forest take her where she needed to be: far, far away from Brightmoon.

She had no intention of returning to the princesses without results. As far as Adora was concerned, there was no rebellion, no missions, not even She-Ra to give her a sense of direction.

The sword she’d left behind was her goodbye note. An ‘I’ll be back for this but there’s something I need to do first.’ Adora was firm in her resolution to fix this mess she’d made and she didn’t want it to be because of some mystical destiny or a magical goddess holding her hand.

This was something Adora needed to do on her own, as herself. She needed to prove that she could do this, that she was worth something at the end of the day, that She-Ra didn’t make a mistake when choosing her as her champion.

Adora had considered visiting the Crystal Castle, but that would be the first place the princesses would look and Light Hope would only push for her to use the sword. That was out of the question.

Had she thought this out? Maybe not as much as she should’ve. She didn’t have any supplies with her, just the clothes on her back, her knife, and a tug in her gut pulling her deeper into the heart of the forest.

It wasn’t much to go off of but it’s also not like Adora couldn’t fend for herself if she needed to. Horde training had taught her how to survive off the land if need be so she wouldn’t have a problem camping out in the woods for a while.

There wasn’t time to pitch a tent though. No time to rest or hunt for food — she needed answers and the voice in her head was making promises, urging her to keep moving. Despite the ache in her legs and how she longed to rest her eyes, she couldn’t stop.

The voice…whatever it was, she’d stopped fighting it. Already it was hard enough to distinguish her own thoughts from this otherness that was dragging her deeper down with each hushed word.

Maybe she was crazy. Maybe she’d hit a breaking point. Maybe it was her subconscious hitting an all-time low as her self-hate ran rampant. Maybe it was She-Ra. That’d be funny, right? Maybe, maybe, maybe, the forest had answers to all of her speculations.

Even the ones she chose not to consider, as each word seared into her head with burning familiarity, ushering with them images of red lightning and circling shadows.

•••••

Catra sat outside Razz’s hut, leaning against the wall underneath the window. Her claws were kneading the soft dirt below her anxiously and her tail kept twitching around, but otherwise Catra looked as though she was just lounging in the afternoon sun.

She couldn’t stand being in that hut for long, not with Razz constantly bugging her. Of course, the outside wasn’t much better, seeing as Swift Wind had made it his mission to ensure Catra didn’t get to enjoy any peace and quiet.

“Shouldn’t you be annoying someone else right now?”

“It’s been a stressful day!” Swift Wind defended himself. “I needed some time to regroup…and Razz always has the best apples, so y'know-“

Clearly he had missed Catra’s implicit message. Shouldn’t you be annoying Adora? He was her ‘noble steed’ as he liked to constantly remind people so why wasn’t he helping her.

“-and a horse can’t do a lot when it comes to rebuilding a castle. Which, ah, was an unfortunate turn of events that you probably don’t want to talk about but-“

As it turns out, the horse must take after Adora when it came to lying because Catra knew his excuses were just that: excuses, meant to cover up whatever he wasn’t telling Catra.

And she was not nearly interested enough to push.

Mostly.

Maybe a little, but not for his sake. More so for the person he supposedly had an emotional link to. If he could be so cheerful, what did that mean about Adora? Catra would be more offended if it wasn’t a clear front.

The horse was rambling to himself, pacing about the clearing, and his ears kept twitching up at random, like he was trying to listen for something. It made Catra try to listen too, not sure what she was supposed to hear though.

“So,” Swift Wind turned to her suddenly, “Are you going to stay with Razz then? Hey, if you do, maybe she’ll show you where she gets her apples from and you could-“

“I’m not staying. Thought that was obvious.”

“Why?” Swift Wind scoffed. “This place has everything.”

Everything except the one thing Catra wanted, she thought bitterly. She picked up one of the pebbles lodged in the dirt and flicked it in Swift Wind’s direction.

“I can’t stay here,” Catra clarified. With a raised eyebrow and a patronizing tone, she tensed as she asked, “You do realize what I did, right? I betrayed Adora’s trust. I destroyed Brightmoon. You shouldn’t even be talking to me.”

Swift Wind hummed for a moment before trotting over to Catra and plopping down in front of her, head much too close in her personal space, very much within clawing distance.

“Did you plant those bombs?”

“No! But I might as well have! The Horde was using me and my pin to get information this whole time. And even if they didn’t do all that behind my back, I still was spying on my own.”

Swift Wind didn’t seem impressed. “Okay. So when’s the last time you sent the Horde any useful information?”

“I told you, they were listening the whole-“

“Not what I asked,” Swift Wind pointed a hoof at her and she batted it away with a half-hearted hiss. “When did you last intentionally do anything to help the Horde?”

“I…” Catra trailed off, ears pressed flat against her head. “It’s…been a while, yeah, but that doesn’t matter. I’m no good, Swift Wind. I make…bad decisions and I hurt people and that’s how it’s always going to be. Adora hates me and she should.”

“Adora doesn’t hate you,” Swift Wind nudged her shoulder with his nose, to which she protested again but even weaker than before. “She cares about you a lot.”

“Cared.”

“Cares,” Swift Wind nudged her again. “Adora wouldn’t be this upset if she didn’t care about you.”

Catra softened a little at that. Quietly, she asked, “How bad is it?”

Swift Wind looked off in the distance, his horn glowing momentarily before blinking out. Ashamedly he admitted, “She’s blocking me out. It’s like everything’s gone dark. I can’t reach her.”

That would explain why he’s here. He’s looking for her. But surely he would have checked Brightmoon, he came from Brightmoon…so that meant Adora left?

Catra hated the part of her that dared to hope Adora was looking for her, and she snuffed the thought out as soon as it came to her.

Swift Wind and Catra shared a look, a common understanding. They were both worried.

And they had every right to be.

•••••

It wasn’t until the sun reached its peak high up in the sky, glaring down on the exposed and tarnished terrain, that anyone took notice of Adora’s absence.

Glimmer had been busy on her feet the whole morning. All the decisions came to her now as she shouldered the weight of a kingdom on the verge of collapse. People were scared and they needed her guidance, not seeming to realize Glimmer needed just as much help. She didn’t feel prepared for this and she certainly wasn’t used to the Q-word being thrown around so suddenly in reference to herself.

Everyone needed her so Glimmer found herself teleporting all over trying to keep track of it all. They needed to talk about the runestone, a coronation, relocation, retaliation. Half of her soldiers were demanding they set up defenses while the others wanted to storm down to the Fright Zone right then and there.

The other princesses had shown up after returning from their failed mission to Dryl. They stayed to offer their help but Glimmer could hardly begin to delegate an authority she barely understood the scope of. They offered their condolences, but aside from that they were all making themselves busy, whispering about what they think might have happened.

Bow tried to settle the rumors he heard but he suspected they wouldn’t go away until they all had an official meeting to discuss the day before’s events. He could barely wrap his own head around what happened, even when he knew most of the story.

He kept busy but out of Glimmer’s way. They hadn’t spoken since the three fought, mostly since he was avoiding both Glimmer and Adora, unaware that he only had to put the effort into half of that statement.

Frustration was a word. Disbelief was another. Disappointment felt too close to home.

He had to hear it from Perfuma, who heard it from Mermista, that Glimmer made the decision to relocate to Mystacor temporarily, at least until they could focus their resources on rebuilding the castle which wouldn’t be any time soon if they were being reasonable. Castaspella and Glimmer were already setting up an extra-reinforced protective barrier to cast over Brightmoon’s runestone, something to keep it safe while they were gone.

“Mystacor?” Bow had been helping move rubble out of the remains of the armory when Perfuma told him the news. He paused as he set aside a chunk of ceiling to look at the Princess. Cracking a small smile, he tried for an attempt at humor (that just came out bitter) when he said, “I would pack my things, but I don’t really have much left.”

Perfuma placed a hand on his shoulder, a sympathetic look on her face. “Oh Bow, I know this must be difficult. If you or the others ever need anything, Plumeria’s door is always open for you.”

His smile wavered and he looked away as he spoke softly, “Thank you Perfuma. I might have to take you up on that.”

Groups were gathering at the water’s edge while Glimmer teleported handfuls of people to Mystacor. She had sent Netossa and Spinnerella up ahead of her to help Castapella get the newfound refugees organized.

Perfuma and Bow were some of the last to meet by the water, meeting the other princess alliance members there as well. When Bow approached, he tried to ignore the hopeful look on Glimmer’s face. He still didn’t feel like talking.

Instead, the other princesses chatted amongst themselves as they gave Glimmer a much-needed momentary rest from teleporting, the group trying to decide when and where a formal meeting should take place when someone finally spoke up.

“Hey, has anyone seen Adora?”

It was Frosta who asked. Nobody knew about Adora’s involvement with what happened, but everyone noticed the way Glimmer and Bow’s expressions shifted at the question.

“Wait, she’s not here?” Glimmer asked, quickly looking around before teleporting away.

Bow fidgeted anxiously, also looking around. Now that he thought about it, he really hadn’t seen Adora all day. Which, given how they’d left things, really wasn’t good.

“What happened with you three anyways?” Mermista asked. “You and Glimmer have been acting, like, super weird.”

“And none of us have been able to find Adora to ask,” Perfuma chimed in quietly, trying to be polite but just as curious.

“That’s a…a long story,” Bow tried to seem calm but his agitation was clear as day. Adora missing was the last thing they needed.

As if on cue, Glimmer appeared back in the clearing, looking pale. Her knuckles were wrapped tight around the hilt of Adora’s sword.

“Adora’s gone. This is all she left.”

“Gone?” Bow asked as he stepped forward, silent treatment be damned. “How can you be sure?” Behind him, he could hear the confused mumblings of the others.

“I checked everywhere, Bow. She’s not here a-and no one has seen her since…since….” Keep it together, Glimmer told herself. She couldn’t fall apart now, not in front of the other princesses, not when they needed her to lead. So what if she hadn’t been able to process anything, if she had barely had a moment to think? There were bigger issues at hand and somehow, against all odds, Adora had become one of them.

Eyeing the sword, Bow had a number of theories running through his head on where she could have gone, each worse than the other. Hoping it wouldn’t confirm his suspicions, he asked with growing dread, “Where’d you find it?“

Glimmer looked him in the eyes. If those eyes were the windows to the soul then Bow could see clear as day the emotional turmoil waging war in his friend’s head. “The tent.”

It was all the context the two needed.

“She couldn’t have just left.” Bow shook his head, trying not to jump to conclusions. “There…there has to be a reasonable explanation.”

“I can explain it to you,” Glimmer tossed the sword on the ground. “Adora ran away. She couldn’t handle what happened so she said screw She-Ra and screw us.”

“That doesn’t sound like Adora,” Perfuma frowned. “And it doesn’t sound like either of you are coming from a place of emotional balance. Perhaps if you told us what happened-”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Glimmer muttered before addressing the group. “You guys really want to know so badly?”

“Uh yeah, that was kinda obvious,” Mermista answered the clearly rhetorical question.

“Glimmer,” Bow warned, immediately pulling her aside. “You need to be careful about this.”

“What Bow? Shouldn’t they know the truth?” Glimmer didn’t bother keeping her voice down, so there goes their private conversation.

“Seriously?” Bow snapped back. “We’re doing this again? I know you’re angry but you should at least let Adora explain her side to them.”

“Maybe that’d be possible if she were here right now but that’s not the case, is it?”

Bow let out a frustrated groan. “Why are you being so stubborn?!”

“Why are you being so naive?!”

“Are you two, like, legit fighting right now?” Mermista broke into what would’ve likely turned into another shouting match.

“Adora was hiding a spy in Brightmoon,” Glimmer blurted out. “And Bow knew about it.”

“For less than a day!” Bow threw his hands up in defeat. “Adora told me she was going to tell you eventually!”

“She had three months to say something!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Frosta butted in between them to address Glimmer. “Did Adora betray us?” She gasped suddenly. “Did she go back to the Horde? Is that why she’s missing?”

“No, that’s not-“ Glimmer took a deep breath before clarifying, “Adora wasn’t trying to hurt anyone on purpose. She just made a really stupid, selfish mistake.”

“That’s a new one,” Mermista shrugged before mumbling to herself, “I kinda respect it.”

“Should we be looking for Adora?” Perfuma asked. “She can’t be that far. Perhaps if all three of you had a meaningful conversation-“

“I think we’re past that,” Glimmer said. Even Bow had to agree he wasn’t looking forward to a repeat of yesterday, even if he understood how desperately they needed to talk things out.

“So what about the spy then?” Mermista asked, “They aren’t still here, are they?”

“No. Catra’s probably already run back to the Horde now that she’s had her fun blowing everything up,” Glimmer crossed her arms, the energy around her bristling as she thought about how badly she wanted to get back at her.

“Catra?!” Frosta summoned an ice gauntlet. “Why didn’t you say it was that no-good party crasher? When I get my hands on her, I’ll-“

As Frosta listed off the many…interesting ways she wanted to fight Catra (one which involved ironically a flamethrower of all things, ‘you’re like an ice princess and twelve, why would that be a good idea?’), Glimmer and Bow shared a look. They seemed to at least agree on one thing.

It wasn’t their place to reveal the true nature of Catra and Adora’s relationship, no matter how angry they were with the both of them. There was something untouchable about it, something sacred that even they knew was none of the Alliance’s business.

With the realization that Mystacor would have to wait a few more minutes, the princesses sat down on the ground and had their meeting right there. Bow and Glimmer took turns telling the story and trying to stay civil, while still filling in what they could of Adora’s side. By the time they finished talking, the sun was already beginning to dip back down in the sky.

They agreed to send search parties out the next day throughout each kingdom’s territories, using what was left of the current day to get some rest. Finding Adora would have to be a priority over any retributive action. They needed She-Ra if they wanted any chance against the Horde after all.

And, even if Glimmer didn’t admit it, she wanted to talk to Adora. To apologize for being so rash and to listen to what she had to say with a more open mind this time around.

When the other princesses were finally satisfied they’d heard enough, Glimmer teleported them back to their respective kingdoms, thanking them once more for their help. When she teleported back to Brightmoon, she wouldn’t have known Bow moved from where he sat if it weren’t for the sword he now had lying in his lap.

Biting her lip anxiously, Glimmer hoped he’d break the silence but he didn’t. Giving in, she asked, “Are you…coming to Mystacor?”

He seemed surprised by the question. Frowning, he said, “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just…” Glimmer’s voice wavered. “I’d understand if you don’t want to be around me right now.” Laughing humorlessly, she admitted, “I don’t think I’d want to be around me. I’ve been terrible…”

“Yeah, you have,” Bow nodded before standing up. “But we all haven’t been our best selves lately.” Hesitantly, he reached a hand out. Glimmer silently took his hand, guiding it to her shoulder where she held it there, fighting back the tears building up in her eyes,

“I know you’re going through a lot right now but so is she,” Bow started, something stern but comforting in his words. “Believe me, I know that it’s hard to see her side of things. When I first found out…I’m not proud of how I reacted. But you have to understand, she didn’t want any of this to happen.”

“I know,” Glimmer whispered. “I just…wish I wasn’t angry at her. I don’t want to be angry at anyone. I’m…so lost Bow. I-I felt her slipping away from us and I tried to do what I thought was best…we’re her friends. She could’ve told us about Catra, about how she felt. If we’d known, we could have helped her.”

“I wish she’d told us too,” Bow nodded. “A lot of this could’ve been avoided, but I don’t blame her for not trusting us with something like that. Sometimes I forget she wasn’t always here, in Brightmoon. And if she was already feeling left out with her injuries…I think Catra gave her the comfort we couldn’t.”

Glimmer wished she’d never put Adora in that situation, where she felt like she couldn’t come to them. She’d failed her friend in that way, and now that same friend was missing, alone and hurting.

“We’ll find her, right?” Glimmer asked unsurely.

Bow was quiet for a while and he wasn’t sure if he believed his answer when he pulled Glimmer in for a hug and promised, “We’ll find her.”

•••••

(The red jacket rested on Razz’s cot, untouched since the morning when Catra had hurriedly shrugged it off as soon as she had realized, in the chaos of the day before, that she was still wearing it – despite the thin layer of ash coating the leather and the stray fur that now lined the inside, it still smelled like Adora.)

•••••

Things had been wrong in Brightmoon for a very, very long time. Long before the battle and the bloodshed, the betrayals and the letting go.

It started with a shadow slipping down a corridor into a spare room that no one paid enough attention to.

It ended with the world set on fire.

Unlike some people, Shadow Weaver kept her promises (or, the ones that benefitted her, that is). She had warned Adora almost three months ago to the date of what the future held, but did her star pupil listen? Of course not.

"This will be the last time I speak to you while you're still...hm, what's the word? Whole. The next time we meet, you will be broken and it will be me who shall fix you."

Letting Adora play out her silly little fantasies had been excruciating to watch, but it was necessary. Catra, the foolish girl, was always going to break her heart one way or another. Shadow Weaver had raised Catra after all and, despite being a nuisance, she was at minimum consistent.

"Look where you are," Shadow Weaver motioned to her surroundings. "You're in the heart of Brightmoon. Take a moment to imagine what you could learn while you're here. Imagine the plans you could uncover and how pleased Hordak will be when you report every single detail right back to him. You'd be a hero to the Horde."

"And why would you want that? You have never given me a single thing in my life so why now?"

"Let's just say," Shadow Weaver traced a finger down one of the new scars on Catra's face, "I'm invested in your future."

Giving the spying idea to Catra had been the seed and the ruins of Brightmoon were the results of a garden well-tended to.

The deeper Adora went into the forest, the more excited Shadow Weaver grew. Finally, the long game was coming to a close. Everything she had worked towards was now within reach.

She was waiting for the right moment to strike. Not daring to get too close, Shadow Weaver followed in Adora’s footsteps a few meters behind her. If the blonde disappeared out of sight, it didn’t matter. Shadow Weaver could always find her, not just because of the shadow spies she sent up ahead, but also because of her best idea yet which was currently hanging off of Adora’s belt.

Unseen to anyone except the sorcerer was a red hue around the hilt, the result of a spell Shadow Weaver had cast on the knife the same day she gave it to Catra. The longer Adora festered in her anger, the brighter the hue glowed.

Right then, the hue was bright enough to paint the whole sky crimson, putting the setting sun to shame.

•••••

The only explanation Catra had was that she had lost her mind and was hallucinating somewhere in a Brightmoon prison cell. That made much more sense than her sitting at Razz’s dining table, warm soup in front of her as the woman shared her best broom sweeping tips.

The only thing Catra intended to use a broom for was as a walking stick (she may as well call it what it was) to take her as far away from the hut as possible, but Razz seemed to have a sixth sense for whenever Catra dared to even look at ‘Broom.’

Razz’s naming skills clearly needed some work.

Logically, if Catra left now that night had fallen, she wouldn’t make it to morning. Not that Catra felt particularly self-preservational as of late. But this whole ‘tortured exile’ thing did feel like the icing on the cake for her pity party.

“Hey Razz,” Catra interrupted Razz’s lecture. She wasn’t sure where her sudden urge for small talk came from. Her tail twitched unsurely as she fiddled with the spoon in front of her, which she’d yet to use for its actual function. “When did you first meet Adora?”

“I’ve always known her,” Razz answered confidently.

“You couldn’t have- there had to be a first time,” Catra pushed.

“Hm,” Razz frowned at the thought, then looked around as if she’d forgotten where she was. “Oh, don’t mind old Madame Razz. Everything gets jumbled up when you’re older. Let’s see, Mara and I met…it was…”

“I’m not talking about Mara,” Catra had to say for the hundredth time. “I don’t even know who Mara is!”

“Of course you do. You two are always spending time together,” Razz fussed at Catra, tapping her spoon expectantly. Huffing, Catra took a bit of her soup and Razz seemed satisfied when the girl’s eyes widened slightly before taking another bite. “You and her are always in that castle, doing who knows what all day.”

Catra, through her mouthfuls of the most delicious soup she’d ever tasted, fumbled for her words, “Did she tell you that or-“

“I told my Mara I wasn’t so sure about you. I said to watch out for that Light Hope, she’s trouble. But Mara always had a soft spot for her Hope.”

Right, Catra deflated a bit. She didn’t know why she thought she’d get a real answer.

“I suppose Hope did care for Mara in the end,” Razz muttered, sounding oddly somber.

“And how…how did it end?” Catra didn’t know why she asked. She wasn’t Light Hope (wasn’t that the weird robot thing?) and Adora wasn’t Mara (whoever that was supposed to be). But somehow, this felt important.

“Hope tried,” Razz nodded, gaze drifting off in the distance again. “Oh, she tried to fight it for my Mara. But the shadows got her in the end.”

Catra choked on her bite, coughing as she looked at Razz with fur standing on end. “Wh-what did you just say?”

“The shadows,” Razz repeated. “They surrounded Hope and led her astray. They surround Mara too now.”

Razz had been cryptic all day and yet, for some reason, Catra hadn’t a single doubt in her mind what Razz was referring to behind the weird allegories. Standing up, having to lean on the table to keep her balance, she dug her claws into the wood.

“Mara or Adora? Which one, give me a real answer lady!”

Razz gave Catra a sad look, shaking her head. Whatever focus was there was slipping away. Her mind muddled over darkness and shadows, because Hope never stood a chance against her programming and Mara never made it home for pie and-

“That reminds me. Would you like some pie, Hope dear?” Razz asked dazedly, oblivious to the conversation they were just having. A small smile cracked on her dry lips as she hobbled over to the oven. “I was just making Mara’s favorite.”

Catra fought back a scream of frustration, giving up on the woman. Instead, she turned and stumbled over towards the cot, nearly falling but catching herself on the bedside table. There, she chugged the now ice-cold tea.

A rush of adrenaline sparked along her body, followed by a soothing warm feeling flowing from her stomach all the way through the rest of her. In a matter of seconds, she felt refreshed, muscles no longer aching. Unsteadily, she could stand on her own two feet without the fear of collapse, though as Razz had warned her, she still limped when she moved to the other end of the cot.

Eyeing the red jacket, Catra took it in her hands carefully, as though it would break from her touch. She’d keep it safe until she could return it, she resolved before making her way to the door.

“Where are you going?” Razz asked. “I only just got the pie out of the oven.”

“Sorry but no pies today,” Catra leaned against the door frame, sucking in a breath before shouting, “SWIFT WIND!”

“I’m here!” Swift Wind popped up at Catra’s right, startling her. He had been sitting under the window the whole time, apparently.

“What the- have you not left yet?!” Catra hissed, smoothing down her fur.

“Do you…want me to leave?”

“No! I mean, yes-” Catra growled, motioning for the horse to lean down. “-With me. I need you to take me somewhere. Adora needs our help.”

“Our help?”

“Yeah, yeah, listen I can’t do this alone,” Catra admitted begrudgingly. “Shadow Weaver is up to something and Adora is in danger and as much as I’d love to claw her face off, I’m a bit handicapped at the moment. So yes, I’m taking all the help I can get.”

“But I already told you,” He kicked his hooves nervously against the ground, “I don’t know where Adora is.”

“Then we find the next best thing,” Catra sat herself on Swift Wind’s back, carefully grabbing a fistful of his hair with one hand as she braced herself for takeoff. She clutched the jacket to her chest with the other. “We go to the only other person I know who’ll want to tear Shadow Weaver apart as badly as I do and who actually has the means to do it.”

Swift Wind, clearly not getting it, whinnied his confusion. Catra rolled her eyes, a borderline manic grin on her face.

“Take me to Sparkles.”

•••••

Not even Adora could run forever, though it wasn’t exhaustion that finally brought her to a standstill, heels dug into the soft ground of the clearing, a small circle of open space framed by some of the tallest trees in the forest. The leaves blocked out almost all of the light of the moons.

By all means, it should have been exhaustion. Forty-one hours had passed since the last time Adora slept, even longer since she’d last ate, and that didn’t even account for the emotional exhaustion but none of it had hit her yet.

Instead, Adora stopped in the center of the clearing as if the planet itself had stopped turning. The world held its breath as Adora stilled, waiting, waiting as the pressure built until finally an enraged scream filled the air.

As much as they joked about it, Adora truly was the ‘punch your feelings out’ type and it held true here as her hands bunched into fists. Wood splintered around her as she smashed any tree trunk in reach to a pulp. The blood trickling in between her knuckles felt right and she may have cracked a tooth with how tight her jaw was tensed.

Use your anger. You are better for it.

The voice wasn’t necessarily wrong, Instead of draining the energy out of her, the punches were only giving her more of a rush. Each hit, she felt stronger, not weaker despite the mess she was making of herself.

When she finished, she wiped her hands on her white shirt that was now as red as the jacket she’d left behind along with everything else she’d ever known.

“Are you done with your little tantrum?”

But as soon as Adora stopped, she paid the price for it. The anger was replaced with sorrow and Adora sank to her knees as the sobs shook her body. She was the image of defeat, slumped with her forehead against the tree, back exposed, as she wept openly.

“You aren’t really going to sit there sniveling all day, are you?”

“Shut up,” Adora whispered to herself.

“That’s no way to talk to a superior officer,” Shadow Weaver tutted. When Adora didn’t respond, she grabbed the former cadet by the shoulder, yanking her back. Only then did Adora startle, eyes growing wide as she realized who was standing over her.

With a wicked, knowing smile, Shadow Weaver hummed, “You didn’t seem surprised to see me.”

It was a half-truth of course. Clearly, by the way Adora scrambled away from her, fighting back the way her bloody palms trembled, Adora was very surprised to see her old mentor.

But Adora hadn’t been surprised by Shadow Weaver’s words. She hadn’t even realized they were coming from behind her and not inside her own head. It was like remembering a dream that had been forgotten in the haze of morning, only for it to come to clarity at random later on. The voice – it had always been someone else’s.

“It’s you,” Adora blinked away the fresh tears in her eyes, forcing herself to her feet. “You’ve been following me, telling me things,” Her voice cracked as she stepped forward. “All these awful things.”

“I was only ever helping you Adora.”

“I thought I was losing my mind!” Adora snarled, pushing Shadow Weaver roughly away, ignoring the way her hands jolted with a sharp spark at the touch.

Who’s to say you aren’t?

“Stop doing that!” Adora’s breath became ragged as she reached for her knife, pointing it threateningly at her old mentor.

“It was a necessary ruse to push you in the right direction,” Shadow Weaver answered calmly, not batting an eye at the weapon. “I only ever offered my encourageme-“

Not waiting for her to finish that sentence, Adora lunged forward with the dagger but she only managed to swipe at nothing as Shadow Weaver dissolved in the shadows and reformed off to the side.

“If you would like to talk like adults-“

“I am done talking!” Adora attacked again, all offense. With every lunge, she felt that renewed vigor, and with each of Shadow Weaver’s side steps, her anger burned brighter. “I am going- to end this- right now!”

“Do you honestly think you could kill me Adora?” A low laugh filled the clearing from all directions.

“You tried to kill Catra.” Another clumsy swing, a stumble. “Queen Angela is dead. This- is all- your fault!”

“Well you certainly won’t be avenging anyone like that,” Shadow Weaver said tiredly. She disappeared again into the shadows, this time reappearing much farther away, forcing Adora to take a second. “I taught you better than this. What kind of footing is that? Use your proper stance.”

As much as Adora would just love to continue her slashing, she did as she was told- not because Shadow Weaver suggested it but because it actually would help. Sprinting forwards, she tried to focus on controlled attacks as opposed to blind fits of rage.

See how that’s better?

“The only thing you taught me,” Adora grunted, satisfied when her blade clipped some of Shadow Weaver’s cloak, “Was that I was worthless- unless I was helping you!”

The sorcerer was forced to start defending more than before, now that Adora was more focused. The clearing grew darker and as the two circled one another, Adora barely made out the source of the darkness. All around them were what resembled inky black specters, shadow spies watching the battle hungrily.

It was far more powerful magic than Adora had ever seen the woman use. Where she was getting this power from, Adora hadn’t a clue but she didn’t like the idea that, at any moment, the shadows could leap into the fray, consuming her with ease. Last time they had fought, Adora had She-Ra’s magic on her side but now all she had was herself.

“If you’re looking for an apology,” Shadow Weaver threw her hand up, blocking another attack but she was slower than when she started, “I have no interest in giving one.”

“The only thing I want,” Adora faked a stab and threw a punch instead, catching the woman off guard when her fist slammed into her side. “Is for you to leave me-” She followed the move with a real slash, cutting Shadow Weaver’s upper arm, “-the fuck alone!”

Shadow Weaver looked at the cut with mild surprise but didn’t let it stun her for long. For the first time that night she cast an offensive spell. Without access to the Black Garnet, she was low on any electrical spells but the magic she’d leeched from Brightmoon was sufficient enough to send a decent shock Adora’s way.

“Alone, Adora?” The woman asked in a patronizing tone. “Is that how you think this works?”

Not expecting the move, Adora gasped as the spell hit her fully in the chest, taking the breath out of her lungs for a moment. Retching for air, she stumbled forwards still with violent intent.

“Do you think you’ll waltz into the Horde all on your lonesome and defeat the Horde single-handedly?” Shadow Weaver leaned away from one of Adora’s stabs, grabbing the attacking wrist. “Do you think you have that power?”

With a pained grunt, Adora released the knife in her hand, catching it as it fell and driving it up into Shadow Weaver’s stomach.

For a moment Adora’s eyes blazed with rage before, slowly, she realized what happened as the two stayed stock-still. Shadow Weaver glanced down at the injury for a long moment before releasing Adora’s wrist. Then, she dissolved, the knife clattering to the ground.

Behind Adora, she could hear someone clapping. Swiveling on her heels, she saw Shadow Weaver standing there unbothered.

A shadow spy, Adora realized. She had only stabbed a shadow spy, a mere imitation of her mentor, not the real thing. Somehow, it made Adora feel simultaneously more and less sick to her stomach.

Tilting her head curiously, Shadow Weaver ceased clapping before reaching up and removing her mask. Her stare made Adora feel completely immobilized. The need to attack was gone, replaced with a hollow feeling that had been plaguing her for quite some time now.

There was a strange sense of pride in Shadow Weaver’s expression but it wasn’t warm.

“Do you want to know a secret, Adora?”

The world was quiet, waiting in anticipation for the answer.

Shadow Weaver glided towards Adora until she was close enough to pick up the forgotten dagger on the floor. She then grabbed Adora’s wrist, placing the blade’s hilt in her palm and forcing the fingers closed around it. Still gripping the wrist, Shadow Weaver held it to the girl’s chest before leaning in and whispering, “I know you could destroy the Horde with a snap of your fingers all on your own if you really wanted.”

That…wasn’t what Adora was expecting to hear.

“You have all of this raw power and yet you don’t use it,” Shadow Weaver continued ominously. “Just look around you.”

She motioned to the clearing. What trees were left standing were in bad shape but most had been reduced to splinters. Slash marks littered the area and the mud was riddled with footprints, a physical mark of the expert fighting Adora had performed only seconds earlier. Dripping down Shadow Weaver’s arm was blood, proof that at least one of Adora’s hits had landed.

“Do you see what can be done when you apply yourself? You were made for war, my dear. It's in your blood. Your power is your birthright and, frankly, you have done nothing but waste it so far.”

Shadow Weaver began to circle around Adora who listened in stunned silence.

“All that time with the rebellion. All that time with Catra. None of it has meant anything so long as the Horde still stands. None of this pain and fighting will ever be over until you have Lord Hordak at your feet. That time can come sooner than you think.”

“This is your plan?” Adora finally found her words. “You want me to march to the Horde and get myself killed?”

“I already told you, they stand no match against you. Of course, that is only if you are at your best.” At this, Shadow Weaver stopped circling, standing in front of Adora once more. “You aren’t there yet but that’s why I’m here. I can help you reach your full potential, Adora.”

Adora laughed instinctively at that, if mostly to break the tension. She figured Shadow Weaver had an angle but this was just ridiculous.

“Not ridiculous,” Shadow Weaver said. “But reality. You have a power unlike any being on this planet and yet you have only barely scratched the surface of your abilities.”

“I’m…I’m not interested in your help.” And still, Adora hadn’t walked away yet.

“You’re scared of your own strength,” Shadow Weaver translated for her. Adora opened her mouth to argue but wasn’t given the chance. “You cannot lie to me. I have spent much time in your mind and I have seen the way you cower from your own self. You have so much at your disposal but you’re afraid to use it.”

“That’s not…” Adora shook her head but she was having a hard time denying it to herself.

“You fear your power because you cannot control it, but believe it or not, I know what that feels like.” For the briefest moment, Adora saw something flicker behind Shadow Weaver’s eyes, something akin to…fear. The shadows seemed to draw closer, whispering. “I could teach you. I know you have questions and I have answers. With my guidance, you could destroy the Horde in one fell swoop.”

The offer was…tempting. But Adora liked to think she was better than that.

“Even if I believed you,” Adora looked around uneasily, “Why does any of this matter? I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t need to trust me,” Shadow Weaver shot back. “Just as your friends don’t need to trust you in order for this war to end.”

Adora gritted her teeth at the low blow but Shadow Weaver held up a placating hand.

“Easy there. I think I have made it clear I have no intentions of coddling you any longer. You make your own decisions, Adora, even when those decisions lead to destruction… betrayal… heartbreak…”

Adora deflated a bit at that. She’d left quite the mess behind her. There was still so much to fix.

“I won’t stand here and pretend I’m your friend. You’re not stupid enough for that and I’m not a fan of wasting time. You don’t need an ally right now. You need direction and control, that is what I am offering.”

“I…” Adora faltered. “I don’t…”

“My only interest, as should be yours, is ending this war.” She placed a hand on Adora’s cheek, who winced under the touch but didn’t back away. “Etheria doesn’t need a friend right now. It doesn’t need the head of a princess alliance or a force captain. It needs a savior. Now, Adora, are you going to pull yourself together and become one?”

Adora felt the darkness closing in around her as her heart thudded in her chest. None of this made sense and yet she’d found more clarity in Shadow Weaver’s words than anything else anyone had ever said when it came to destiny, power, purpose-

Then it clicked.

"Purpose," Adora mumbled. The word sat like cement in her stomach. "It was like I was trying to fulfill some purpose."

“Adora," Catra sat directly in front of her, that affectionate gleam in her eyes. "Look. I've known you my entire life. And I know that you are the most annoyingly goodhearted person I've ever met. So whatever bad side you think you might have, it's never going to outweigh all of the other stuff. Alright?"

“Why are you really doing this?” Adora whispered shakily. “Why bother training me to stop the Horde? Why make me more powerful?”

“Because.” Shadow Weaver ran her thumb along Adora’s cheek and looked her directly in the eyes. The shadows grew taller, clamoring about, almost shouting in their excitement. “Whether you believe me or not…it’s my purpose.”

Adora released the breath she was holding. She had no reason to trust what Shadow Weaver said but there was an undeniable weight to those words.

“Okay.” Adora swallowed, backing away from Shadow Weaver but only to put some space between them. “Where…where do we start?”

Shadow Weaver reigned in her gloating smirk, instead turning away as if looking off into the distance. “There is something we need to get that is currently located in Dryl.”

Nodding at that, Adora eyed Shadow Weaver carefully. “Fine. But if we’re doing this, then I have a few ground rules.”

“That is to be expected,” Shadow Weaver said coolly but there was a clear annoyance in her tone. “Very well…what are your conditions?”

“I get final say in anything we do,” Adora started. “That’s non-negotiable. You aren’t getting me to commit war crimes on your behalf.”

“I told you that my guidance-”

“Is just that. Guidance. But I make the decisions. Got it?”

“If it will put you at ease,” Shadow Weaver sighed, “Then it will have to do.”

So maybe Adora didn’t think Shadow Weaver would actually agree…but now with the confidence of her first demand being met, Adora kept going. “Second thing, no using magic on me. That whole voice thing? It stops now.”

Slowly, Shadow Weaver nodded once more. “I suppose that is only fair. Though, there isn’t much need to hex an ally of mine, is there?”

“You have literally been doing that this whole time but okay,” Adora grumbled. This time, she really fixed Shadow Weaver with a serious look, “And the last thing. The most important one, really.”

Shadow Weaver gave her a questioning look. “Well? Get on with it.”

“No hurting my friends,” Adora’s voice cracked at the last word. She tried not to imagine how they’d react to the term now if they could see what she was doing. The rebellion would never trust her again, but that was apparently already a bridge she’d burned according to Glimmer. And Catra…would Catra ever forgive her? Probably not.

“Us working together,” Adora clarified, “I’m doing this out of necessity. Not because of you. Whatever defeats the Horde the fastest, right? But my friends don’t get hurt as a result of all of this. That includes Catra.”

Shadow Weaver grimaced. If it were up to her, she would’ve disposed of the girl as soon as she served her purpose, but, then again, keeping her alive might have some value if the need ever arose. “Is that all?”

Adora tried to think of something else but she felt she’d covered her bases. “I…yes. Yes it is.”

“Then we have reached an agreement?” Shadow Weaver held out a hand.

If Adora took this deal, there was no turning back. But just like something had drawn her into the forest, something beyond her understanding was drawing her towards this woman.

Taking Shadow Weaver’s hand, she shook on it. “We have an agreement.”

As Shadow Weaver pulled away, Adora held onto the hand tighter, tugging her back. The knife in her other hand just barely poked enough at Shadow Weaver’s stomach so the blade broke skin, the same spot Adora had stabbed her shadow form.

“And Shadow Weaver?” Adora spoke lowly, “If you screw me over…I’ll kill you.”

Releasing the hand, Adora turned and walked away, muttering about how she was going to set up camp. Shadow Weaver was more than welcome to find her own shelter.

“Thank you,” Shadow Weaver said, still a little taken aback from Adora’s uncharacteristically dark promise, “But I have a few things to attend to first. I will return in the morning. We can depart for Dryl then.”

Before Adora could ask too many questions, Shadow Weaver faded away into the shadows, taking the darkness with her. Adora had to blink to adjust to the brightness of the clearing, as if the dim moonlight was blinding in comparison.

As Adora accustomed herself back to the light, she caught a glimpse of the last of the shades leaving the woods: two dark specters who seemed to watch her all the way until they floated out of sight.

Feeling unnerved, Adora tried not to linger on the question of how something with no eyes could watch her with such intensity.

•••••

Only until Shadow Weaver was certain that she was completely alone did she begin her nighty ritual.

Well, alone by the conventional meaning.

In reality Shadow Weaver, from the moment she cast the Spell of Obtainment, had never been alone.

Ever since the day Light Spinner let the shadows in, Shadow Weaver had known little peace. Power, to such a scale, all in the palm of her hand, came with a steep price.

“It is done,” She said out loud. Her voice was muffled by the mask she had reapplied.

Around her, the shadows whispered amongst themselves, but two stood out above the rest, hovering close to Shadow Weaver.

Shrugging off her cloak, Shadow Weaver examined the cut. Sighing, she focused on the beginning of a healing spell, working fast to weave in the air an intricate symbol. Still, she had exerted a lot of her magic recently, and the symbol flickered weakly, acting slow to close the wound.

“I did not let her get the best of me,” Shadow Weaver glanced at the shadows. “You cannot expect to walk away from a knife fight unwounded.” Frustrated that the spell wasn’t working, she waved the sigil away, laying back against the tree. “Besides, we have her right where we need her, rest assured…yes, I understand…”

Wrapping her cloak back around herself, Shadow Weaver closed her eyes, soaking in the many voices. And to think Adora couldn’t handle one?

“We will soon see the fruits of our labor. I promise you two that. Adora…she is special, as you told me all those years ago. After all this time, she is right where we need her to be.”

As Shadow Weaver sunk into a fitful sleep, she murmured with a slight tremor to her voice, “That won’t be necessary. You will see that I will not fail you. I swear it.”

Chapter Text

It was about time something worked in Adora’s favor, and though it was by no means a game changer, she would take the small victory — that victory being her realization that, thanks to the shifting nature of the Whispering Woods, just because it took her a full day to walk into the middle of the forest, it didn’t mean it would not take her a full day to walk out.

Perhaps the woods had kept her busy the other day on purpose. Or, what she considered more likely to be true, the woods simply didn’t want her and her… new associate… to stay for much longer.

Of course, magic couldn’t solve all of her problems, so that meant it would still take them a few hours to reach Dryl, meaning a few hours of quality time with none other than Shadow Weaver and no amount of good fortune was going to make Adora feel any better about that. Intentionally, she always stayed a few paces in front of Shadow Weaver, mostly because it made her feel assured that she was the one leading and not the other way around.

“I just don’t get why you can’t teleport us there,” Adora grumbled, not for the first time. She used her knife to slash away the intruding foliage in her path, finding the flash of gold to be satisfying in the early morning sun.

“Need I remind you that I am not one of your princesses,” Shadow Weaver said plainly, gliding effortlessly through the trail Adora made. “I do not have the ability to teleport.”

“Except, you do,” Adora shot the woman an incredulous look. “You do the…the thing with the shadows.” She waved her hand around in a claw, poorly mimicking the casting of a spell. “You pop up in different places. That’s teleporting.”

“That is not teleporting. That is shadow traveling. It is different.”

Adora was silent for all of half a minute before her dissatisfaction with the answer got the best of her. Impatiently, she broke the silence again, asking, “Okay, so what is shadow traveling then?”

Shadow Weaver let out a long, exasperated sigh and for a moment Adora winced before remembering she didn’t need her mentor’s approval anymore. Ex-mentor, she quickly corrected in her head. Ex-mentor…rehired?

“Shadow traveling is a highly advanced form of magic,” Shadow Weaver explained tiredly, like it was such an ordeal. “When casted properly, it allows for my physical form to momentarily mesh with the corporeal fabric of darkness so that I may fold in between the creases of reality. I may then move from one short distance to another through the darkness without interacting with the physical plane, in the same way one might observe a shadow passing harmlessly over the ground as its light source moves overhead.”

“Right…right,” Adora nodded. She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment before blurting out, “And that’s different from teleporting…how?”

“Are you going to insist on being this difficult for the entire duration of our journey?” Shadow Weaver snapped harshly.

Adora just shrugged off the non-answer, refusing to let the sharp words poke holes in her resolve. “I don’t know. You’ve been difficult for the entire duration of my life, so I think you can probably handle a few more minutes.”

As she said that, she chose to not slash away at the branch in front of her, moving it instead with her hand and letting it smack Shadow Weaver in the face as she let go. Trying not to laugh at the sound of Shadow Weaver’s sputtering behind her, Adora liked the adrenaline she got from those small rebellious acts.

For the first time, her and Shadow Weaver were essentially equals. There was no more worrying about negative performance reports or getting her rations cut. Adora, in her opinion, deserved to have a little fun. Besides, if she didn’t find the humor in all of this, she’d probably lose her mind.

Assuming she hadn’t lost it already, which seemed debatable considering she was walking through a known-to-be-deadly forest with the literal last person in Despondos that she ever thought she’d be working with on a mission to steal something from Dryl.

The closer they got to the kingdom in the mountains, the more unsure Adora felt. The last time she had been to Dryl, the experience had been…less than pleasant. The familiar thrum of anxiety made her breathing a little shorter than usual but she’d blame it on the hiking. She picked up the pace.

If her friends were with her, she could talk with them if only to take her mind off of it. Glimmer was awfully chatty once she got going and Bow always knew how to keep a conversation going. It would’ve been nice. Something to cut through the achingly painful silence.

The quiet was perfect for thinking and Adora didn’t want to think. She wanted to get her job done. Preferably while punching something.

It had been a long time since things were quiet too. She had gotten used to…having company, the last few months.

And, no, Adora wasn’t alone right then either but she certainly felt like it with the witch behind her rejecting all attempts at small talk. For a split second, Adora entertained the mental image of asking her about the weather, but her shoulders sank when she realized the person who’d find that funniest wasn’t there.

Try as she might, she just couldn’t keep her mind occupied. The more she tried not to think about her, the more she tried to come up with these bizarre distractions, which in turn made her think about Shadow Weaver. And the more she thought about Shadow Weaver, the more she questioned why she was with her and not in Brightmoon, and then she remembers there is no more Brightmoon thanks to her. And now she’s thinking about the Horde and her gut twists in anger as she wonders how she’s going to stop them and how they need to get to Dryl – she doesn’t know why – but if it means she can be useful and end this, and why did it have to be Dryl-

And now Adora was back where she started. Her jaw clenched at the mere thought of the disk. It…well, it wasn’t like she remembered much of it. Her mind had gone mostly blank once the sword was infected. It all would only come back in small fragments. Metal scraping across metal. Glimmer’s high-pitched scream followed by flashes of purples and pinks. The constant pulse of something under her skin, calling for her as red veins crawled up her arms and neck, pulsing with technology and magic. The eerie calm. The clarity.

There was no forgetting it. Not really. The disk was gone, Adora knew that, but…no, she had to be imagining it. The disk was broken, she saw it. Whatever it had done to her, whatever it connected with inside of her, was gone.

So why was it that, as much as she denied it, she swore she could hear the pulse still, growing louder with every step closer to Dryl?

“Adora,” Shadow Weaver said, inadvertently breaking her out of her spiral. “We should be only a half hour out now. Perhaps it would be a good time to discuss our plan once we reach the castle. Do you have any ideas?”

“Oh?” Adora looked back at the woman, admittedly surprised. Shadow Weaver was asking her? But then, of course she would! After all, Adora was in charge… right?

“You have experience within the walls of the Crypto Castle if I am not mistaken, yes? I take it you still know how to draw up a plan of attack. I’m well aware the princesses are more reckless with their missions but, must I remind you, we do not have margin for error here.”

The princesses. Like they were some far away entity and not Adora’s friends.

But Adora shook that thought out of her head. She didn’t need friends right now. What she needed was an end to this pointless fighting. It was time to put her skills to use and think like the master strategist she knew she could be. Countless hours puzzling over war games, scheduling extra drills — now was the time for all of that to actually mean something.

If they needed perfection, Adora could do that.

“The layout is difficult to navigate once inside, but if what we’re looking for is important, then I’ll bet it's guarded,” Adora brainstormed aloud. “So, the more deterrents we come across, the more likely we’re heading in the right direction.”

Shadow Weaver let out an approving hum and Adora caught her eye for a moment. Looking away just as quickly, Adora tried to stamp out the pride such a small gesture gave her.

“If we’re doing this, then it’ll get complicated fast,” Adora continued. “We should start with identifying our known threats. Entrapta’s security will be one thing, but if the Horde is occupying Dryl as well then we need to be prepared for it. Do we know how many soldiers are currently stationed there?”

“I sent my shadow spies ahead of us this morning,” Shadow Weaver answered. “The kingdom is mostly empty. From what I could tell, a majority of the Horde’s defenses were pulled for the Second Battle of Brightmoon.”

Adora tried not to show how much she bristled at such a casual mention.

Shadow Weaver continued, unperturbed, “There is only one major contender we need to worry about.”

“Just one?” Adora asked. “But who could they possibly trust enough to defend the castle all on their own?”

•••••

“Oh geez, oh no,” Scorpia paced around in one of the Crypto Castle’s ballrooms. “Oh, this is bad.”

She was currently trying to call someone – anyone – on her communicator but, well, they didn’t exactly make these tiny things with her big claws in mind. Lonnie wasn’t answering. Neither were Rogelio and Kyle. Entrapta’s voicemail was full. In a last-ditch effort, she even tried calling Catra but the signal wouldn’t go through.

When they got the alert to muster all available forces at Brightmoon, Scorpia wasn’t sure what to think of it. She’d sent the others ahead but now she was beginning to regret that decision. Were they okay? It’d been almost two whole days now and she still hadn’t gotten any updates.

She considered going back to the Fright Zone to figure out what happened but she couldn’t leave her post in Dryl abandoned. Hordak would not like that, no sir!

And she promised Entrapta she’d get all of her things for her. Which, you know, she didn’t realize would be so complicated, but it was a promise nonetheless.

It was just that the robots weren’t used to guests (intruders, as they kept beeping at her) and Scorpia couldn’t really reason with them when they were shooting lasers at her and her team. Not to mention the scare with the princesses. They had shown up not long after the all-hands muster and Scorpia was worried she’d have to fight all of them at once but luckily the robots did the trick taking care of them.

Unfortunately, if a whole team of angry princesses desperate for a win couldn’t handle these things then…yikes, yeah Scorpia wasn’t liking her odds.

So, that’s why she was hiding in the ballroom. While it might have seemed odd to take refuge in such an open space, Entrapta had ensured them that the robots rarely went there. Something about how, because no one really came to the castle in the first place, they weren’t programmed to roam the communal areas.

And- and she wasn’t hiding. Yeah, she was strategizing! Biding her time like the cool and collected Force Captain she was until inspiration struck. See, she could use her tail but…hm, no the robots aren’t going to be affected by venom. She’d already tried the brute force way but that wasn’t working either (she shivered as she remembered the flamethrower arm).

If she could just get some reinforcements — or, you know, talk to another living person — she’d be more than grateful.

Apparently, she needed to be more careful about what she wished for.

In the distance, she could vaguely hear the sounds of conflict: robotic beeps and firing shots mixed with…did she know those voices?

“You are really not helpful, you know that?” The first voice complained.

“I must save my magic for when it is absolutely necessary.”

“And this isn’t necessary?!” The shout was soon followed by a sharp yelp and the sound of something exploding.

Scorpia felt the aftershock rumble the room a little, but that wasn’t what made her duck for cover behind a nearby pillar. Her back pressed into the metal structure as she tried to calm her racing thoughts. She still couldn’t quite place that first voice but she knew the second one.

“Quick, in here!” There was the sound of heavy footsteps running into the room. Of course, there was only one set, Scorpia realized, only confirming her fears.

What is Shadow Weaver doing here? Scorpia asked herself. Last she heard of the witch, she’d escaped and done some pretty nasty stuff to Catra. Oh, Scorpia bristled, did that really make her want to give Shadow Weaver a piece of her mind!

“I think we lost them.”

“Yes, it does seem we have,” Shadow Weaver said, unimpressed. “What happened to moving toward the danger?”

Scorpia peaked around the pillar, eyes widening when she saw…Adora? The blonde was stretching, catching her breath as Shadow Weaver loomed over her. More alarmingly, the front of her usually white shirt was blotted with deep red stains. That- that wasn’t blood, was it?

“We’re making progress,” Adora retorted, grimacing when her back gave a satisfying pop. “Nothing wrong with taking a break before we’re murdered by those things. We can’t exactly make progress if we’re dead.”

Okay, this was just weird. Adora? Why would she be in Dryl? Where were the other princesses? And why did it seem like she was working with Shadow Weaver instead of, oh shucks, kicking the living daylights out of her?

Scorpia, in her confusion, was looking for too long because before she could pull away, Shadow Weaver caught her eye. Even behind the mask, she had the eerie sense that the woman was smiling.

“I think I’ll let you handle this one,” Shadow Weaver said, earning a look from Adora.

“Handle what-”

Well, now or never. Scorpia rushed at Adora, hoping what little advantage she had in a surprise attack would help her out. She tackled her and they both rolled on the ground for a moment before Scorpia came out on top, holding Adora down by the shoulders. Already, she raised her tail but Adora kicked up into her diaphragm, knocking the wind clean out of her. Her tail jabbed down with little coordination giving Adora an easy dodge.

Trying to maintain control, Scorpia forced Adora’s shoulders down further into the ground, ignoring the spasms above her abdomen making her struggle for air.

Adora, knowing she stood no chance at pushing Scorpia off of her, instead made a grab for the knife at her waist. With an angry growl, she held it blade down and slashed across Scorpia’s face who immediately jumped backwards away from her.

It wasn’t the deepest cut but it did slice right across her left cheek and over the bridge of her nose. Blood spurted out, dripping down her nose and mouth, only making it more difficult to breathe. Through the claw pressed to her face, she looked at Adora who seemed equally surprised.

The ex-Horde soldier looked down at her knife before shaking off the shock. Then, she turned to Shadow Weaver with a pointed glare, “You?!” She threw her arms up dramatically in a ‘what gives’ sort of way. “No help!”

“Well, if you insist,” Shadow Weaver taunted, not even watching the fight in front of her as she glided over to the abandoned bar.

“You know that’s not what I-” Adora didn’t finish her sentence as she had to dodge out of the way of Scorpia barreling towards her.

“What are you doing here, Princess?” Scorpia asked accusingly. Even with Adora’s side-step, she was still in reach when Scorpia swung an arm her way. Adora ducked into a roll, giving them both some distance.

“Oh, you know,” Adora bantered back, eyes scanning the room for ideas as she thought back to her training on what to do with a bigger opponent. “I thought I’d stop by and see an old friend. Is Entrapta not here?”

“Uh, like I’d tell you,” Scorpia scoffed.

“Shame. Guess I’ll have to come back later.” With that, Adora took off running out of the room and down the hallway.

Scorpia was immediately following (after all, it was pursuing Adora or dealing with whatever Shadow Weaver was doing, and she preferred the former).

“Oh, typical!” Scorpia shouted after Adora, feeling her anger getting the best of her. “Yeah! Just run away from your problems like you always do!”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Adora yelled over her shoulder but she was more focused on where she was heading. If she remembered correctly from the way they came-

“You ran away from the Horde!” Scorpia said like it was obvious. “And I don’t see Catra anywhere either. Did you run away from her too?”

Adora nearly stopped. Nearly. But her adrenaline kept her moving forward despite how her heart had dropped into her stomach.

“Catra has nothing to do with this!” Adora lied, hoping Scorpia would just leave the sore subject alone. She ducked around another corner, kicking down some boxes she passed in order to slow her enemy down.

Scorpia stumbled slightly but she kept Adora in sight. “Really? So she’s fine with you rubbing elbows with Shadow Weaver then?” Scorpia wouldn’t have believed the accusation if she hadn’t seen it for herself. “I know Catra and she would be so mad if she knew!”

“Like I don’t already know that,” Adora muttered to herself. As she dashed down another corridor, she saw what she was searching for. The room seemed to be an observation deck, probably for Entrapta to take notes on her larger experiments. It was a large open arena with multiple wires hanging from the ceiling and numerous catwalks zigzagging overhead.

“If you did something to my Wildcat-” Scorpia continued shouting, “-we’re going to have some serious problems!”

“The only problem you’re gonna have is this,” Adora took a running leap to grab a hold of one of the hanging wires, before hurriedly climbing up. Scorpia tried to follow but, as Adora expected, claws like hers weren’t made for climbing and she only succeeded in snapping off the bottom, sending sprays of electricity down on top of her.

Thankfully, the insulating coat of the wire kept Adora safe. Her body ached with the effort as she used her crossed legs to push herself further up the wire, the catwalks being her goal. With a glance below her, she saw Scorpia wasn’t nearly as affected by the light show as she’d hoped and was already trying to open the door to the stairs. Adora climbed faster.

As soon as she could reach the metal grating, Adora swung free from the wires and pulled herself up onto the hanging platforms. She could see Scorpia fast approaching.

Good.

“You know,” Adora leaned over the railing to taunt the Force Captain storming up the staircase, discreetly picking up one of the wire coils as she did, “I’m kind of glad I walked away from being a Force Captain. If these are the Horde’s standards then I really dodged a bullet.”

Seeing Scorpia's face twist in anger more at the insult, Adora started to leap from platform to platform, sometimes having to pull herself onto them, sometimes having to drop down to others. They all creaked with every thundering footstep and she could hear Scorpia closing in, just as planned.

“You think you’re so much better than us?” Scorpia huffed. She wasn’t sure why Adora was backing herself into a corner but she wasn’t opposed to Adora running out of space to…well, run.

“Actually, yeah, I kind of do,” Adora grinned smugly. She had reached the end of the catwalk maze. No platforms except the ones above her, all out of reach. There was nothing behind her but the platform’s edge, dropping off in what would be a rather sheer descent. She was cornered and had no right to look so damn cocky.

“You see, Scorpia,” Adora further taunted, swaying with the platform as Scorpia jumped onto hers. They were close now. Adora kept her arms behind her back as she said, “I am better than you. You want to know how I know that?”

“How?” Scorpia said through gritted teeth as she glowered down at Adora, waiting to see what game she was playing.

“I’m better than you because, even after all of our fighting and our bad history…” Adora swallowed down the bad feeling climbing up her throat as she forced out with a smile, “When she was hurt, Catra came to me.”

A shot in the dark but it struck exactly the right chord. Scorpia charged forward and Adora acted immediately. Having tied the extra wire she’d grabbed to her knife’s hilt just moments before, she tossed the blade up to the catwalk above her. The end of the wire coiled around the railing with the dagger’s weight keeping it taut.

Without time to test for how secure her invention was, Adora took a leap of faith off the platform, swinging out of reach on her makeshift grappling hook just as Scorpia sprinted past her. Skidding to a stop, Scorpia wavered unbalanced at the platform’s end, only for Adora to swing back and use all of her momentum to kick her square in the back — right off the edge.

Swinging back and forth still, Adora clung to the wire a little longer, eyes squeezed shut as she caught her breath, hands trembling from the exhaustion of holding herself there and certainly not from the thud she’d heard echo throughout the metal chamber. Then, finally, she looked down.

Scorpia wasn’t moving much but the pained groans were enough to tell Adora she was still alive. Letting herself slide down to the ground, Adora released the wire and immediately checked on the Force Captain.

As far as Adora could tell, her exoskeleton had kept her safe from most of the fall damage. Based on the unfocused gleam in her eyes though, Adora guessed she was concussed.

Not wasting time, Adora found some more spare wires and tied her arms and tail down to one of the metal posts, careful to ensure the woman couldn’t just cut herself free. As she finished, the grogginess seemed to just clear out of Scorpia’s system enough for her to form words.

“What…what’re you-?”

“Sorry,” Adora muttered, not sounding very apologetic at all. But…she did feel bad? Right? She turned away, ready to leave and get back to her real mission. “It was nothing personal.”

Scorpia laughed at that, a little deliriously. “When it comes to Catra…everything’s personal for you.”

And now Adora did stop at Scorpia’s words. She didn’t have the adrenaline, the rush, or even the common sense to tell her to walk away. Despite knowing she shouldn’t, she turned to face Scorpia.

The fight was over. The damage was done and Adora really should go find Shadow Weaver, but without the chaos of a fight to occupy her thoughts, the pulsing was just…so loud. It had been so overwhelmingly loud the deeper they had gone into the castle and right now it was roaring in her ears (or perhaps it was merely the blood rushing as her heart pounded in her chest).

“I don’t really know how to describe it. It was like this darkness. It just washed over She-Ra.”

Adora’s fists clenched at her sides.

“Over…over me.”

Her knuckles slammed against Scorpia’s jaw, stoking the fire. Her other fist came with a hook to the opposite side.

“If they hadn’t stopped me, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

Adora knew better than to kick a soldier when they’re down, but she didn’t see Scorpia in front of her anymore. Didn’t hear her cry out in pain as each hit landed.

“How far I would’ve gone.”

“A-dora…pl-” Another hit and Scorpia’s eyes rolled to the back of her skull, head lolling as she was knocked unconscious. Still, Adora swung. Another punch. Another.

“Adora,” Catra moved aside Adora’s plans, sitting on the table where the papers had sat so she was right in front of Adora. “Look. I’ve known you my entire life.”

Adora felt the tears burning in her eyes, unshed. The cuts on her knuckles from the night before reopened, mixing her own blood with Scorpia’s.

“And I know-” Catra continued gently, “-that you are the most annoyingly goodhearted person I’ve ever met. So whatever bad side you think you might have, it’s never going to outweigh the other stuff. Alright?”

“All anyone ever does-” Adora shouted in frustration, certain she could feel the fractures in her curled fingers, “-is lie!”

Fist raised in the air to bring down another blow, a hand from behind grabbed her wrist, stopping her. Adora whipped around to see Shadow Weaver looking down at her.

“You’re going to kill her if you keep on like this,” Shadow Weaver warned her before letting Adora go. Like she was giving her a choice.

The panting girl kept her arm raised, like she wasn’t sure what to do, before hesitantly lowering it. She made a point not to look at Scorpia now that her vision was clearing. Instead, she looked at Shadow Weaver, narrowing her eyes when she saw what she was holding.

“Did you seriously make yourself a drink?”

“You were taking too long,” Shadow Weaver sipped from the somewhat tiny silver goblet in her hand. “Now I can see why.”

Adora felt the shame building up as she realized she’d completely lost control.

“Do not look so disappointed,” Shadow Weaver said. “This was some fine work on your end. I only have concerns about your motivations.”

“My motivations?” Adora glared at her, daring the witch to test her.

“If you cannot control yourself at the mere mention of Catra, then perhaps you are not ready for this.”

Adora opened her mouth to argue but Shadow Weaver cut her off.

"Take my advice, Adora." The witch walked over to the makeshift grappling hook. As she touched it, red sparks traveled up the wire and it unraveled with a jolt, the knife and wire combination falling at their feet. "You are never going to win this war if you keep wasting your energy and attention on that traitorous girl. She is a distraction."

"Catra isn’t-" Adora huffed, hating to be called out, "She's not even here!"

“But she continues to occupy your thoughts.”

"I told you to stay out of my head," Adora muttered, picking up her knife, wiping away the blood, and putting it back on her belt. She kept the wire attached, in case she needed it again.

“I don’t need to invade your mind to know you are still thinking about her.” Shadow Weaver’s eye roll was near-audible. “The evidence is plain to see.”

Adora shoved past her, eager to leave the observation room. She didn’t think about the Force Captain she left behind. That wasn’t even the first of her troubles.

Because Shadow Weaver was right. All of this, no matter how much Adora avoided it, came down to Catra.

She kept telling herself it’d be worth it in the end. The night before, Adora had hardly slept, too preoccupied with her worries to get more than an hour at a time. Nightmares ensured she’d get no rest even in her sleep, tormented by whispers in the darkness telling her how it would all go wrong. Sometimes when she woke up, she’d check her hands for blood.

Even worse, sometimes she dreamed of the good outcomes. Counterintuitive, wasn’t it? Everything she was fighting for only caused her pain when she really considered having all that she wanted. Returning to Brightmoon. Defeating the Horde. Her worries behind her and her friends safe at her side.

And naturally, in every dream, good or bad, there was one unwavering constant: Catra.

Adora would never tell anyone how she cried when she’d woken up missing the warmth that she’d become so accustomed to. In her nightmares they had been fighting in flames, words cutting deeper than the slash of claws and swords. In her dreams they were dancing in the trees again, holding each other like they never let go in the first place.

“I know you don’t want to hear it,” Shadow Weaver said from behind her, “But the best thing you can do for yourself is to forget about Catra.”

Adora laughed bitterly. “Just like that, huh?” She stopped, turning to antagonize Shadow Weaver further. “You know what? Why don’t you make me?”

“And by that you mean…?” Shadow Weaver sounded actually curious.

Adora laughed again. Like the woman really forgot? “I mean, let’s be honest here. If you really wanted to make me forget about Catra so badly, you could just erase my memories of her. If- if she’s such a distraction and a detriment to the mission, then go ahead!”

Shadow Weaver made no comment, waiting for Adora to say her piece.

“That was your original plan, wasn’t it?” Adora continued, “Because, I guess I’m just having a hard time believing that you’re going through all this trouble making deals when you could just get the job done like that.” She snapped her fingers for emphasis on the last word. “So what on Etheria could you possibly be waiting for?”

Always knowing how to answer a question with another infuriating question, Shadow Weaver simply asked, “Would you like for me to erase your memory?”

The hesitation was miniscule but present when Adora scoffed, “No. Of course not.”

“Then why bring it up in the first place? Certainly, you of all people should know better than to tempt fate.”

“I’m not-” Adora turned around, leading the way once more in an effort to get control of the conversation back, “I am not asking you to erase my memory. That’s ridiculous. But it's not like…I mean, it's not like it’d be anything new.” Adora shifted nervously, feeling Shadow Weaver’s gaze boring into the back of her skull. “You’ve done it successfully before. Right?”

Shadow Weaver was quiet just long enough to make Adora’s insides squirm.

“Yes. I have. Only once.”

Adora breathed in, her suspicions confirmed. It wasn’t something she’d given a lot of thought to, but it was a concern she had going into all of this. And maybe…just maybe she’d overlooked it for a reason, as Shadow Weaver seemed to suggest.

It was only that, all those months ago after Princess Prom, Adora could still distinctly remember what it had felt like when she was strapped down to the table, Shadow Weaver’s hands gripping her skull as the woman burned through her mind.

Adora had never said anything to Glimmer or Bow, but that feeling had been familiar. Only vaguely, but familiar enough to spark the visceral kind of fear in her that only came with experience. Recognition. That fear had gripped onto Adora with its own red lightning, igniting every one of her brain’s synapses in a brilliant red heat.

“When?” She asked quietly.

Shadow Weaver didn’t answer. Perhaps she didn’t hear the question, not that Adora really wanted an answer anyway. She asked something else instead.

“You aren’t going to try to erase my memory again though. Are you?”

“We agreed I would not use magic on you.”

“Wouldn’t exactly be an agreement if I didn't remember agreeing to it,” Adora countered.

“Yes well,” Shadow Weaver said, clearly annoyed. “Believe it or not, Adora, while your prior experience might suggest otherwise, not every promise is made to be broken.”

Adora opened her mouth and closed it, still deciding how to respond, when a laser beam shot out from one of the corridors, followed by the sound of rapidly approaching wheels and alarms. Glancing at Shadow Weaver who just threw back the rest of her drink, Adora grimaced.

This better be worth it.

•••••

A few dozen bots later and Adora was exhausted but alive. Shadow Weaver finally started pulling her weight at some point, grumbling all the while about how this was supposed to be Adora’s ‘opportunity to train’ and that her intervention was only ‘stifling her potential to grow.’

Aside from her constant complaining, at least they were making progress. Just as Adora had predicted, the closer they got to the target, the more resistance they encountered.

Finally, Adora saw a door she recognized: Entrapta’s main lab.

“This is it?” Adora asked, confirming with Shadow Weaver who was currently dispatching the last of the bots that had been following them.

“Yes,” Shadow Weaver said, a little out of breath from the magical exertion. “Would you look at that? Now do you see what you can accomplish when you let your instincts lead you in the right direction? You ought to start trusting them more often.”

Well, I trust my instincts more than I trust you. Is that something?

Shadow Weaver walked over to the control pad, examining it. “Your instincts wouldn’t happen to know the passcode, would they?”

Adora paused for a second…and then laughed. Did Shadow Weaver really just make a joke? And did she just find it funny? Yeah, she was definitely losing it.

“I sort of figured we could just blow the door open with magic,” Adora admitted before sobering up a bit. “Before we try anything though, I need you to answer something for me.”

“What is it this time?” Shadow Weaver asked, only half-paying attention as she started drawing out a small spell over the control pad. “I do hope you aren’t getting cold feet after all our hard work.”

“No, it's not about that,” Adora leaned on the door, trying to catch Shadow Weaver’s eye. “Before we go in there, you need to tell me what exactly we’re looking for.”

“We already discussed this in the Whispering Woods. We were to find where Entrapta keeps her important records.”

“And we’ve accomplished the where. Now I want to know the what and why.”

Shadow Weaver paused her spell, looking at Adora long enough to study her. Suddenly Adora felt like a little kid again, glancing to the sidelines to catch Shadow Weaver’s gaze after a rough exam, hoping the woman wouldn’t see the cracks in her cool facade.

“Is there something you think we may find in there that you are afraid of?”

“That’s not an answer.” Adora was growing really tired of this whole dodging around the question.

Turning back to her spell, Shadow Weaver shrugged. “If you expect full transparency from me, then in return-”

“In return, I don’t owe you anything,” Adora’s voice dropped threateningly low. She was tired, injured, and she really didn’t have much tolerance left for Shadow Weaver’s tricks at the moment. “You don’t get final say anymore in case you forgot. I am more than willing to turn right back around, so maybe keep in mind that you need me a lot more than I need you. Now. Talk.”

A young Adora wipes the sweat from her dripping brow. Watching from the sidelines, Shadow Weaver nods approvingly.

“Fine,” Shadow Weaver said. “There is something in Entrapta’s files that I believe is worth you seeing. If I am correct, then within this lab is the very thing you have always desired.”

“Which is?”

Shadow Weaver turned to her once more. “The truth.”

With a spark, Shadow Weaver’s spell finished, short-circuiting the controls on the door. The metal slid open with a groan and the two stepped inside. There were thankfully no bots inside. The whole lab, it seemed, was untouched since the last time Entrapta was there.

Adora was admittedly wary. She wasn’t about to blindly buy into Shadow Weaver’s claims without seeing anything for herself, but she also had the odd feeling the woman wasn’t about to disappoint.

They walked over to the main computer screens and Shadow Weaver wasted no time turning on the system. As soon as she pulled up the computer’s files, however, hundreds of different folders popped up.

“Entrapta has got to be the most chaotically organized person I know,” Adora mumbled, feeling a little overwhelmed. “How do we know which files we want?”

“There is only one file I am looking for,” Shadow Weaver explained as she started clicking through folders. Etherian Planetary Studies. Planet Stability. Portals. The Wider Universe. First Ones. Eternia.

She stopped there, seemingly satisfied. There were a few files in there, some audio recordings, some notes, and a few holographic images. Without opening any of them, she turned to Adora and gestured for her to look.

“I don’t get it,” Adora shook her head, still hesitant, though she stepped up to the keyboard anyway. “I’ve heard the name Eternia before but…what is it? What does this have to do with stopping the Horde?”

“Adora, I’m afraid that this all has to do with you.”

Adora eyed Shadow Weaver distrustfully for a moment before turning to the screen. With plenty reluctance, she opened one of the holographic files labeled: EstimatedEternianMap_Ver-65.holo

The whole room lit up in a purple glow. Leave it up to Entrapta to turn her whole room into a holopad.

Blinking into life all around them were different planets, star systems, and moons. Adora held her breath as a group of comets whizzed by her head, orbiting around one of the larger orange planets close to her. She watched in wonder as all the celestial bodies rotated around one another in tandem, all on their own different complex paths.

During her stay with the rebellion, Adora had learned about Despondos, the empty dimension. Light Hope had told her before that there had been a time when Etheria was a part of the wider universe. Razz had shown her Etheria’s stars.

But this? This was more than Adora had ever imagined.

Turning her attention to the center of the room, she felt drawn to one planet in particular. It was a deep blue, similar to Etheria. There were clouds in the atmosphere and land dotted all around it. Two moons circled the planet.

Squinting, Adora walked around the planet, knowing there was something there just barely buzzing in the back of her brain. "Those stars..." Adora looked to Shadow Weaver with clear confusion, "I don't really know how to explain it but...the stars- those stars specifically. They look so...so..."

“Familiar?” Shadow Weaver supplied.

Adora nodded dazedly, eyes tracing the constellations. “But I’ve never seen these stars before. How can they be familiar?”

“Ah, but you have seen them,” Shadow Weaver drew closer, placing a hand on Adora’s shoulder. “Think. Open your mind.”

Looking into the hologram like it was the key to everything, Adora tried. She took a deep breath, trying to focus on the stars but that pesky pulse was still there, dim but present.

“You must let yourself remember, Adora,” Shadow Weaver continued, her voice sounding far away.

The stars. The pulse. The sound…it had a rhythm to it, didn’t it?

“Do not fight it. Let yourself see what has been inside of you all along.”

Adora thought she had been hearing the disk the whole time, but as she breathed and let her body relax, she discovered it might have been something else. Her heart beat within her chest in time and Adora could feel it. Not darkness but a lightness in her veins, pulsing through her body.

In between the beats, Adora saw visions – the same ones she’d seen when she’d first taken hold of the Sword of Protection. She saw a small hand reaching up…up to the stars. The same stars. And then…a deep purple swirling vortex, the wind whipping around her. The crying of a baby and the rustling of the long grass as someone picked her up. A brilliant white light. ‘Something this beautiful can’t be bad, can it?’

When Adora finally opened her eyes, she realized she was kneeling on the ground, fresh tears falling down her face. Shadow Weaver was in front of her, a hand on her cheek to wipe them away. It was almost...comforting.

“I don’t understand,” Adora blinked away the rest of her tears. “What…what does any of this mean?”

“This may come as a shock to you, Adora,” Shadow Weaver explained far too gently, “But you are not of Etherian origin. You come from another place, outside of this dimension.”

Adora’s gaze flickered to the blue planet spinning in front of her. “Eternia?”

"Yes, Eternia. You fell through a portal that Hordak managed to open. He took you in as a mere soldier for the Horde, but I always knew you were special, Adora. You must understand, I have waited so long to tell you the truth."

“But…” Adora squeezed her eyes shut, having a difficult time accepting it, “But if I’m not…I mean, how did that even happen? Do I have a- a family out there? Can I even go back? Am I just some alien freak-”

“You are a First One,” Shadow Weaver answered simply. “Your destiny-”

“Is that why I’m She-Ra?” Adora asked, voice achingly shaky. Her eyes widened as she pulled away from Shadow Weaver. “I’m…I’m such an idiot! That’s why She-Ra picked me? B-Because I’m the only one left? You say I was special, but it was just random chance that-”

“No, Adora.” Shadow Weaver stood, following the distraught girl. “You were chosen by forces far greater than we can possibly understand to be sent here. To Etheria. No other portals have ever been opened with such success since our plunge into Despondos, yet you came through.”

Adora stopped when her back pressed against the wall. Her breathing was erratic and the pulsing in her ears matched the growing tightness in her chest. It killed her when Shadow Weaver moved the stray hair out of her face, tucked behind her ears, because of all the ways to ground herself, why did it have to be that?

Her breathing smoothed out anyhow, as she used Shadow Weaver as a tether to reality. The background noise faded and Adora looked up at her mentor.

“Why take me here and show me all of this?” Adora asked. “Why go through all of this when you could have just told me?”

“Because you needed to see it for yourself. You never would have listened otherwise.”

She was right about that, of course.

“Your destiny was foretold long ago by the First Ones.” Shadow Weaver moved aside to give Adora a view of the planet once more. “Your people came to Etheria with the hopes of merging magic and science. For the most part they succeeded. They formed a deep connection to Etheria, all the way down to its heart.”

“I’ve felt it before,” Adora said, thinking back to the First Battle of Brightmoon. “It was like…I was connected to all of the runestones and…and the princesses. I, um, it felt like I could feel everyone’s magic all at once.”

“Good, good,” Shadow Weaver cooed encouragingly. “You see, the planet has always called out to your people. I believe it is why they settled in Etheria in the first place. They sought to understand magic and now that magic is in you, Adora. This is your birthright.”

“Magic?” Adora laughed. “I mean…I know She-Ra has powers but-”

“I am not talking about She-Ra. I am talking about the magic that lives within you, the magic all around you, right at your fingertips. You can connect to this planet like no other being can.”

Adora knew there was truth to those words. She knew from the second she left the Fright Zone that there was something out there, calling to her, waiting for her to find it.

“If you will allow me to,” Shadow Weaver continued carefully, “Let me teach you to use it. With my help, I can show you how to master it. Don’t you see, Adora? All of the magic in the world is in the palm of your hand! Think what you could do to the Horde with power like that.”

“You’re going to teach me magic?” Adora asked, just to be sure. “No She-Ra? No sword? Just…me?”

“As I said, this is your birthright. Dare I say, it is your very purpose.”

It seemed so clear now. So obvious. With the pulsing of her heart setting the cadence, Adora could see it all right in front of her. Every moment, every decision, every bit of luck and chance, and it was all to bring her here. Not to Dryl, not to this lab, not even to Shadow Weaver, but here: to her destiny.

“It will not be an easy journey,” Shadow Weaver warned. “Some parts may come easy to you. Others won’t. If I may, can I offer something to help ease you into things?”

Adora nodded, only to be surprised when Shadow Weaver pulled something out from around her neck. A small necklace with a leather cord and a pendant the size of Adora’s palm. It was a four-pointed gold star, with a red oval jewel in its center.

“This is my badge from the Sorcerer’s Guild,” Shadow Weaver explained as she handed it to Adora. “It is where I have been drawing my powers from ever since my connection was severed with the Black Garnet.”

Adora flipped it over in her hands. As much as it scared her, she could feel the power radiating off of it. “Don’t you need this?”

“In theory, yes. But in your hands, I am sure it will serve a greater good.” Shadow Weaver chuckled a little before adding, “Once you learn the basics, of course.”

“Right,” Adora mumbled. She elected to pocket the badge instead of wearing it, just as a precaution.

As they left the lab, they took the safer route out of the castle. The whole time, Shadow Weaver was explaining what exactly the training would entail, all the things Adora would need to prepare for and whatnot. Adora for the most part nodded along, asking a question here or there when she needed to.

As they left Dryl behind them to go back to the woods to set up camp, however, the conversation died down. The two walked along in silence for a while until Adora couldn’t help herself any longer.

“Hey, Shadow Weaver?”

“Yes?”

“It’s, uh…pretty nice out tonight. Nothing like a good cool breeze, wouldn’t you say?” Adora shot the woman a crooked smile, meeting Shadow Weaver’s blank gaze.

Just as Adora was going to give up on her pipe dream of small talk, Shadow Weaver responded with a disapproving grunt, “I find the woods to be quite frigid this evening.”

Well, Adora thought, a small smile tugging at her lips. It’s a start.

And what a shame it was, hours later as Adora sat by the fire she’d made, that she couldn’t see inside Shadow Weaver’s tent as the witch pulled out of her cloak the real object of her desire that had led them to Dryl.

Tracing a long finger along the disk, she thanked Entrapta for keeping such a precious object safe, as well as Scorpia for distracting Adora long enough so she could grab it. Though she had no need to use the device yet, nor did she have the means to activate it, Shadow Weaver still smiled. Surely, her insurance policy would serve her well in due time. Eternia knows she is patient.

The shadows around her chattered excitedly as she walked back into the encampment. As Adora sat, she fiddled with the pendant, a contemplative look on her face.

Yes, Shadow Weaver would have to agree. A good start indeed.

Chapter Text

Catra was a lot of things. Stubborn? Sure. Quick to anger? Definitely. Impulsive and reckless? Unfortunately for everyone involved, yes.

But stupid? No, Catra wasn’t stupid.

Even as Swift Wind circled the ruins of Brightmoon for a secluded spot to land, Catra never once entertained the thought that she was stupid — never naive, or willingly ignorant, or any of that nonsense.

Because, really, Catra had always known this would be the inevitable conclusion. People getting hurt. Killed. Smoldering remnants of all that was good, snuffed out by explosives, by tanks, by guns. By the Horde.

By her.

It was the fourth village they’d touched down in since leaving the forest. All of them bordered the castle’s perimeter and all were identical in one chilling aspect: each and every street, from the main markets to the very outskirts were devoid of life.

Evacuated, hopefully. Catra couldn’t stand the alternative, even though it surrounded her on all fronts as Swift Wind trotted solemnly down the street, past all the fallen houses. He swallowed his distressed whinnying, trying to keep the heartbroken sounds to a minimum. Probably for Catra’s sake.

She didn’t understand his kindness. She didn’t understand how anyone could look at this damage and decide, out of all of it, she was the thing worth salvaging.

Maybe she shouldn’t assume the worst of herself, just as she shouldn’t assume the worst of this village. Against her best judgement, Catra had to hope that the quiet streets were a result of a successful escape. Empty didn’t have to mean dead.

Catra couldn’t really pinpoint when she started caring about those kinds of things. Wasn’t it only three months ago that she had led the First Battle of Brightmoon with the hopes of accomplishing exactly this? Had she ever fully understood what victory meant?

Of course she did. Catra wasn’t stupid, after all. It was never about victory. It was about making other people hurt. Better them than you. Better they lose one battle, because if you fail then you lose everything. Strike first. Lash out. It's all you know how to do. Survive.

It was called war for a reason. People get hurt. That’s a given. She understood that better than most, so why was she the bad guy for doing exactly what she had been taught to do since she was old enough to take a hit? If she hadn’t stepped up and taken charge, then some bigger and badder Force Captain would have in her place. And then she’d be right where she’d started: at the bottom of the bottom, Shadow Weaver’s punching bag, a nameless face in a sea of child soldiers, too smart to truly believe in what she was fighting for and too scared to leave.

But that all changed when Catra started living with Adora in Brightmoon. What was supposed to be a quick visit at most snowballed into the best few months of Catra’s lackluster life.

It was the first time she’d ever felt free from all that pressure. The world became more than just collateral damage. People became more than just shields to hide behind. All of that anger and hatred didn’t need to find a target anymore because it had been replaced by something else. Something lighter. Something she associated with the long hours of the night that would always belong to only the two of them, with bright smiles and teasing words and late breakfasts and-

And red leather. The jacket laid in her lap, the thick material hot against her legs in the sweltering heat. She didn’t touch it otherwise, not right then. Instead, her claws dug into Swift Wind’s mane, though he didn’t seem to notice, his hair too thick for him to register the pinpricks.

Good. Catra didn’t need another pep talk. She wanted to sit in her silent misery for as long as she could.

When they reached the center of the village, Swift Wind slowed to a stop. Catra could tell he was tired. They’d been doing this same routine for hours now, checking village after village only to be met with disappointment. The princesses were nowhere to be found. All of Brightmoon had up and disappeared.

This was a mistake. Catra could see that now. The pipe dream that she could…what? Help Adora? The same Adora who hated her and probably never wanted to see her ever again? What was she thinking?

And, yet, Catra didn’t feel ready to give up. All signs were telling her to stop but she couldn’t. Not when Shadow Weaver was involved. Not when Adora was in danger. She couldn’t and she wouldn’t give up because…well, because Adora wouldn’t give up on her.

‘I’m done protecting you. Understand?’

Catra squeezed her eyes shut, trying to choke down the pitiful sound building in her own throat.

Who was she fooling? This was a mistake. In a life riddled with destruction, mistakes were the only things Catra knew how to actually make.

“They aren’t here,” Swift Wind said, though it was hardly necessary. Maybe he needed to hear it to believe it. “Brightmoon is…they’re all gone.”

Catra didn’t want to ask the obvious What now? It's not like charging into Brightmoon demanding to see the new Queen was really that sound of a plan to begin with but it was at least a plan nonetheless.

“We can check some other places,” Swift Wind assured them both. He sounded so confident, Catra was almost willing to let him fool her along with himself. “The princesses, they have to be somewhere. We’ll find them. And when we do, they can help us find…they will help us. I just know it.”

Us. What a duo they made. The horse’s unearned confidence only made Catra’s chest clench tighter. He reminded her so much of Adora sometimes, it killed her.

“Can we-” Catra ignored the roughness of her voice, “-stop here for a moment?”

“Here?” Swift Wind’s ears flicked nervously. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure. Besides, you need to rest your wings from all that flying.”

It was that simple. No snarky comment. No bite. Catra simply let herself be lowered to the ground, draping Adora’s jacket on Swift Wind’s back for the time being. Once down, she pressed a palm against the horse’s side as she steadied herself on her own two feet. Razz’s tea was still helping — she could manage to walk on her own with minimal pain — but she was slow and unbalanced.

On another day, Catra might have walked off on her own to prove her independence or something equally prideful. But this time? This one time, she kept a hand on Swift Wind, letting him support the weight she could carry but didn’t need to.

Catra directed him towards one of the nearby houses, stopping at the steps of the front porch. Carefully, Catra shifted her weight off of Swift Wind so that she could sink down to the wooden floor, sitting with her back to the barren roads. The horse merely nudged her back softly with his muzzle before trotting off to give her some space.

As soon as they’d touched down in the village, Catra had put the pieces together but it took staring inside the caved-in home for it to really sink in. With the walls knocked down, the building now laid bare its unkept secrets: Jackets of every size, for any weather. Worn boots, the leather melted. A display box with a few medals inside, all knocked out of place. A mini armory. Abandoned weapons. Cracked picture frames of family, of children sitting in the laps of their parents decorated in Brightmoon silvers and lilacs.

If Catra wandered into any of the neighboring houses, the charred remains would’ve told the same stories. Uniform architecture. Close proximity to the castle. A dozen or so of these once pristine dwellings grouped together in a well-ordered line.

Barracks. These were barracks, or at least the closest thing the rebellion had to barracks if Catra were to wager an educated guess. She supposed it made sense for Brightmoon’s soldiers to live near the castle but she never truly considered what that would mean in the context of a grand scale attack.

Discarded toys. Upturned cabinets. Frayed blankets and books still smoking from the last lingering embers of the fire. Catra was vaguely aware of her own claws digging into her biceps at the sight, but she welcomed the pain. What was a little discomfort in comparison to this?

Briefly, Catra wondered if everything could have been prevented if she’d only grown up in a place like this instead of the Horde. How different could things have been if the Horde never found her, if a Brightmoon guard had taken her home instead, that ridiculous cardboard box in their silver-plated arms? Would she have grown up in one of these homes? Would she have been knighted in Brightmoon? Would she have even wanted to fight in the war at all?

If that universe existed, if there was some other Catra who had the loving family and the safe home, then this Catra — the one sitting in a ghost town, arms pulled around herself, eyes heavy but too exhausted to cry — hoped beyond all hope that her alternate self was happy.

Because if that Catra couldn’t be happy, then this one never stood a chance.

•••••

The exertion to stand up was beginning to feel normal for Catra. Swift Wind trotted back over as soon as he noticed her back on her feet.

“We should gather whatever supplies we can,” Catra said, straight to business. “The rebels couldn’t have gone that far. If we’re going to be knocking on doors, we should at least be prepared for a long journey.”

“Do you think it’ll take a long time to find them?” Swift Wind asked anxiously.

“I mean, I doubt they want to be found by the Horde, much less us,” Catra shrugged, like it should be obvious. “If the Horde could do this much damage to a heavily fortified castle, then I don’t think the rebellion is going to be broadcasting their new digs any time soon.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed but Catra didn’t pick up on it fully as she crouched by the house’s entrance, trying to grab for something under the toppled door. After a distressed pause, Swift Wind added, “That makes sense, I guess. But…do you think we have that much time?”

Catra’s hand closed around what she wanted and she tugged. Free from the debris, she now had a blue leather bag, standard Brightmoon issued. “Have enough time for what?”

“You know…to save Adora.”

The bag was only halfway over her shoulder when Catra froze at the remark.

“You said she was in danger,” Swift Wind continued, his wings puffing out as he got worked up. “If that weird witch lady has her, then every second we waste looking for the princesses is another second Adora is with Shadow Weaver. But if we can’t find the princesses, then we don’t have a chance at finding Adora, and then-”

“You made your point,” Catra snapped. “You can either keep wasting your breath or you can help me so we can get going. Take your pick.”

She finished slinging the bag over her shoulder and got to work on the rest of the house, grabbing what she thought might be useful. A glance to her side told her that Swift Wind was also making himself busy, even if he still seemed on edge.

As she gathered her haul (a purple cloak that was mostly still in one piece, the pointy end of a broken spear, a pocket atlas with a threadbare spine), Catra tried to keep her thoughts off Adora but Swift Wind’s concerns only amplified her current stress.

She could only hope that Adora was safe, that maybe she’d be able to see through all these mind games Shadow Weaver’s been playing. Unfortunately, betting against the woman who’s orchestrated their entire lives up until this point wasn’t likely to work out in Catra’s favor. Catra always had rotten luck, especially when Shadow Weaver was involved. If anything, wanting Adora to be safe had probably doomed her instead, seeing as Catra never could get what she wanted.

So, no. Adora probably wasn’t safe. Catra could accept that. She could adjust her expectations. Adora didn’t need to be safe — she needed to be alive and able to fight long enough until help arrived, whether that meant Catra or the rebellion or both.

While his search didn’t yield much, Swift Wind was able to find some food: breads, fruits, perishable items that wouldn’t last them long but would at least get them to their next stop (wherever that would be). The food, along with Adora’s jacket, were placed into the bag.

A meager start but a start nonetheless. Swift Wind was in the process of kneeling down to let Catra back up so they could continue their search when Catra’s ears twitched at an unfamiliar sound.

Frowning, her eyes quickly scanned the area, paranoia seeping into the stillness of the air. She strained to pinpoint the noise, so quiet in the already silent town, but she was certain she hadn’t imagined it. Though muffled, Catra could just make out a soft crying, not unlike the whimpers of a frightened animal.

Still staying alert, Catra didn’t hesitate to limp towards the noise — whether it was pure curiosity or some natural instinct to help was a debate for later. She followed the cries, Swift Wind close behind and watching with interest, until she stopped in front of an overturned dresser. Paired with the sound of distress was a light thumping against the charred wood.

“Um, Swift? Think you could give me a hand here?” She motioned to the large piece of furniture as if it needed clarifying.

“Don’t you mean a hoof?”

Before Catra could so much as even growl at him, the horse dutifully used his nose to wedge the dresser up at an angle. Catra knelt down as far as her leg allowed and blindly grabbed for anything she could reach underneath it.

“Good?” Swift Wind grunted.

“I think so.” Catra’s words were punctuated by the thud of the dresser falling back into place. Not that Catra was focused on the dresser anymore. In her arms was a bundle of clothes. And it was wiggling.

Cautiously, she started to untangle it, only to nearly drop the whole mess on the floor when, upon creating an opening in the fabric, she was greeted with a large yellow eye peering back at her. Catra yelped at the sight and the thing responded with a similar squeal as it attempted to dislodge itself from Catra’s grasp. As more of the clothes fell away, Catra could only register a pink fluffy blur.

In the moment it took for Catra to regain her bearings, she noticed that one of the creature’s legs was stuck in the sleeve of an old shirt.

“Hey, quit your thrashing.” Catra fumbled to simultaneously maintain her grip on the thing while also getting the leg free. Using her claws, she ripped away the fabric. “See? You’re fine.”

As she said that, the now-freed creature leapt out of her hold and onto the ground with an exaggerated huff. With a pivot of its two-clawed feet, it stared up at Catra and let out a low, throaty sound of annoyance.

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Catra rolled her eyes, but stared back nonetheless. She’d never seen an animal like this one before. It had a similar color pattern to Swift Wind. Did that mean anything?

The animal wasn’t waiting for her to puzzle it out. Clicking its beak irritably, it began to circle around Catra’s feet, like it was trying to figure out what she was supposed to be.

“Huh,” Swift Wind watched the whole scene unfold, catching Catra’s curious look.

“Any clue what this thing is?” Catra asked him, nudging the creature gently with her foot. Not liking that much, the creature let out another displeased chirp, butting its head against the offending foot. Catra had to fight back a smile — it wasn’t cute! That blatant attack with its…its fluffy little forehead- it was pathetic! Definitely not endearing. Not in the slightest.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Swift Wind admitted. “Not in the Woods anyways.” He leaned down so he could be eye level with it, blowing out a loud exhale to get the creature’s attention.

It made another noise, this one of confusion, and swiveled to face the horse who let out a whinny in response. This continued on for much longer than Catra had the patience for. Right as she was about to interrupt what had to be the weirdest interaction Catra had witnessed to date (and that’s saying something), Swift Wind suddenly popped up his head.

“He says he knows where the princesses went!”

“You can understand that thing?” Catra asked, her priorities clearly in order. Finding the princesses? Important, yes. Dealing with what would likely be a very annoying language barrier for an indefinite amount of time? Absolutely critical to the maintaining of her sanity.

“Sure can!” There was another chirp and Swift Wind added, “Oh, and he says his name is Kowl, not That Thing.”

The creat- Kowl clicked his beak triumphantly before flaring out his large multicolored ears. Or, Catra had assumed they were ears before he began to flap them like wings. Lifting off of the ground, Kowl flew a few laps around Catra before settling on Swift Wind’s head, stubby arms holding onto the horse’s horn.

“He says that in exchange for saving him from a cruel and horrific demise, he can show us where the rebellion went! He’d heard them evacuating before he got trapped.” Kowl chittered unintelligibly in agreement.

“Perfect,” Catra groaned, climbing onto Swift Wind’s back with renewed reluctance for this whole ‘redemption’ mess. “Right on time for my own cruel and horrific demise.” With a pointed look, she asserted, “This is the last animal companion I’m ever bothering with, got it?”

Kowl flapped his wings petulantly in Catra’s face as Catra swiped half-heartedly at him, letting out a barrage of insults. She was so focused on that, she didn’t even hear Swift Wind’s warning for takeoff and nearly fell off when they soared into the air.

It was going to be a long trip.

•••••

The first time Catra heard the name Mystacor was a few weeks after she became a Force Captain (though, she probably would have heard it sooner if she had gone to Force Captain orientation).

Granted, it was by design of her upbringing that she hadn’t known much about the world beyond the borders of the Fright Zone (wouldn’t want cadets to get any bright ideas about life outside of the Horde) but, even so, Mystacor had always been especially elusive, Force Captain or not.

If it weren’t for Shadow Weaver, it’s likely the Horde wouldn’t have known of its existence at all. Just another thing to thank the damn witch for. Without her, the kingdom would have remained hidden from the rest of the world, safe from the war, remembered by its outsiders as more a myth than anything else.

And now, here was Catra flying straight towards the most heavily fortified enemy territory the Horde ever bothered to keep a file on.

Not that heavily fortified, Catra mentally scoffed. She distinctly remembered when Shadow Weaver had asked her to guard the Black Garnet chamber. That was back when the witch was still hyper-focused on finding Adora (ironic, considering Catra’s current agenda).

‘My shadow spies have found Adora. She's on her way to Mystacor with her new friends… Mystacor. This is going to be too easy.’

Catra also remembered how she had found Shadow Weaver sprawled out unconscious on the floor only a few hours later. Now that had been a fond memory but it was a stark warning. If Shadow Weaver, a woman who was born and raised in Mystacor, was bested by that place, then Catra had better tread lightly. After all, Catra and magic never mixed well.

As they flew onwards, all of Catra’s worries came down to one simple fact: Catra was not going to be safe in Mystacor, the safest place in all Etheria.

The plan depended on too many variables outside of Catra’s control. First, she’d have to make it to Mystacor in one piece, and with Swift Wind’s flying and Kowl’s constant course changes, that alone would be a miracle. Second, if they actually reach Mystacor, she’ll have to hope the dumb horse can actually get them through the same magical security that’s kept the Horde at bay for years.

Third. She has to confront the princesses and somehow convince them not to kill her long enough to…ugh, ask for their help.

And all of that? Was assuming Shadow Weaver wasn’t there. Knowing that the witch has infiltrated Mystacor once already. Knowing she could do so again. Knowing that, now that Catra has served her purpose and sent Adora running into the witch’s awaiting arms, Shadow Weaver won’t hesitate to finish what she started in the Whispering Woods.

Catra’s side ached with ghost pains at the memory. She could only hope that Shadow Weaver was somewhere else — somewhere far away from Mystacor and hopefully somewhere far away from Adora.

(But Catra knew she wasn’t going to get lucky twice. Selfishly, she didn’t know which option she preferred.)

For most of the flight, there had only been forest beneath them and the occasional body of water. Now, they neared the edge of the Woods, a cliff cutting through the land. Catra leaned over to get a better look at the bottom, expecting to see more trees but instead saw only clouds floating through the misty expanse of nothingness below.

Feeling dizzy, she felt her fur rise in agitation. This couldn’t be the right way, could it? Maybe this creature recognized Catra from the Horde and was bringing her to this place to toss her over the side. Was Swift Wind in on it? Was this all some big plot against her? Gosh, she was so stupid to think-

“Looks like we made it!” Swift Wind said, his voice carrying over the ravine. “Finally, am I right?”

“Made it?” Catra hissed, feeling her suspicions were about to get confirmed. Of all the ways to meet her end, this had to be the most ridiculous by far.

Kowl chirped excitedly as Swift Wind began his descent, Catra holding on for dear life as they swooped down towards the clouds. They didn’t, however, drop into a complete freefall like Catra expected. Only a short few seconds after their dive, Swift Wind reared up again to put his hooves down on…land.

It was a floating chunk of ground, no larger than the size of a tank, but there was grass beneath them and Catra could consider herself grateful for that much. The platform began to move the moment they touched down, carefully drifting further into the mist. Then, to all three’s amazement, the clouds dissipated to reveal a massive floating island, piled high with grand purple buildings and flowing water that reflected radiant beams of light onto the group.

“Mystacor?” Catra whispered, eyes wide.

“Mystacor!” Swift Wind confirmed.

Kowl let out a joyous hoot, flapping his wings in excitement. Had Swift Wind translated, it would have meant something along the lines of: “Myst-a-coooor!”

As soon as their smaller platform was in range of the kingdom, the trio set foot on the grey cobblestone beneath them, eyes glued to the impressive skyline of the city. Luckily there weren’t many people nearby — if Catra had to guess based on hearing alone, there were larger groups towards the center of the city, not too far from them. Throwing the purple cloak on, Catra was grateful that most Etherian kingdoms seemed to share the same limited color palette.

“So, where to next, boss?” Swift Wind asked. “We could go to the springs. Stressed people go there all the time and if anyone’s stressed it's gotta be the princesses. Or the Lunarium? Adora said they keep important things there, so by that logic important people-”

“Hey, Swifty,” Catra cut in, already sliding off of his back to the floor, “Look. I appreciate all the help so far, but I should probably do this next bit alone.”

“What?” Swift Wind frowned, Kowl backing him up with a disappointed look. “But-”

“If I’m going to survive more than two minutes here, I’m going to need to blend in. Sticking with you isn’t exactly… covert. You’re too recognizable and I’d really rather they not recognize me along with you.” Seeing the way the horse deflated at her very reasonable explanation, Catra begrudgingly added, “You can look for the princesses more directly.” Then, for good measure, suspecting he was probably just as much a nerd as Adora, she added, “That can be your mission, okay? And report back to me if you get any valuable intel.”

With a renewed determination and a salute of his wing, Swift Wind said, “Got it. I can give hourly- no, quarterly reports!”

Catra deemed it unnecessary to mention that she didn’t expect this to take hours. As soon as he was out of sight, Catra took in a deep breath, smoothing down her fur that was standing up on end. It didn’t do much as it rose right back up in agitation, as if the magic in the air was clinging to her and she was trying to fling it away.

The deep breaths were falling short but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Still, as she stared forward, destination waiting right there with nothing to stop her, Catra couldn’t move her feet. She was stuck.

Her instincts told her to turn back. Run. The platform was right there. She could jump back on it and leave and forget all of this, call it a moment of temporary insanity. Her resolve draining with every shaky exhale, she wasn’t sure why she thought she could do this. All that was waiting for her if she went deeper in the city were princesses and sorcerers and hurt.

Something fuzzy collided with her ankles and she jumped back with a hiss, nearly losing her balance as she did. Looking down, an annoyed Kowl was staring back up at her.

“Didn’t you get the memo?” She snapped but it was weak. “You’re supposed to be with Swift Wind.”

Kowl clicked his beak impatiently at her before flying onto her shoulder. She tried to shrug him away but he seemed to make up his mind that he’d be perching there for the time being.

“If you get us caught-” Catra pointed a claw at him, “-I’m cooking you into a meat pie.”

As irritated as she was with the beast, she appreciated the snap back to reality (and the companionship, even if she denied it). With another timid breath, she stepped forward onto the cobblestone path, towards the growing mass of voices.

•••••

Maybe it was because Catra could recognize it better than others, or maybe it was just the pure shrieking quality of that wretched voice, but Catra was able to pinpoint Sparkles after only a few minutes of searching.

The center of town was wrought with chaos. With Mystacor now housing the entirety of Brightmoon, the streets simply didn’t seem like they could hold that amount of people. To even get as deep as she did, Catra had to dodge a number of Mystacor citizens acting as tour guides for the new and frightened refugees that were crammed into every cobblestone corner.

Over the noise of the crowds, though, was the unforgettable piercing voice that Catra considered the source of no less than a quarter of her nightmares. Sure enough, by following the sound, she could just barely see the bob of pink hair moving in every direction.

The princess- no, the Queen was clearly busy. Catra didn’t have to use her imagination to figure out why, not when half the crowd was begging her for answers she didn’t seem to have.

Only a few days ago, Catra probably would have confronted Glimmer right there and then. Now, however, Catra needed to try not to make a scene, unless she wanted a thousand unsettled Brightmooners to start an angry mob.

She had to be subtle. Careful. Calculated. Striking when the moment was right. When Glimmer was alone? Probably, though that could be taken as a threat. Should she throw Arrow Boy into the mix or was he a risk? Admittedly, Catra wasn’t interested in being shot at that early in the afternoon.

No, planning was a stupid idea. There was no easy or right way to go about this. Catra dug her grave and now she needs to just leap into it feet first already.

“Hey, Glim-”

“Alright everyone! Why don’t we give the Queen a little break, hm?” An overly cheerful voice cut her off almost immediately. “I have a few more tour guides ready to assist you all if you could please make your way back towards the fountains.”

Most of the crowd turned to the new voice, including Catra who was ready to tell off this intruder for ruining her moment. She stopped short when she saw the sorcerer standing directly behind her.

This was it, Catra thought as she made direct eye contact with this looming figure, who’s strained smile probably hid all sorts of dark secrets. Power radiated off the woman and it made Catra want to sprint away on all fours.

“Poor dear,” The woman cooed as she looked between Catra and Kowl with wide eyes. “Are you two alone?”

Kowl whistled lightly before brushing against the side of Catra’s head. Before Catra could shove him away, the woman seemed to melt even more at the sight, clasping her hands together as she awed at the creature’s charming display.

“Not quite alone, then,” She winked at Kowl, like they were in on some joke now. The woman then turned back to Catra. “I haven’t seen you around yet. Did you come in with the last group?”

Catra decided speaking would be a bad idea in this scenario, so she just nodded.

“Hm, well then I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I’m sure you understand. There’re so many people and so much to do- but nevermind that. My name is Castaspella. I’m the Head Sorceress here at Mystacor.”

The woman slid an arm around Catra, careful to mind Kowl, and started leading the two back to the city center. Catra wanted to protest, looking back at Glimmer who was already walking away with Bow, an exhausted look on her face before they teleported away in a flash of sparkles. Catra couldn’t help the frustrated sigh that followed.

“Oh?” Castaspella noticed where Catra was looking and tried to reassure her, “Don’t worry. I’m sure the Queen will make another appearance shortly. You must know she is busy though. Same as me, I suppose. I’m afraid after today, I won’t be around much.”

Good, Catra wanted to say. She was already annoyed by this woman. Not to mention, this Castapella reminded her of someone…but who? Catra couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Right!” Castaspella stopped them at the fountains where the last of the groups were huddled up. “This would be our stop.” Releasing Catra, she now addressed the crowd. “I’ll be going ahead and leading you all on a tour around Mystacor. Our goal here is to help you all feel comfortable calling this kingdom a temporary home. Our circumstances are not ideal but rest assured, you are safe from the Horde here.”

Catra tried not to actively cringe — talk about deja vu. In reality, it's not like she was part of the Horde anymore, but what they didn’t know could certainly hurt her.

Kowl had abandoned his perch on Catra’s shoulder, flying close enough so she could keep an eye on him (or, perhaps, it was the other way around). He seemed to be enjoying the clean air and nature, so at the very least that made one of them. Every once and a while he’d flap his wings in Catra’s face or try to nip her cloak when she got too grumbly about it.

As it turned out though, Mystacor wasn’t exactly the nightmarish hellscape Catra had hyped it up to be in her head. Castaspella led them all over the place: through the main villages and markets, past the universities crowded with young budding sorcerers, to the gardens which only wanted to make Catra sneeze, all the way to the beaches and hot springs and steam grottos– yeah, no, scratch that. This place was decidedly worse than Brightmoon. Why they needed so many water features was beyond Catra, who stayed near the back of the crowd at all times. She didn’t need to be seen by anyone who’d recognize her and she definitely didn’t need front row tickets to the boiling water pools everyone was so fascinated about.

“And, we saved the best for last! This building up ahead will be our last location for the day,” Castaspella pointed to the big dome at the top of the cliffs that they had been circling all afternoon. Somehow, she had managed to talk for nearly a full hour without feeling the need to stop. Catra would have greatly appreciated just a few seconds of silence.

She realized her wish wouldn’t be granted as soon as they began their walk to the dome. Not only did Castaspella narrate through the entire ascent, but Catra was really starting to hit her upper limit with her leg. Apparently walking the entire length of a kingdom in one day wasn’t the best idea. Her muscles ached and every once and a while she had to stop and take a breather. Luckily the group wasn’t moving too fast and she could usually catch up.

On one of her impromptu stops, she noticed someone staring at her from underneath their cloak. They only watched for a moment before turning away and catching up with the crowd again. Catra felt her adrenaline spike for a moment. Was someone growing suspicious? Or were they just a concerned citizen?

Chirping, Kowl gave his signal that they should keep going.

“Impatient much?” Catra growled, earning her another wing to the face.

Once they entered the dome, chattering filled the hallways as the tour group took in the grand arching architecture and the larger-than-life statues lining the walls.

Catra didn’t see the hype. They were big chunks of rock that vaguely looked like people. Cool. She could probably carve one of Glimmer if she could find a boulder big enough to fit her ego.

“The Hall of Sorcerers is one of our most sacred spaces,” Castaspella explained. “Here, we honor those who made meaningful contributions to the advancement of magic. Everyone you see here is someone we hold in high reverence.”

Creepy, Catra thought to herself. Her eyes couldn’t really trail away from those cold, unseeing stone faces. The faces of magic, apparently. Those grey downcast eyes seemed to bore right through her, making her ears pin down to the top of her head. This temple felt more like a morgue, except Catra wasn’t sure who was the stiff between herself and the statues.

Irony had its cruel timing as always, because just as she felt the shiver go down her spine at that unsettling analogy, the whole crowd stopped in front of one statue in particular, a solemn silence filling the room.

This one looked the newest out of all of them: a man with shoulder length hair and a well-kept beard, expression gentle as he held what Catra had learnt was a sorcerer's guild badge. His eyes didn’t seem as piercing as the others. The stone was softer, though Catra’s fur still stood on end as she tried to figure out what had caused such a shift in the crowd’s mood.

She had to stand on her tiptoes to see it from the back, but she was able to catch sight of the plaque at the statue’s base: His Majesty, King Micah of Brightmoon; he who gave his life for Mystacor, for the Rebellion, for Etheria.

The boiling water didn’t seem all that bad anymore.

Naturally, she didn’t spend three months in Brightmoon without hearing about Micah. She’d seen the mural and Adora had mentioned him once in passing. He’d always seemed like such a faraway entity but, given recent events, Catra couldn’t help wondering how he died, and then she couldn’t help thinking about Angela too.

Kowl nudged the side of her head, trying to snap her out of it but Catra couldn’t force herself to look away. It hit her in a whirlwind — who Castaspella reminded her of. Because that woman and this man looked strikingly similar and Micah…he looked like Glimmer. More than Catra felt Angela ever did.

Slowly, the mumbling of the crowd started up again as the group spread out to observe the other statues for a few moments longer. Vaguely, Catra could hear Castaspella telling them the Lunar-Something was next and then they’d be shown their temporary living quarters. But the woman’s voice sounded loud and judgmental to Catra’s twitching ears and the crowd- were they surrounding her? It felt like it as Catra saw all of her exits blocked, the quiet contemplating looks on their faces only a farce, surely.

And then she saw something, in the corner, hidden from the eyes of the average passerby but now the only thing Catra could see as her tunnel vision darkened. At the end of the hall, across from Micah’s statue, was a looming, familiar figure set in stone. Her name was different and there was more of her face showing than Catra was used to seeing, but clear as day, Light Spinner stood tall and imposing over Catra’s small form.

Catra’s instincts told her to run. Her feet shuffled backwards as her mind worked overtime to block out any thoughts about abusive mentors and deceased monarchs from her head as quickly as possible. A plan- she needed a plan. She needed to find Glimmer and definitely get out of this place as soon as-

“Psst,” A voice whispered from directly behind her. “Catra?”

Claws out, she spun around to face her attacker. This would have to be dealt with quickly and quietly if-

“Hey, it’s okay!” The familiar, if not a little scared, man next to her held up his hands in a placating way. He still barely spoke loud enough for anyone to hear — anyone except Catra, that was. “It’s just me! Soda Pop, remember?”

Blinking away the frantic haze from her eyes, Catra realized she did know this person and they certainly weren’t an attacker, He looked better than the last time they talked. His purple hair was pulled out of his face that notably wasn’t covered in soot anymore. His arm was in a new brace and he had a relieved smile on his face now that Catra had put her claws away. Kowl sat on his shoulder, happily cooing as he absentmindedly pet him.

“You can’t talk to me here,” Catra hissed quietly, glancing around anxiously to see if they’d drawn any attention. They hadn’t. Yet.

“Why not?” Soda Pop asked, genuinely confused. “I thought it’d be nice to see a familiar face. I know I needed one,” he added with a nervous chuckle, not seeming to understand that a familiar face was exactly what Catra was worried about. “My friends went to the first tours while I was getting my arm-”

“Look, I’m sure that’s all interesting but it's a long story and I’m really not supposed to be here so I need you to-“

“None of us are really supposed to be here,” He nudged Catra with his good arm, though his knowing wink made it seem like he might’ve known more than he was letting on. As confirmation, he said, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to get you in trouble. You saved my life, remember?”

“That’s a low bar,” Catra said but her face had a light red tint to it. “Anyone would’ve done that. Give it a few more seconds and Arrow Boy would’ve grabbed you instead.”

“But you did. And…” He shifted nervously, “Well, you looked upset. And your pet flew over to me for help, so I thought-“

“Thought you’d pay back the favor by coming to my rescue?” She snapped. At his crestfallen expression, she cursed under breath. “Sorry, that…sorry.”

He watched her a moment longer before shrugging. After that pause, all he could think to say was: “Times are tough.”

“That’s a real easy way to say everything sucks.”

He laughed, which was weird considering Catra wasn’t trying to make a joke. “Yeah, guess it is, huh? But hey, look!” He gestured to his brace, happily changing the subject. “They fixed me up pretty good here. I-I mean, their magic…it’s incredible! They think I can be out of this thing in a week or so. Can you believe that?”

Magic and healing were still two things Catra had a hard time reconciling together in her head. She didn’t understand how either could produce the other.

“You know,” Soda Pop continued, “I’m sure once things settled down, they could help you with your leg or-“

“Yeah, that’s a real nice sentiment but no thanks. I don't plan to be here long.” Catra shut that down as soon as she could. The magic tea was freaky enough. She didn’t need a bunch of sorcerers using her as a practice dummy for their magical anatomy exam or whatever those idiots did in magic school (Seriously, how impractical is a school like that? When do they learn important things like math and dual-staff combat?).

“Are you sure?” Soda Pop asked. “Don’t get me wrong, you seem to be doing better than earlier but they could really help you. You’re still limping. And all this walking has got to be killing you.”

“I can manage just fine on my own.”

“Well, yeah…but you don’t have to.”

Catra bit back another snarky response. She still wasn’t exactly sure why this guy was talking to her, or why she was talking back for that matter, but she didn’t need to push away one of her very few allies.

Because this was a strategic alliance. All of this was about getting reinforcements, so if she had to pretend like his completely unearned concern for her was actually calming her down, then she could certainly do that.

“Okay everyone,” Castaspella clapped her hands together. She stood large and imposing in the doorway of the Lunarium. “If we want to start filing our way carefully in- oh!” As she glanced over her shoulder, she faltered momentarily, seeing something that had made her pause. “Um, actually, why don’t we give it a few more minutes while I…tidy up a moment. Apologies.”

The women ducked into the Lunarium, hushed voices softly coming from inside. Catra strained to hear but she needed to get closer. The voices did sound familiar though. Was that…Glimmer?

One glance at the crowd showed they weren’t interested in the slightest about what was happening behind closed doors. While Catra couldn’t fathom the idea of not being even a little curious, she didn’t mind the crowd’s complacency if it meant she could sneak closer.

“What are we doing?” Soda Pop whispered, following her as she slunk subtly towards the Lunarium.

“I am conducting top secret rebellion business,” Catra said. “You are leaving with your plausible deniability intact. You never saw me, got it?”

He didn’t look happy, and while he didn’t keep following, he did assume a lookout position near the door, Kowl staying at his side too. Leaning casually against the wall, Catra listened.

“-no signs,” Bow said. “Wherever she’s hiding, it's not in any of the kingdoms we have contact with.”

“Surely something will turn up soon,” Castaspella said with that galling optimism she’d had all morning. It sounded more condescending than she probably realized. “Adora couldn’t have gone far.”

“It’s been two whole days,” Glimmer whined, but it was quieter than usual. Something about her subdued tone made Catra feel worse. “She could be anywhere by now. We don’t even know where to start looking and we don’t have the resources-”

“We could send a few scouts of our own out,” Castaspella offered. “We can take the demand off of the Brightmooners. Etheria knows you all need your rest.”

“There isn’t time to rest,” Glimmer said. The sound of her footsteps meant she’d started pacing. “We still don’t know how we’re going to recover the moonstone. For all we know, Hordak’s already let Shadow Weaver take it over! I know I stopped her at the Battle, but there’s no one defending it now.”

Catra let that image sink in: Shadow Weaver in control of the moonstone, Etheria’s most powerful runestone, her dark magic leaching into everything it could reach — Adora included.

It was probably a bad sign that she had lost track of how many panic attacks she’d nearly had in the past day, but Catra felt that choking feeling rise up her throat all over again.

Catra wasn’t stupid, but she was reckless and impulsive and her body was surging forward before she could do anything about it.

There was a moment of confusion, when the three didn’t recognize who was underneath the cloak, and then Glimmer’s eyes dropped down to Catra’s clawed hands, and then to her shoeless feet. In an instant, Glimmer’s body slammed full force into Catra’s, the latter’s shoulder blades hitting the ground first, and then they were both rolling out of the doorway.

A ripple of alarm went through the room as the people saw their queen tumbling on the floor with what looked to be a Horde soldier. When the two came to a stop, Glimmer had a cut on her forearm, Catra had a new shiner on her left eye, and Glimmer was holding Catra by the collar of her shirt, a near-murderous look on her face as her other hand glowed a piercing pink.

“Wait!” Catra yelped, kicking Glimmer in the stomach to get her off. “I just wanna talk-”

“Hey, I recognize her!” Someone in the crowd shouted. “That’s that Force Captain! She was at the Thaymore raid!”

“And the Battle of Brightmoon. Both of ‘em!”

“She stole my staff at the market and tried to make a fool outta me!”

Catra was on her feet but it wasn’t going to do her much good. There wasn’t anywhere to run, not when she was surrounded by some very angry Brightmooners who would surely love to see her head on a stake.

Glimmer was back on her feet too, Bow at her side with a grim expression, arrows at the ready. Castaspella was nowhere to be seen and that only unsettled Catra more.

“You have a lot of nerve showing up here,” Glimmer approached steadily, now that Catra was essentially cornered. “What, Brightmoon wasn’t enough for you? You have to take this from us too?”

“I don’t care about this place,” Catra glared right back. “I’m not here to take down Mystacor and that wasn’t why I was in Brightmoon either. This is about Adora.”

“Of course it is,” Glimmer complained under her breath but Catra caught it, a low growl building in her chest at the callout. “Adora isn’t even here!”

“I know, that’s the problem!” Catra stepped forward, but just as soon as she did, the crowd grew closer. It seemed that, after losing one Queen, they weren't too intent on losing another.

Weapons were drawn. Spell circles were shimmering in the air. Catra was weaponless and outnumbered.

“Hold on a second!” Someone yelled, pushing through the crowd and right up to Catra. Except, they didn’t attack her, but instead stood protectively in front of her. “We don’t need another fight!”

“Soda Pop?” Catra’s eyes widened in horror. “Stop- what are you-”

“We’ve seen enough violence, haven’t we?” Soda Pop continued to address the crowd. He, too, was defenseless. What he was hoping to accomplish with such a desperate display, Catra hadn’t a clue. “We don’t have to fight each other! Why don’t we try talking it out? Please?”

People were growing more restless. If anything, they didn’t seem opposed to taking Soda Pop down too. Alongside his protests, Kowl was weaving through the crowd, trying to get people to drop their weapons by nipping at their hands. Catra’s heart dropped when the brute she recognized from the market swiped a large fist at the creature, just narrowly missing him.

“He’s right,” Catra piped up, looking directly at Glimmer as she spoke. “There doesn’t need to be a big fight. I’m not looking to start anything. This? This is between me and you, Sparkles. No one else needs to get hurt because of us.”

Glimmer’s expression was unreadable for a long moment. Her eyes drifted from Catra to Soda Pop and Kowl, both of whom looked ready to protest further. Why? What did Catra do that would cause these beings to jump at the ready to Catra’s defense, to defy their Queen? What did they see in Catra that Glimmer couldn’t?

Bow placed a hand on Glimmer’s shoulder, and she turned to see a look of understanding on his face. This was her decision and he would stand by her, whatever that looked like.

But, it brought to light that not everyone in the room shared those sentiments. The Brightmooners were hungry for a fight. They were only holding back to see what Glimmer would do. It was power like this that Glimmer would never get used to having.

“We can talk,” Glimmer finally said. “Not here though. We’ll go somewhere private. Do you agree to come willingly?”

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Catra held up her hands to show her claws retracting. “I’ve only been asking for that from the start.”

Glimmer eyed her suspiciously. “Good. If that’s understood, then, by order of the Rebellion…Force Captain Catra, I officially place you under arrest.”

•••••

They didn’t have cuffs but Bow used the rope from one of his trick arrows to tie Catra’s hands together in front of her. Both Glimmer and Bow knew Catra could easily cut them away, but the fact that she hadn’t yet was a relative win. After all, if they really were going to take her prisoner, they had to make a show of it for the crowd.

“Bow, can you watch over those two?” Glimmer nodded over to Soda Pop and Kowl who both still looked dissatisfied. They’d need the supervision, both to make sure they didn’t start trouble and to make sure no one picked a fight with them for their bold statements.

“You sure?” Bow asked gently. He didn’t want Glimmer to overwhelm herself more than she already was, and Catra? Was a very…overwhelming person.

“I’m sure,” She took his hand, squeezing it for a moment. “Thank you.”

Glimmer turned back to Catra, face falling into a scowl before she teleported them away. Catra felt her stomach lurch before she unceremoniously fell to the ground. Between the tied hands, the maddening ache in her leg, and the nausea, Catra didn’t bother to stand.

Wherever Glimmer took them, Catra hadn’t seen it on the tour. It looked like a throne room, with less pomp and circumstance. There were multiple seats too, so it seemed more democratic if not for the larger chair in the middle. Castaspella was already sitting there, frantically writing something down when her head popped up at the intrusion.

“Glimmer! I was just reinforcing our protective barriers and checking in with our scouts. What is going on?”

“Figured we can ask her,” Glimmer said, arms crossed as she stared down at Catra. “How many people are here with you?”

“It's just me,” Catra groaned. “Well, me and Kowl, the pink thing. And the flying horse.”

“Wait, Swift Wind?”

“Yeah, he’ll probably show up any second now that you said that.” Catra shifted into a sitting position. Her ears were on swivels as she sat on high alert, already mapping out her exits if this went sour quick.

“Why would Swift Wind help you?” Glimmer asked. “In fact, why would anyone help you?”

“You’re about to understand the irony of that real soon, Sparkles,” Catra said. “Because…because I-” Catra huffed, hating the sound of the words leaving her lips, “I need your help. The whole rebellion’s, really.”

“Have you gone insane?!” Glimmer shouted. “What makes you think we would help you with anything?”

“Listen, I’m not stupid enough to think I have people by my side because of my undeniable charm, but this is about way more than any bad blood between us.” Catra’s ears went low as she hissed out. “This is about Adora, because Of Course It Is. And maybe you’d rather see me thrown off Mystacor’s cliffs right now but I know for a fact that I have a better lead on how to find her than you do.”

“And you’d know that because you're so good at spying now, right? Gah, I can’t believe you snuck in again-”

“None of this actually matters!” Catra’s tail flicked in annoyance. All of those wonderful tactful things she’d thought about saying on the flight over evaporated as soon as her frustrations got the better of her. “If you can get over your glittery self for five minutes, we can stop arguing in circles and focus on what we need to do next.”

“The only thing that’s coming next for you is a prison cell,” Glimmer scoffed in disgust. “Maybe it's my fault for expecting you’d have the decency to at least acknowledge everything that’s happened, but sure we can just move on, right?”

“I-” Catra faltered, “That’s not what I- it’s not like I can change anything now! What happened is done. I’m more concerned with trying to save the people who are left-”

“And the people who aren’t?” Castaspella’s calm and collected voice entered the fray. Both Catra and Glimmer turned to her in surprise, so caught up in their own world that they’d almost forgotten they had company.

“I won’t pretend that Angela and I didn’t have our issues,” Castaspella said, walking over to the two girls. “But she was still my sister, even with our quarrels, and I cared about her…even when I refused to say it.”

Catra shrunk underneath Castaspella’s gaze. She tried not to see someone else standing in front of her, someone just as tall and just as menacing, masked, magic at the ready to set her body rigid with red lightning — but try as she might, not even Catra could help the flicker of fear behind her eyes. Unwillingly, her claws unsheathed themselves, which — crap — wasn’t going to help her case at all, she wasn’t supposed to look violent, they’d have her pegged as the villain, and then there’d be a real fight, and there was no one to come to her rescue this time.

Eyes narrowing, Castaspella stared down at the young girl at her feet. She’d heard stories about the force captain before but this wasn’t what she imagined. Though she’d only met Adora once, she could already see the resemblance. The fear, the weariness, far too many traumas hidden behind that guarded expression. Child soldiers…

With a glance at Glimmer, Castaspella winced to see so much of that reflected in her eyes too.

Castaspella let out a long sigh that emptied all the air from her lungs. Kneeling down, she crouched until she was level with Catra who stared back like she expected an attack at any second, confusion growing in her eyes the longer no strike came.

“Tell me, Catra,” Castaspella spoke softly. “Did you order the attack on Brightmoon?”

“No. I didn’t.” Catra’s words were slow and careful, like she was worried she’d slip and give the wrong answer somehow.

Castaspella nodded, as if all she needed to believe her was her word, and then quietly asked her next question. “Did you intend for Queen Angela to die?”

There was something so direct and yet so vulnerable about the question that made Catra’s eyes water. “No,” She choked out, shaking her head a second later for emphasis. “No, I- I didn’t know that would happen.”

“But it did.” Glimmer’s own voice wavered. “My mom is gone. Someone has to be held accountable for that.”

There was a solemn silence for a moment. Castaspella stood back up and placed a comforting hand on Glimmer’s shoulder. They looked so tired. Ears pinned down, Catra swallowed her pride and sat up a little straighter, more confidence in her gaze as she met Glimmer’s (though that fear was still just under the surface, buzzing lightly under the skin).

“I’m sorry, Glimmer. For the Battle. For your mom.” For what I did to Adora. “For all of it. I’m sorry. I…I should have said that first.”

Glimmer wasn’t going to say she forgave her. Quite frankly, she didn’t. Not yet. But…this was a start she wasn’t expecting.

“Listen,” Catra said, that determination growing with every word. “The truth is, I didn’t kill your mom but I know who did. Shadow Weaver.” The room grew darker at merely the name. “Shadow Weaver took her from you. And right now…right now, she has Adora. She took her too.”

“And you expect us to believe that you want to help Adora?” Glimmer could only think of Adora’s face when she found her outside that tent, heartbroken. Sure, Glimmer had done her fair share of hurting, but Catra had thrown the first blow.

“I’m not going to pretend I didn’t screw up. Maybe there was a time when I wanted Adora to suffer, but that’s not true anymore. It hasn’t been true for a long time. I wish I could take it back, the spying, staying with the Horde, all of it. I know I don’t deserve your help after everything I’ve done but Adora does.”

Castaspella and Glimmer shared a look. Did they believe her?

“If it’ll help your ego or scratch that vengeful itch, then fine.” Catra got to her feet, standing as tall as she could. “Lock me up and let me rot. Kill me for all I care, but you won’t be solving anything. There is no avenging your mom so long as the woman really to blame is still out there. Understand that she is digging her claws into Adora as we speak, the same way she has since we were kids.” She poked a claw at Glimmer’s chest, the determination to get through to her once-enemy rolling off Catra in waves. “So do whatever you want to me later, but you let me — you let me — do one good thing in my miserable life before I go.”

Glimmer held Catra’s gaze for a long moment as she processed everything. As much as the idea made her sick to her stomach, she had to admit that having Catra on her side for the time being wouldn’t be the worst outcome to all of this (even if it was certainly the most unexpected). And maybe, just maybe, she could relate to Catra’s desire to fix her mistakes. Etheria knew Glimmer was in dire need of the same.

Before Glimmer could formally accept Catra’s offer, though, someone came sprinting into the room, panting hard, eyes frantic, tracker pad in hand.

“Guys!” Bow’s voice cracked, “We have an emergency!”

“Oh?” A high-pitched, crackly voice came from the tracker pad. “Did you find them? Fantastic!”

Glimmer paled. “Is that-”

“Entrapta?” Catra finished in similar shock.

“Wait, Entrapta is alive?” Castaspella asked as Bow ran up to them. He showed his screen and sure enough, there was Entrapta, half-distracted by something off camera but happy to see them nonetheless.

“Hello! That would be an accurate assessment, yes. I am alive. But that’s not why I called.” Glimmer looked like she wanted to protest but Entrapta barreled on. “I didn’t realize you were all in Mystacor, so it took me a while to get the signal through. But you're still closer to Dryl than me so that’s perfect for our purposes.”

“Dryl?” Catra asked, satisfied that the collective groan from the glittery duo matched her mood about that labyrinth. “Why would we-”

“Oh, Catra, are you there too? How intriguing. I’ll have to ask you more on that later. But! Onto more important findings. The proximity alarms in my castle went off a few hours ago. I thought perhaps one of my bots was trying to escape the castle grounds again, which given all of my prior observations wouldn’t be very good for the general public-”

“Entrapta. Point. Get there.”

“I checked the security footage.” Entrapta who usually spoke at a mile a minute suddenly stopped, a pained expression crossing her face, “It wasn’t a bot.”

There was an ominous silence punctuated with a ping. Entrapta sent a video to the chat.

“You can skim through the video for yourself on the way there. Scorpia needs help. I don’t know how severe her injuries are but I’m estimating she needs immediate medical attention. You can reach her faster than I can. I’ll remotely clear a path for you to the observation deck, but, please, hurry.”

With that, the video feed cut off and Entrapta disappeared just as quickly as she had appeared.

“Bow, get that video playing,” Glimmer jumped into action. “Castaspella, can you handle things here?”

“I’ll notify the healers to get a bed ready,” Castaspella nodded, already taking off.

Glimmer placed a hand on Bow’s shoulder, ready to teleport away but Catra stopped her. “Hey! I’m coming too. Scorpia is my friend. If she’s hurt-”

“Fine,” Glimmer put a hand on her too. “Stay in sight though.”

“Yes ma’am,” Catra grumbled as she cut away the bonds on her hands, only earning a small eye roll from Glimmer at the blatant lack of subtlety.

In a flash, Catra felt that topsy-turvy gut twist once more, and then the marble under her feet was replaced with cold concrete. Her vision was dark as she got her bearings, but as soon the lightheadedness washed away and she could focus, she was right back where she started as the intense smell of blood hit her.

They’d missed the mark, landing in a hallway somewhere. Glimmer looked panicked. Bow was frantically skimming through hours worth of footage. Catra swallowed down the choking sound in her throat as she said, “I can find her. Follow me.”

She didn’t wait to see if the others were behind her. Running as fast as her leg could take her, she followed the smell, twisted around corners and down stairwells until she burst through the large archway to the observation deck. When she caught sight of Scorpia, she skidded to a halt, heart dropping into her stomach.

This was not how she expected to see Scorpia again for the first time after three months away: tied up, unconscious, face smeared with blood, chest barely rising because her breath was so faint.

Glimmer stood next to her, in just as much shock. Ears twitching, Catra could hear Bow walking towards them from down the hall, probably still focused on the video. Shaking herself out of her stupor, Catra got busy with cutting away the wires, hands shaking as she did.

“Is it safe to teleport her when she’s like this?” Catra asked.

“Should be,” Glimmer said, voice sounding far away as she took in the sight. “I can be careful.” She knelt down to help Catra with the wires, clearing away the frayed ones as they worked. “Yeah, no this is fine,” She rambled, mostly to herself, “What’s one more Horde soldier in the magical sanctum? Apparently, that’s what we do now.”

“Guys…” Bow got their attention, face troublingly pale. “I…this video…this can’t be right.”

“What?” Glimmer asked as the last of the wires fell away. They moved Scorpia into a position where they could teleport her. “What did you see?”

Bow took in a shaky breath, trembling slightly when he met the other’s eyes.

“Bow,” Catra snapped, “Who did this?”

He shook his head in a daze before turning around the tracker pad for them to see for themselves.

“Adora.”

•••••

They couldn’t stop replaying the video. It seemed so…unreal. And yet, with each rewatch, it was the same every time: The chase. The platforms. The fall.

Adora was walking away. Walking away! Leaving! Why did she turn back around? Why hurt Scorpia?

There was no audio. Maybe Scorpia would have answers once she woke up, but for the time being Glimmer and Bow could only stare at the screen in horrified silence, as — with each and every rewatch — they saw a side of Adora they didn’t know existed. Didn’t know could exist.

“This is all my fault,” Glimmer whispered. “If I hadn’t pushed her away-”

“Don’t do that,” Bow stopped her sternly. “Catra said Shadow Weaver was planning this for months.”

“Yeah, and we played right into her trap!”

“Hey, look. We messed up — don’t give me that look, we is exactly what I meant. But if Catra is willing to try and fix it, then we can do the same. Okay?”

Glimmer nodded reluctantly before she took the pad, pausing the video. Adora was just about to walk away when she stopped. Frozen there, it was almost like they could pretend the rest wouldn’t come. Because she hadn’t turned away from the camera yet to look at Scorpia, her face was on full display.

Bow stared at the image for a moment before something started to dawn on him. Adora, she didn’t look like some angry madman. For the most part, she just looked…blank. Expression slack, like she wasn’t affected. But if he really looked, if he ever knew her at all, he could see the call for help in her eyes. Fear.

“She’s terrified,” He mumbled, taking the pad from Glimmer who was shooting him a confused look.

Curious, he wanted to test something. He started moving the video frame by frame, trying to see where the shift happened.

And there it was. They both gasped. It was only there for a fraction of a second, a single frame at most, but they saw it.

There, on either side of Adora, were the faint outlines of two shadowy figures. They both had their grips locked onto Adora, the first shade with a hand on Adora’s cheek and the other around her neck, the second grasping her arm and pulling Adora back, the girl’s shoulder just barely turned as a result. Adora’s face had changed too, her eyes growing dark, her brow ever so slightly beginning to scrunch up before the full fury hit.

‘So…” Bow shook his head, “That means…”

“Shadow Weaver,” Glimmer spat the name out, absolutely seething. “She was there the whole time, pulling the strings! And then she has the audacity to act like some hero!”

“But what even is this? Is Adora under a spell or something?”

“I don’t know.” Glimmer hated not knowing. “Whatever this is though, I think someone’s been whispering in her ear for a while now.” Feeling uneasy, she looked at Bow, feeling an odd sense of deja vu, “You’ve felt it too, haven’t you? Like something’s been lurking. Messing with us. With how we feel.”

Bow nodded. “Something was wrong in Brightmoon.”

The cold chill that ran down Glimmer’s spine only confirmed it. “What if it's been following Adora this whole time? Adora might not even realize it! What if she can’t fight it? Catra said Shadow Weaver would be digging her claws into Adora, what if they’re already in too deep? How-” Glimmer’s voice broke, “-how long was she hurting?”

Tearing up, Bow pulled Glimmer in for a tight hug, the two mutually finding comfort in the other. “We’re going to find her,” His voice was muffled, his face in Glimmer’s hair. The low rumble of his voice felt nice. “We’re going to help her. And then?”

Glimmer nodded against his chest, getting the message. “And then we’re gonna bring her back home.”

•••••

The last time Scorpia felt this bad was when she was a cadet. It was after a final exam, right before her class graduated, and she’d been paired with the only other person big enough to fight her, a big blue lizard-man double the size of Rogelio and triple the menace.

Scorpia thought for sure after that fight that she’d never even get assigned to a squad, so it was quite a surprise when Shadow Weaver visited her in the hospital wing to congratulate her on the promotion. She thought it was a joke! Oh man, Shadow Weaver was not pleased when Scorpia laughed in her face.

So that’s why, when Scorpia came to, she laughed weakly, more of a wheeze than anything. Whoever was sitting next to her sat up a little straighter at the sound.

“Scorpia?” The voice sounded fragile, like they were trying to keep it together but only hanging on by a thread.

Turning her head as much as she could, she saw Catra sitting beside her out of her only good eye. Funny. They were matching, Catra’s eye swollen shut too.

“Ca…Catra? That really you?”

“Yeah,” Catra gave her a wavering smile. “It's me, big girl. How’re you feeling?”

Scorpia considered it for a long moment. “Bad.”

Catra nodded, hesitantly reaching out. Scorpia saw it and nodded, prompting Catra to place her hand on one of her claws. “You got banged up real good, Scorps. Scared Entrapta pretty bad.”

“And you?”

Catra didn’t answer but her claws pricked at Scorpia’s exoskeleton, an answer in itself. Already an apology was on Scorpia’s lips when she suddenly remembered what landed her in this…weird, unfamiliar, kind-of-nice room in the first place.

Urgently, Scorpia tried to sit up but flopped down with an easy push from Catra. “Adora- she-”

“I know.”

Scorpia frowned when she saw the pained look on Catra’s face, who was too tired to hide it anymore. “But it wasn’t- she was- Shadow Weav-”

“I said I know,” Catra snapped, before correcting herself. “Sorry. I didn’t…it's been a long day. Bow showed me some security footage of your guys’ fight. It's a lot to take in.”

At first, Scorpia wanted to prod more. It wasn’t often Catra opened up so readily. But she didn’t want to push her luck or Catra’s nerves more, so Scorpia decided to lighten the mood. “Oh shucks…there’s a video of that? Now that’s just embarrassing, really.”

Catra laughed, an exhausted but real one. The laugh trailed off, slowly devolving into small, sniffling cries. Her shoulders shook with the effort to hold it in until she met Scorpia’s caring expression, and then she just crumbled completely.

“Oh…Wildcat…” Scorpia beckoned her forward and Catra collapsed into her arms, for once accepting one of Scorpia’s extended bear hugs without complaint as she sobbed into her friend’s shoulder.

Chapter Text

“Don’t you want to leave that ol’ thing here?”

The kid shook their head adamantly. They were holding exactly two objects, not just one ol’ thing and they had no intention of putting down either: the first, a shopping list their mother had given them that morning, and, the second, a small stuffed animal. It was a grey horse and it had a fuzzy black mane and a hand-stitched smile and it was tucked away safely in the child’s arms.

“Well, fine,” the mother pouted her lips. Really, she didn’t want her child to go out on their own at all, scared as she was for them, but she’d have to let them discover their independence eventually. Telling them no now would only start an argument. “So long as you can carry the groceries back?”

This time the child nodded with a great determination in their eyes. They were big enough to go into the market on their own, or so they insisted just moments prior. Even at their young age, they knew how much their mother was struggling now that it was just the two of them and they only wanted to help.

“You just remember to keep your head down, then, and come right back when you’re done, got it?”

They wouldn’t be out for long. The list itself was short, scribbled as it was so hastily on the small piece of parchment: milk, eggs, tomatoes, bread, and fruit. She hadn’t specified what kind of fruit on purpose, promising the child they could buy whatever they wanted as long as there was enough money left over.

The mother pulled the child towards her for one last hug before she let them out the door. “And I don’t want to hear nothing about any trouble, or you’ll have more to worry about than them soldiers! You follow the list, then you come on back.”

Waving at her that they understood, the child skipped away, down the steps of their small cottage and along the cobblestone road towards the central marketplace. They kept close to the buildings, avoiding the horses and the carriages and the occasional tank that rolled down the street.

The masses forced the child to weave past them as they walked: vendors selling their wares, farmers selling their produce, and soldiers selling their propaganda.

“Keep it moving,” A man, face masked by their helmet, growled at any passerby that lingered too long near one of the tanks. There were four soldiers walking beside the great big machine, two in the front and two in the back, and the child preferred not to be seen by any of them. They slipped past as fast as they could, focused on finding their mom’s favorite bakery stand.

“-just rumors.” One of the soldiers in the back said as they passed. “Why would she bother with this dump? Besides, even if she tries-”

“I’m tellin’ you! A buddy from my old squad said she launched a raid not too far from here. What if there’s an attack? They say she can-“

The child didn’t really want to hear the rest of the conversation, only understanding vaguely that the Horde soldiers were bad, but the words raid and attack were more bad, and they should steer clear of any such talk.

Picking up the pace, the child began weaving through the crowd more recklessly, darting between legs, pushing past people, when- BAM!

A lump caught in their throat as they looked up at who they’d ran into. Even the luxury of a glaring face alluded them as their eyes met the unreadable gaze of a Horde soldier helmet.

“Hey! You think you can just run around without watching where you’re going?!” The soldier shouted, waving his arms around wildly, making the child flinch. “Huh, you stupid brat?!”

The child whimpered as the soldier towered over them. It seemed the man was taking an immense enjoyment out of seeing the kid cower, so he kept it up.

“Don’t you know?” The man sneered. “The Horde doesn’t have a lot of patience for little runts like you. If you’d have ran into someone meaner than me, they might’ve just-“

“Excuse me.”

The man turned around, his anger switching targets as he registered the unwelcome hand on his shoulder. “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Busy bullying a child?” The person — they were blocked mostly from view, though the kid could make out a tattered black cloak and the gold glint of something shiny reflecting in the light of the daymoons — didn’t seem amused. “The Horde really doesn’t have anything better to do?”

“And who exactly is asking?“

Once again, the child didn’t want to stay to see how the conversation played out. Clutching their stuffed horse closer to their chest, they quickly crept away, hoping the soldier would stay distracted by whoever had tried to intervene.

They must be brave, the child assumed, to say something like that. Nobody stood up to the Horde soldiers.

Not without getting hurt.

As they bought their bread, and their milk and eggs, and their tomatoes and their plums, they thought about the Horde soldiers’ beady eyes, their cold if not hateful expressions, their guns that they liked to wave around as they patrolled the city, and-

And their boots.

Weird.

Weird, the child thought, as they neared a narrow alleyway, groceries in hand, when they saw the tips of two boots sticking out just barely into the street. Then, to their alarm, the boots slid suddenly out of view, like something had pulled them into the darkness.

Keep your head down. Come right back home.

The child wasn’t naturally curious about most things, especially when it involved the soldiers, but something drew them to investigate the alleyway, a pull towards the darkness that they too couldn’t ignore.

They were right around the corner, about to take a peek. With a quick glance around them first, they saw that no one else seemed to have noticed the disappearing boots, nor was anyone else feeling the strange need to look.

Heart thundering in their chest, they rounded the corner, their own shadow blocking the little light that was seeping into the narrow pathway. The child had a creeping suspicion that the alley shouldn’t have been that dark. They shouldn’t have had to squint to make out what laid in front of them. It was almost as if, instead of an absence of light, there was an abundance of shadow.

But…what was in front of them? The sight made them drop their bags and their toy as their grip became weak and their hands began to shake.

On the ground was the Horde soldier from earlier, looking even bigger than before. His shoulders touched the walls on either side of him, pressing him into the tight space. His boots were closest to the child, his limbs slack, his nose bleeding, his helmet split in two, a wheezing whine of pain trickling out through his slack lips.

Beside him was the cloaked figure from before, hood down to reveal…a young woman (younger than the child had expected, at least, young enough to be the same age their older sister had been when she’d disappeared). This stranger seemed surprised to have company, her face expressionless except for the slight white of her eyes widening and the half-tilt of her head as she examined the child.

They wanted to run away, but they were frozen in their fear.

Something in the lady’s face seemed to register the kid’s terror, because a softer expression took over her features. Still kneeling, keeping at the child’s eye level, she slowly raised her hands with open palms facing out.

“It’s okay,” She said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

A lot of people said that without meaning it, but the child remembered the way the woman had stepped in to help them earlier. Maybe, they reasoned, the soldier had started a fight. Maybe she fought back.

“You really shouldn’t be out on the streets by yourself,” The lady continued, tone even. It seemed as though, instead of honestly chastising the child, she was really only trying to fill the silence. “Not with the soldiers everywhere.”

The child tried to nod, hoping agreeing would appease the woman, or perhaps it would convince the rest of their body to move as well and take them far away from this horrible place.

“Are you…scared?” The woman asked, eyes flickering past the child momentarily.

The child nodded.

“Of the soldiers?”

The child nodded again, the only thing they felt they could do.

“Hm,” The woman hummed, a determined expression making her eyebrows furrow together. “Well, you won’t have to be scared of them for much longer. I’m here to help. By the end of today, you won't have to be scared ever again.” She moved, albeit maybe subconsciously, to block the view of the body behind her. “You believe me, right?”

Once again, the child nodded, and then the woman nodded back.

There was a painfully long stretch of silence (interrupted only by the occasional groan from the soldier) before the woman reached to grab the kid’s bags, holding them out for the kid to take.

Hands jerking out away from their body, they snatched the bags back, a piece of paper fluttering out of one of them. Before the kid could grab it, the woman was reading it out loud.

“Milk, eggs…” She tilted her head curiously as she got to the bottom. “Fruit…love Mom.” The woman stared at the black ink for a moment before looking up at the child. “Your mom…is it just the two of you at home?”

The child nodded, unshed tears stinging their eyes.

“Is she waiting for you?”

A nod.

“Well,” The woman smiled in what was probably supposed to be a friendly way. “You should get back to her then.”

The child was more than ready to leave, one heel staggering backwards-

“But first?”

Once again, the child froze.

“Let’s…let’s think of it this way,” The woman mumbled to herself before speaking up. “I did a favor for you earlier, right? So, do you think you could do a favor for me?”

…the child nodded.

“When you get home, I need you to tell your mom something. It’s very important.”

For the first time since the odd encounter, the woman rose to her feet. The child, who felt dwarfed by comparison, wished she hadn’t.

“I need you to go back home and lock the doors. And then? I need you to find your mom and tell her that no matter what she thinks she hears or sees…you both need to stay inside. Don’t try to get involved and-“ a strange expression came over her as she finished with a small “-don’t try to be a hero.”

The child nodded rapidly, their legs finally seeming to work, carrying themself and their groceries away from that dark place. The toy, still on the cobblestone street, was forgotten in their haste.

They swore, as they ran, they heard the woman whisper, “It's never worth it, in the end.”

More risky weaving got the child through the crowd. They now had a much more important task to complete once they reached home, a task more important than anything they ever would’ve done at the market. It wasn’t trust exactly that made them heed the woman’s warning, even though they felt she had been telling the truth.

Barging through the front door, they tried to warn their mother, but to their immense frustration and growing panic, she didn’t take them seriously because no one could fight the Horde soldiers and this tall tale had to be nothing more than a poor lie to cover up why they’d broken the eggs.

She didn’t want to believe what the child saw six months ago, when their sister was taken, and she didn’t want to believe them now that the threat could be on their front doorstep again.

No, it wasn’t until the house shook and the world outside pitched into darkness in the height of the afternoon that the mother finally lunged for the deadbolt at the top of the doorframe.

Mid-reach, the door crashed open, slamming into the wall, nearly bursting off its hinges.

It was too late.

Tea time was a right, not a privilege, so far as Scorpia was concerned. That was what she had argued to the princesses as soon as she’d been cleared to roam Mystacor freely (a privilege Catra was very anxious to earn) and it was the reason why she was sitting in Catra’s room with a warm mug in her hand and a smile on her face.

The routine was tired, but at least it meant Catra got some company now and again, even if it was still in her nauseatingly lush prison cell. As much as she would’ve appreciated the outdoor air, Scorpia hadn’t been able to get Catra beach time (not that Catra had really wanted to be near the water).

“I really need to ask them how they make these,” Scorpia said, holding up a cucumber sandwich.

“It’s bread and vegetables,” Catra grumbled. She was lying on the couch across from where Scorpia sat on a bean bag that was comically too big, even for her. “Can’t be that hard.”

“Yeah, but it's just so…refreshing,” Scorpia sighed wistfully, taking another bite. Then, with an unsubtle push of the platter in Catra’s direction, she added, “Come on, just try one,” which roughly translated to ‘You need to eat too.’

Catra blindly reached for one, her eyes affixed to the ceiling. Even if Scorpia was right, she didn’t have to like it, nor make it easy for her friend.

“Anyway, one of the cooks was telling me about this new recipe they’re trying. I should bring them next time! They’re called dumplings and-”

Catra’s ears twitched, focus immediately shifting as the soft chime of bells reached her ears, right before the Queen of Brightmoon landed on her carpet.

“Oh! Your Majesty-”

“You know you can knock right?” Catra skipped the formalities. “That’s why there’s a door there. In case you forgot, it can actually unlock from your side.”

Glimmer didn’t seem too amused, a grim expression on her face. Catra turned a little on her side, ignoring the ever-present dull ache in her leg as she did.

“So Sparkles, why the visit? I thought the alliance meeting was tomorrow. Then again, it's so easy to lose track of time when you’re wasting away here all-”

“We’re having an emergency meeting.”

Catra schooled her expression into something neutral, despite the flick of her tail. “Did something happen?”

“I’ll explain in the war room.” Glimmer meant the makeshift conference room that she’d been practically living out of ever since she got to Mystacor.

“You go on ahead Wildcat,” Scorpia stood up, gathering the platter and half-full mugs in her arms. “Duty calls! I’ll clean up.”

“No,” Glimmer said, “You should come too. The more eyes on this the better.”

Scorpia, albeit shocked that her opinion was needed, was rightfully concerned about what would warrant it in the first place. Everyone usually looked to Catra for guidance on…the issue. It wasn’t uncommon for Catra to spend almost as much time in the makeshift war room as she did her makeshift prison cell.

With a hand on their shoulders, Glimmer teleported them away. A few members were already there: Netossa, Spinnerella, and Castaspella. Bow was missing, interestingly enough.

“We’ll get right into it,” Glimmer was already walking to her seat at the table, ignoring Catra fighting for her life to keep from throwing up. Waving her hand at the screen on the wall, an image appeared of-

“Is that Grizzlor?” Scorpia blurted out.

“Among others,” Catra mumbled from the ground, narrowed eyes scanning the many faces on the screen. There were nine photos in total, all mugshots, all force captains. “What is this?”

“Earlier this morning,” Glimmer explained, “Plumeria, the Kingdom of Snows, and Salineas all found three force captains each on their doorsteps. All of them were unconscious and bound. Most of them…injured.”

As Catra got up to sit in her usual seat, she shot Scorpia a look. Now it made sense why the Queen wanted both of them there.

“You think this was Weaver?” Netossa asked.

“It has to be,” Castaspella said. “Who else is working against the Horde?”

“But why force captains?” Scorpia asked.

“And why give them to us?” Netossa seemed annoyed, clearly unappreciative of their supposed gifts. “Is this supposed to be a peace offering or something?”

“No.”

Eyes turned to Catra. Glimmer shifted where she stood. “What makes you say that?”

“It could be a peace offering,” Catra said. “Or, you know, they’re mocking us. But…that’s not it.”

“Mind being a little less cryptic for the audience?” Netossa crossed her arms, as if she hadn’t grown used to Catra’s flare for the dramatic by now.

“It's a message.” Honestly, these princesses missed the most obvious things. “Yeah, okay, they’re saying ‘Look, we’re the good guys, we did this for you,’ but there has to be more to it. The question is what?”

“It seems to me that it's a show of power,” Spinnerella said. “You said they all appeared around the same time? I would like to know how Shadow Weaver and Adora managed to make it to all three of those kingdoms in one night.”

“It might not just be three,” Glimmer pointed out. “Bow and Swift Wind left to investigate Brightmoon this morning to see if there were more.”

“You guys think she would leave them there with no one in the castle?” Scorpia asked, frowning. Catra glanced over at her, flicking her tail lightly over one of her pinchers. They both knew which she Scorpia was referring to, even if it left a bad taste in Catra’s mouth.

“But why force captains? And why the three kingdoms?” Catra asked out loud, mind racing to connect the dots. This was a big move on Shadow Weaver and Adora’s part, and it clearly wasn’t something the two wanted to be ignored. “Did the force captains say anything when they woke up?”

Glimmer shook her head, shuffling through some papers before sliding a stack towards Catra. “That’s the worst part. Every single one of them had no memory of what happened. They said one minute they were at their base. The next?”

“In captivity,” Catra finished. Her nails dug a little into the armrest of her chair. She was only adding to the scratches that were already there. “Magic?”

“Most likely.”

“Has to be.”

Catra took a deep breath. She could handle this. It wasn’t an ideal situation by any means, but she knew this was a puzzle she could solve. Like she told the princesses when all this started, if anyone understood those two, it was Catra.

Catra knew how they thought.

Catra knew how to get inside their heads.

What was she missing?

Of course.

The magicat’s grip tightened once more, claws making an audible scratch into the wooden chair. “How long until Arrow Boy comes back?”

“I’m…not sure.” Glimmer admitted. “Why?”

“When he gets here, we’ll need him to contact Entrapta so she can connect him to the Horde’s database.”

“What-”

“We need to figure out exactly where those force captains came from. We need to know what bases they were in charge of, where they were, and, most importantly, how long ago they went missing.”

“Okay,” Glimmer nodded, trying to match Catra’s logic and not quite getting there. “Why do we need all that?”

“Because,” Catra said, “It’s like I said. Adora’s sending a message.”

The grim faces of the captured captains stared back at Catra, scowling disapprovingly down at her.

“This is how we read it.”

The trickle of the fountain in the main square was a soothing sound, but it wasn’t nearly loud enough to drown out the pounding of Adora’s heartbeat. Despite what her body was telling her, amped up on adrenaline as she was, covered in sweat and blood…she was calm.

It hadn’t lasted long, the fighting. Most of their raids on the Horde-occupied villages didn’t. The soldiers were too complacent when left to their own devices like that, even with the rise of attacks growing exponentially.

Adora ran her hands under the fountain, the pristine water darkening.

No, the fight itself had been easy. It was…disappointing. Even with the daymoon at its highest peak, what was supposed to be a challenge, Adora had found the fight too easy. Honestly, she had suspicions that her old squad members were the last recruits who received any proper training, given the subpar performance of these so-called warriors.

Perhaps Adora would be less frustrated if her job were actually done, but for all her troubles, she still hadn’t gotten what she actually came for and that meant she couldn’t leave just quite yet.

“We are wasting time.”

“I’m aware,” Adora snapped back. “Give me a minute, I’m thinking.”

“Well, think faster. It won’t be long before word of this gets back to the rebellion.”

“I’m not afraid of the rebellion.” She really wished Shadow Weaver would’ve let her handle this mission alone like they originally planned, but apparently there were only so many times she could distract the woman with a nearby winery before catching on. “And I’m not interested in charging around blindly. We both know she hasn’t left town yet, assuming your shadow spies are actually accurate for once.”

“My shadow spies are perfectly reliable,” Shadow Weaver glared at her partner in crime. She walked closer to Adora, stepping over one of the unconscious bodies littered on the ground. “It is you I question.”

“Oh, really?” Was nothing ever good enough for this woman? She’d just decimated an entire battalion in minutes, but clearly that wasn’t enough.

“Are you certain you are not wasting time on purpose? After playing around with that thing-”

“Oh no!” Adora gasped dramatically, a hand on her chest. “A child!” More seriously, almost admonishingly, she added. “That kid was in danger and scared. I was just trying to help.”

Adora couldn’t keep the frustration out of her tone, as though it should be obvious by now to Weaver that helping people was all Adora ever tried to do.

“I don’t care what it was, you should not have meddled in affairs you have no stakes in. Do you even understand the risk you ran?”

“Risk?” Adora scoffed. She nudged a limp leg with her boot. “Not a single soul here is a risk.”

“You waste your time on playing the hero for toddlers, risk your cover, buy pastries-”

“We were in a market! I’m not allowed to eat now?”

“-when your time would be better spent sticking to the plan you drafted. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you wanted to get caught, let alone find some ridiculous reason to stay here long enough to catch sight of those princesses-”

“That’s not what this is. And you couldn’t find her in the chaos either. Don’t blame that on me!”

“-and now you’re being sentimental.” Shadow Weaver eyed the toy horse tucked into Adora’s belt. “What exactly are you planning to do with that wretched thing?”

“Give it back. Obviously.”

Shadow Weaver shook her head disapprovingly. “We have more important-”

“I’ll be fine. Why don’t you go back to the tents if you’re so worried about the rebellion showing up?”

“I am not concerned about them.” Softly, Shadow Weaver added, “I am concerned about you.”

Adora laughed. Yeah, sure. “I can handle myself.”

“But can you handle a confrontation? It has been a long time since-”

“I’ve seen the other princesses plenty,” Adora stood up onto the fountain ledge, pacing along the edge. She took out her knife, flipping it a few times in her palm as she spoke. “Sure, they never saw me, but that doesn’t really matter.”

“Believe me, Adora, hiding in the shadows to watch from afar is plenty different than meeting face-to-face. You are not prepared for a true fight.”

Adora gripped the blade of her knife, turning to look at Shadow Weaver with a tight smile. “Listen. We can keep wasting our time having this argument or, just maybe, you can let me do what I came here to do.”

“Ah, would that mean you are done thinking, then?”

Jumping back down onto the pavement, Adora walked in the direction of one of the few houses still standing. “Yeah, actually,” She called over her shoulder, flipping her knife again. She was more than ready for some action again.

Except — she reached towards her belt, placing the knife back into its holster and exchanging it for the plush horse instead — there was something she had to do first.

Catra’s suspicions were confirmed. Too bad she still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“So?” Glimmer prodded for an explanation. Catra had been silently reading over the printed reports for almost ten minutes now and patience was running thin.

“They’re trying to tell us something.”

“You mentioned that,” Netossa quipped.

“I know,” Catra said, putting the papers down. “The thing is, we shouldn’t focus on what they’re saying.”

Bow looked confused. “So Entrapta and I did all that for nothing?”

“That’s not-” Catra groaned, “We need to focus on what they aren’t saying! There’s gaps in their story if you look in the right places.”

“I’m…not following,” Scorpia said, to which most people nodded their agreement.

“Sparkles, pull up your notes again.”

“A please would suffice,” Glimmer complained, but did what she was told.

Onto the screen, she pulled up a list of all the recent known attacks that the Horde had suffered due to Non-Alliance altercations. There were six in total from the last couple months alone. This was the same list they’d been building over many meetings now, a living document that consolidated every single lead they had on Shadow Weaver and Adora’s next moves.

“This is a list of where we know they’ve been,” Catra stood up to explain, bringing her own papers with her. “Every attack, that is. Basically, anywhere Shadow Weaver and Adora made enough noise for us to notice.” She held up the paper list, the one Bow had given her. “Here’s a copy of all the places the captured force captains were assigned to before they got to us. Notice anything?”

They cross-referenced the two. Bow spoke up first. “All of our known attacks are also on that list.”

“Exactly. These ones-” Catra pointed to three different locations with her claws, “-aren’t. What does that mean?”

“We missed a few?” Castaspella guessed.

“Yes,” Catra said, “Because we weren’t supposed to know about them. For whatever reason, Shadow Weaver and Adora kidnapped Force Captains Grizzlor, Mantenna and Leech covertly.”

“Alright,” Glimmer nodded. “Let’s say they snuck into the encampments and took those three for some unknown reason without making a scene. So, they aren’t always looking for a fight?”

“That’s one answer,” Catra pulled up another document, “Except, all three of those captains were taken one after the other. The Horde filed that they were missing all within this last week. And! There’s only one or two days in between each kidnapping.”

Realization began to flicker across the group’s faces.

“Those bases aren’t too far apart,” Castaspella pointed out.

“Exactly,” Catra said. “Can someone get me a map?”

Dutifully, Bow changed the screen to a map of Etheria. Catra grabbed a pen, drawing directly on the tech (not for the first time, which was why all writing instruments had been filled with washable ink by command of the Head Sorceress).

“Grizzlor was at the bridge over the Singing River…Leech, the Growling Sea, and Mantenna at Talon Mountain.” She circled each location on the map. “They were taken in that exact order. If we look at the distances-” She drew lines connecting one place to another, writing down numbers above them, “-and divide that by how long there was in between each capture, then we can figure out how fast they travel.”

“Up until now, the attacks were spread out by at least a week,” Glimmer mentioned. “They were taking their time, making sure we couldn’t track their next moves. Why get sloppy now?”

“They’re getting desperate?” Netossa guessed.

“Or they’re looking for something,” Spinnerella added.

“Or both,” Catra said. “Regardless, if we know their last attack was at Talon two days ago, then we can reasonably assume-” Catra drew a larger circle around the area, “-they’re here. Somewhere in this circle.”

The group stared at the map in awe. It was the biggest lead they’d had in months.

“There’s only three Horde-occupied spaces in that area, not counting Talon.” One base at the Tower. Two villages: Erelandia and Thaymor.

“But, wait,” Scorpia broke in, “We still don’t know how they got the force captains to the other kingdoms. None of those are near the mountains.”

“They could’ve paid someone to escort them? Or, I don’t know, put a spell on the force captains to make them walk to Plumeria or something.” Catra mostly shrugged the question off. (What? Was she expected to know everything?) “The point is, they want us to think they’re everywhere at once. They knew it’d confuse us.”

“Catra’s right,” Bow said. “It doesn’t really matter how they did it. It’s a red herring.”

“We should act fast. Split up.” Glimmer was already thinking of what came next. “We’ll send groups to all three areas. They usually attack at night, so that gives us enough time to get there even if they do it today.”

Catra couldn’t help the twist of her gut. This was it: the closest they’d ever gotten, maybe the closest they’d get.

If only that made her feel better, instead of worse.

“Bow and I will take the Tower. Spinnerella, Netossa, can you handle Thaymor?”

“You know we can.”

“You can trust us, your Majesty.”

“Perfect.” Glimmer turned to Catra. “Can you, Scorpia, and my aunt handle Erelandia?”

“You’re letting me out to play for once? Well, sure.” As far as the rebellion tended to treat her, Catra was an advisor, never the one on the ground doing the actual searching. This really was important, then, if they were finally loosening the leash.

At least it's not Thaymor, Catra thought. She did not like the idea of doing anything with the sorceress, but she hated that town more than she hated magic, and for good reason. At least it’d be nice to have Glimmer off her back for once.

“Alright. We don’t have time to get the other princesses in here. We head out. Now.”

“And…” Scorpia winced, “If we do find them? What do we do?”

Glimmer sighed, eyes a little hazy. “We get Adora back.”

The door swung open with the faintest touch, creaking on its hinges as it did. Adora stepped inside, boots heavy on the tile floor. Maybe she could have been quieter, but she wanted whoever was in there to hear her, to know exactly where in the house she was, to prove she was not a threat.

There were three bedrooms in the house, but it was only the second one Adora checked that hid who she was looking for.

The bedroom was the smallest of the bunch and had certainly seen better days. The tiny bed pushed into the corner was unmade. The toys and books that once were stored neatly on their shelves were now littered across the floor, creating a minefield. The closet door was broken, barely hanging off its hinges. The only lamp in the room had been cracked in two, flooding the windowless room in darkness.

Adora might have overlooked the child if she hadn’t already suspected where they might hide. Carefully padding over to the bed, she cleared a spot at her feet before sitting down, legs crossed. With a friendly smile on her face, her eyes met the wide, terrified eyes of the kid from the market, who was pressed as far back against the wall as they could be in that small space.

“Hi there,” Adora said softly, hoping her presence would subtract, not add, to the kid’s worries. Her appearance probably wasn’t doing her much good though, the grime of battle still clinging to her clothes and skin despite her best efforts to wash it away. “It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you, remember?”

The child regarded Adora with a cautious look, eyes darting wildly about the room. They kept looking at Adora as if they expected her to lunge at them any second. Adora’s stomach twisted at the thought.

Quietly, ashamedly, the child whispered, “I didn’t lock the door.”

No, Adora thought, noting what she had seen just inside the doorway. You didn’t.

The tearful look in the child’s eyes only made Adora that much more regretful that she hadn’t been able to do more. That she was never able to do more.

“That’s okay, kid,” Adora said. “You tried.”

As the child sniveled from underneath the bed, all Adora could remember was her own childhood, memories bleeding out of her like an old wound that wouldn’t heal. How achingly familiar was this sight? How many times had Adora sat on the floor of the barracks, beckoning for her friend to come out and just trust that she’d keep her safe? How many times had she been the one hiding under the blankets, refusing to do so much as peek an eye out into the open until she felt the familiar weight dip down at the edge of her bed?

“I won’t let anything hurt you,” Adora said with more conviction this time, before slowly reaching a hand out. The child froze, showing no signs of taking it.

Swapping tactics, then.

“The fighting is over, but I couldn’t leave without returning this to you.” Adora reached out with her other hand, but this one held the stuffed animal from earlier. She set it down in between them, placing it so it sat upright, head lolling to the side just slightly. “You know, I like horses too. I have a horse, actually. Well, kind of. He likes to do his own thing, but…”

Adora wondered where Swift Wind might be right then.

“It…it’s over?” The kid asked, pulling Adora back into the present.

“Yes,” Adora nodded, happy to be making progress. “Yeah, all over. Done. And all those big, scary soldiers? They won’t be bothering you anymore.”

The kid still seemed unsure as they glanced around the room again. Still, the longer Adora sat there, the less they looked like a cornered animal. Despite all that, Adora had to remind herself, they were still under the bed which meant they were still hiding from…something.

Adora leaned forward a bit, voice dropping down to a low whisper. “Are you still scared?”

The kid hugged themself a little tighter. They gave a single, slow nod.

“I’m…” Adora faltered slightly, “I’m sorry to hear that. But I can help. Just like I helped you before, okay? But before I can do that…” Somehow, Adora’s voice got even quieter, “I need you to tell me what’s scaring you.”

The child hesitated, eyes so wide they nearly swallowed Adora whole as they whispered, “The monster. In the shadows.”

To her credit, Adora reigned in her expression well, the neutral smile on her face never wavering. She took a deep breath. Then, she asked, “Do you want to know a secret?”

The child nodded.

Making a big show of looking around for unwanted eavesdroppers, Adora admitted, “I used to be scared of shadows too.”

The surprise alone seemed to shock the child enough — at least, as much as it was needed to momentarily replace their fears with a more welcome curiosity and disbelief.

“Oh yes,” Adora nodded very matter-of-factly, answering the unasked question. “Shadows. Monsters. The dark. All of it. I was so, so scared, for a very long time. But, do you know what I did?”

The child crawled forward a bit, enthralled by what Adora had to say. Absent-mindedly, they grabbed their toy, pulling it close to their chest.

“I learned that, no matter how scary the shadows get, all you ever need…” Adora concentrated, feeling the light hum of magic buzz at her fingertips, “Is a little light.”

In her open palm, she held a glowing, wispy, pale blue orb. The child laughed, getting a good look at it as she danced it around her fingertips.

“When we spread light throughout the darkness-”

To the child’s amusement, she tossed the orb into the air, catching it behind her back.

“-we gain the power to cast out those shadows for good.”

From behind her back, she brought her closed fist into view in front of her face, light seeped through the cracks.

“And-”

Adora opened her fist, letting the orb float in front of her eyes.

“-when we bring others into the light with us-”

She snapped her fingers, the orb disappearing in a flash. The light, however, didn’t fade because Adora’s eyes now shone a bright blue instead.

“-nobody has to ever be scared again.”

The child giggled at the magic, crawling to the very edge of the bed now in fascination. Clearly, they wanted a closer look, but something still kept them at bay, even if they were no longer focused on it. Their laughter, though, was contagious, and Adora found herself chuckling as well.

“See? Not so bad, right?” At least with the little light in the room, Adora could better assess the kid for injuries. Nothing seemed glaringly wrong and the child didn’t seem to be in pain.

Adora contemplated if it was worth it, asking. But, reasonably, she had to justify this surprise visit one way or another. And…the kid might know, right? They certainly knew the town better than her. Maybe it was unlikely Adora would get the kid to guide her (given they wouldn’t even leave their hiding spot) but surely they’d know something?

She’d convinced herself. Sorry to interrupt the mood, Adora brought her hands into her lap, a certain solemnity drooping over her. “Hey, so…I actually have another reason for sticking around. Maybe you can help me out? I would really appreciate it.”

The kid seemed open to the request, still staring at Adora’s glowing eyes with wonder.

“I’m looking for someone. Someone scary, like the shadows. I need to find her, but she’s hiding from me. She ran from the battle and still needs to be brought to justice. It might be a long shot but…” Adora focused her magic again, straining a bit more to create a small, but still complex illusion in her hands: a snarling face with an eyepatch covering one eye.

The child gasped, visibly cringing away from the image. Tears sprung to their eyes. There was clearly a history.

“It's okay,” Adora soothed the child again, quickly wiping the illusion away. “It’s alright. She won’t hurt you. I won’t allow it, but I need to find her first. Please, if you have even the slightest idea where she might go to hide…”

Adora trailed off as the kid nodded, holding her breath as they detached one arm from the vice-grip hug of their toy. With a single, trembling finger, the child pointed at the closet, the door broken, barely hanging off its hinges.

Suddenly, the tarnished state of everything made sense.

As Adora stood, and saw the mass of clothes in that closet shake at the sound of her first step forward, she felt her vision turn red.

Ironically, as the monster in the shadows watched from their hiding place, red was all they saw, too.

Catra had done everything right. She’d entertained Shadow Weaver’s little game, decoded Adora’s message, and…this was what she got in return for her efforts? An empty village littered with debris, spare helmets, and weapons that the Horde couldn’t have even been bothered to salvage in their hasty retreat?

Oh, Catra, she could hear Shadow Weaver’s taunts floating on the mid-noon breeze. Did you really think any of this was about you?

“The daymoons haven't even set yet,” Catra said, numb in her disbelief.

The attacks on the Horde outposts, whenever they did happen, always happened at night. At least, that had been true for all the dozens of villages and territories the rebellion had reclaimed so far as a direct result of those two’s nighttime ambushes.

If the attack had been at night, Catra would have won. The Alliance would have made it in time.

They were supposed to attack at night.

“Perhaps they’re still nearby,” Castaspella said optimistically, and yet the frown hadn’t left her face from the moment they’d arrived. “There might be clues to their whereabouts-”

“Do you not get it?” Catra snapped. Scorpia held out a pincher, like she was going to try to calm her friend down, but Catra only felt that fresh pain bubbling to the surface as she stepped away. “We missed it. This was our only chance to find Adora and we blew it!”

“It can’t be our only chance, Wildcat. We’ll figure something out, we always do.”

“No, actually.” Catra felt her claws prick at her palms. “We don’t. Do you even realize how long Adora has been missing? How long she’s been with Shadow Weaver?! This was the best lead we’ve had and we still weren’t good enough! How many more months are we supposed to pretend like we know what we’re doing? Until they finally screw up? Until they take down the Horde for us? Which, by the way, they’ve almost already done!”

“We still have to try,” Scorpia, somehow, remained patient. “Isn’t that why you came to Mystacor in the first place? To try to get Adora back?”

If this were before, Catra would have hissed, clawed even. She quite nearly did, but, to her credit, held herself back. Instead, she bit her tongue and buried her claws in her hair, trying to get her breathing under control. Yes, she was angry, but maybe they were right. Maybe there was more to find in Erelandia, clues she wouldn’t be able to see if she was blinded by her own frustrations.

Scorpia tilted her head, making herself known in Catra’s peripherals. “Did that…help?”

“Scorp, can you please walk away?” Catra mumbled out, relieved when Scorpia took the hint to give her some space. (To keep herself busy, Scorpia decided to investigate the nearby fountain, even if she wasn’t really sure what she was looking for.)

Get over yourself, Catra told herself. None of this was actually about her or her problems. It was about Shadow Weaver and her messed up mind games, and it was about Adora.

“Could you two come here one moment?” Castaspella called out.

Catra forced herself to take in one more deep breath before walking over to the sorceress, a slight limp to her gait that everyone had grown used to except for her. Scorpia followed, though still keeping a respectable distance. (Maybe those tea time talks about boundaries had actually gotten through to her.)

“I have an idea, but I’d like permission from both of you first.”

Catra waited to see where this was going, the cryptic question not exactly detracting from her worries.

“I would like to cast a simple tracking spell. Granted, the area is so saturated in chaos, I’m not sure how effective it would be but…” Castaspella glanced at the girls warily, “I know your histories are complicated when it comes to magic. I don’t want either of you to be uncomfortable.”

On one hand, Catra found it a relief that Castaspella was at least pretending like those concerns weren’t mostly directed at her.

On the other hand, it was fucking annoying.

“Do whatever you want,” Catra shrugged. “It might make this failure actually worth something.”

“Um,” Scorpia didn’t fully know how to address Catra’s comment, so she didn’t. “Me? I’m all for it. How exactly does it work?”

‘Well,” Castaspella was already beginning to draw circles in the air as she explained. “It will only work if the target has been in the area within the last hour. And it just tracks footprints, so it's only so effective. But…well, with the amount of soot and, erm…liquids…on the ground, it's safe to say this could produce some results.”

Catra raised an eyebrow. “So you’re going to magically do what most Horde cadets can do by the end of their first survival lesson? Yeah, sure.”

Ignoring Catra’s snarkiness, Castaspella finished up her spell, a complicated yellow rune glowing in front of her. With her fingers spread out wide, she slowly lowered her hands to the ground, allowing the rune to make contact with the cobblestone.

Almost immediately, dim yellow footprints began to appear.

“You will have to follow them,” Castaspella explained with some exertion. “I must keep the connection.”

Catra felt her heartbeat quicken as the footsteps began to tell their own story:

Rapid stomps, sudden leaps, bright gold-smeared slides of the soles — the battle. Then, they slowed, stationary for a moment, before they led to the fountain. Pacing, then pacing on the fountain (Catra fought the urge to crack a smile), and then finally…down the street and into one of the houses.

“Oh cool,” Scorpia grew pale. “Great. A big, creepy house. Sure. What if it's haunted? It looks haunted!”

Catra noticed, even with the speed the spell was moving, the footprints never seemed to leave the house. At least, not through the front door.

“I don’t think it’s ghosts we have to worry about, Big Gal.”

Scorpia really was regretting this whole being-included thing.

They both walked towards the house, both on edge. Catra’s mind kept going to the same unsettling question as the yellow footsteps inside grew clearer with each step forward — Why weren’t there any footsteps leaving?

There was no way Catra would be so lucky. She refused to get her hopes up. After all, she didn’t actually have a plan for what she’d do or say when she first saw- Nope, get that idea out of your head. Now.

The footsteps led underneath the second door down the hallway. Catra signaled to Scorpia to stay quiet, though she doubted they wouldn’t have been heard already if someone really was in there.

Raising an unsteady hand to the doorknob, Catra used her other hand to give Scorpia a countdown.

Three…two…

The door swung inwards, opening before Catra had a chance to do so herself. Scorpia yelped. Catra slashed blindly outwards with her claws, meeting only air as a small shadow darted past her, something solid shoving into her bad leg.

Stumbling with a groan, Catra tried to see what had run out of the room. Instead of some terrifying shadow beast, though, it was only a child. They held a stuffed horse and wore a cracked Horde helmet as they ran giggling through the hallway, then out into the street.

“That was…oh, wow,” Scorpia clutched her chest like he was going to have a heart attack, “Oh gosh.”

“Pull it together,” Catra grumbled, angry that the kid had gotten them so riled up. Her anger turned into shock, though, as she saw who else was still in the room, sitting quietly on the floor, facing their direction.

“Force Captain Octavia?”

The woman, tied up and scowling, spat blood in Catra and Scorpia’s direction.

“That was too close,” Shadow Weaver hissed as soon as Adora popped into view.

“It was fine,” Adora said, not even facing the woman. Instead, she stormed over to her tent, threw her bag open, and began tossing her few belongings inside. “They didn’t see me. I got out of there fast enough.”

“But you don’t have the force captain. In case you did the forgetting this time, you were supposed to bring her to me so I could wipe her memories before the rebellion-”

Adora whirled to face her old mentor, all patience and humor drained from her expression. “I’m the one in charge here. Your opinion doesn’t matter. The rebellion doesn’t matter. And anything Octavia says to them, it- none of it matters!”

Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes. She was assessing Adora, just like always, quietly taking note of her tells, just so she could use them against her. “Fine. I at least assume you got the information you needed?”

Really, Adora got more than she wanted. “Yeah, I have the codes. We were right. Octavia was the last one in charge of the Fright Zone’s prison cells.”

“Yes…and, if we were right, then those codes won’t change for another two weeks.” Shadow Weaver slid inside the tent, intentionally blocking Adora from her bag. “Why the hurry to leave, then? I thought the rebellion wasn’t an issue.”

“It’s not the rebellion,” Adora shook her head. “It’s the Horde. They’re…” Adora huffed at the injustice, unable to form it all fully into words, choking as she was on her own fury. “It’s the kids. The Horde has been taking more child soldiers.”

“...Yes? And?”

Adora shot the unimpressed woman a glare. “They aren’t just stealing babies from their cribs. Ever since we started depleting their numbers, they’ve been taking kids and teenagers, anyone they can get their hands on, and blackmailing them to fight for the Horde. Keeping tabs on their families, threatening to hurt them if they don’t comply. Anything to replenish their army.”

“We injure their soldiers. They remain crippled, so the Horde acquires more bodies to finish the fight. This should hardly be unexpected.”

“No, maybe it's not to you, but I don’t really care about where your messed-up mind goes. The Horde needs to be stopped before they flood Etheria with a whole new army, otherwise we’ll be back at the beginning.” Adora pointedly gestured to her bag. “We’re leaving. Now.”

“Hm, yes…we wouldn’t want all that hard work to go to waste.” Shadow Weaver began to back away, probably for her own good as she added, “I would hate to see you have to take all that anger out on the fresh meat.”

Adora grimaced at the characterization of their hard work. Besides, she’d already gotten some of her anger out back in Erelandia. Octavia had been keeping tabs on that family — it was the only reason why she’d thought to hide in that house like a coward.

The force captain was lucky to still have her other eye, and was even luckier that Adora had been interrupted.

Turning her back to Shadow Weaver, she kept packing. “We leave as soon as we can for the Fright Zone.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“The plan is the same as it's been this entire time. You get me into the Fright Zone. I'll handle it from there.”

Adora couldn’t see Shadow Weaver’s smile with her back turned, but she sensed it all the same.

It was a numbers game. All of it. Adora had come to realize this early on. It was why she always kept track of the numbers: fourteen villages liberated from Horde-occupation, four major bases overthrown, ten force captains returned to the care of the rebellion.

Between herself and Shadow Weaver, they were more aggressive and, as a result, more successful than the rebellion had ever been. What the Alliance couldn’t accomplish in decades, Adora had done in…

“How long have we been working towards this?” Adora asked. Her tone made it sound like a rhetorical question, but a part of her wanted to hear the answer out loud, like she wouldn’t be able to believe it otherwise.

“Quite some time,” Shadow Weaver answered anyway. “In fact, if I’m not mistaken, I believe it will have been one year tomorrow.”

That was right. One year since Adora vowed to make up for her mistakes. One year since she met Shadow Weaver in the Whispering Woods. One year since she left everything behind.

One year since Catra broke her heart.

“We end this,” Adora said. There was no sense of victory in the statement. No warmth. No satisfaction. “Tomorrow, we end all of it.”

The rebellion would come. Adora knew that well enough, knew no matter how hard she tried to avoid it, Catra would always follow her wherever she went — even if it meant marching directly into the heart of the Fright Zone.

A deep ache ran through Adora’s chest and she continued to pack even quicker. Maybe, if they left soon enough, the rebellion wouldn’t make it in time for this next fight either, Adora reassured herself — because Shadow Weaver’s nagging held some truth, after all.

Even after one year, Adora still wasn’t ready to step out of the shadows.