Jackets

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/18140111.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/F
Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Relationship: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Entrapta/Perfuma
(She-Ra), catradora - Relationship, pertrapta
Character: Adora (She-Ra), Catra (She-Ra), Entrapta (She-Ra), Scorpia (She-Ra),
Bow (She-Ra), Glimmer (She-Ra), Perfuma (She-Ra), Mermista (She-
Ra), Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Frosta (She-Ra), Kyle (She-Ra), Rogelio
(She-Ra), Lonnie (She-Ra), Angella (She-Ra), Castaspella (She-Ra),
Hordak (She-Ra), Netossa (She-Ra), Spinnerella (She-Ra), Light Hope
(She-Ra), She-Ra (She-Ra), Razz (She-Ra), Shadow Weaver | Light
Spinner (She-Ra), Emily (She-Ra)
Additional Tags: plot heavy, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Smut, Smut, Angst, i believe in
happy endings, But the Middle May Be Rough, Emotional Manipulation,
Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Physical
Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Enemies to Lovers, catradora,
pertrapta - Freeform, best friend squad - Freeform, Super pal trio, Oral
Sex, Oral, Vaginal Fingering, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Worldbuilding,
One Year Later, Trans Bow (She-Ra), Trans Perfuma, Trans Character,
Trans Male Character, Trans Female Character, Nonbinary Character,
Blood, Blood and Injury, Violence
Stats: Published: 2019-03-18 Updated: 2019-09-20 Chapters: 23/35 Words:
196069

Jackets
by midnight_echoes

Summary

It's been a year since the Battle of Bright Moon (S1 Finale). Catra has emerged as a
successful 2nd-In-Command of the Horde. She's even managed to eke out something of a life
in the Fright Zone. She has respect. People that look up to her. Dare she even say, genuine
friends?

Adora has continued growing as She-Ra, continued doing her best to protect the people of
Etheria. In her quiet moments, Adora still wrestles with feelings of regret and longing for the
woman she left behind.

War is confusing and complicated, and certainly no place for friendships and love. Right?

"Jackets" is a continuation of "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" after season 1. It does
 not take events of season 2 or later into account.

Notes

Hi! Welcome to the first fleshed out, multi-chapter thing I've written in years! I loved She-Ra
and the Princesses of Power so much it's inspired this huge burst of creativity, so let's see
how this goes! I'm not going to state how many chapters it'll be yet because I'm not exactly
sure, but this will probably end up being pretty long.

I'll probably be adjusting and adding tags as I go and think of them. I'll also be using this
section for chapter-specific trigger warnings.

Okay, so I know that in the summary it says that "Jackets" takes place a year after the Battle
of Bright Moon, but chapter 1 actually takes place only 4 months after the Battle of Bright
Moon. That's because chapter 1 is sort of a prologue.

Also, because there will eventually feature explicit sexual wlw content I want to make sure to
establish that ALL CHARACTERS DEPICTED are over the age of 18. Speaking of the
smut though, don't expect it like every chapter, or even every other chapter. "Jackets" is very
story heavy, if you're just looking for non-stop sex it maaaaay not be the fic for you.

TW: emotional abuse; emotional manipulation; violence; excessive Kyle

 Rift Hollow
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Adora was staring at Catra’s outstretched hand. The catgirl had one of her trademark smirks on her
face, and Adora couldn’t tell why. Adora had been taken aback by Catra’s choice of clothes. A
striking, dark plum colored suit with magenta accents and matching button down blouse. Her bowtie
dangled around her neck, untied. Dirty tactics, Catra.

Since the moment Catra and Scorpia had arrived, Adora couldn’t help but fixate on her best friend.
Ex-best friend? Friend-with-complications? She knew they were up to something, but so far the best
Adora could tell Catra had come just to tease her. And now this. The smirk had gotten bigger,
exposing one of Catra’s razor sharp canines. For the first time Adora payed attention to the music
that was beginning to play. A jazzy little ballroom number. Adora resolved herself and lifted her
hand to meet Catra’s. It seemed that playing her game was going to be the only way to figure this
out.

Presentation and ritual were important to the Horde, even in matters of celebration. There were no
parties. No spontaneous dancing in the aisles. No raucous chanties spun out of nothing. Ballroom
dancing was the liveliest the Horde allowed. Even then, they made you practice it until it wasn’t fun
anymore. Except when Adora and Catra practiced together. According to their instructor, Essteare,
they were horrible at it. Too much improvisation. Too much laughing. Too many erratic motions.
Gliding across that room, swaying and spinning in Catra’s arms, were some of the only times away
from Force Captain training where Adora felt truly alive.

Essteare would have been so proud of this moment. Adora and Catra, hands pressed together, free
arms bent at 90 degrees behind their backs. Tight. Precise.

Adora hated it.

“I know you’re up to something. I’m going to figure out what,” Adora said as they slowly circled
around each other.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just here to enjoy myself.”

“We both know that’s not true Catra,” Adora huffed as she spun Catra away. She turned to receive
the next dancer.

There was nobody there.

“Huh.” Adora blinked at the empty dance floor.

Catra slammed back into Adora, resting her head on Adora’s shoulder. “Just us this time,” Catra
breathed. “Everyone else is gone.” In one smooth motion Catra grabbed and dipped Adora. Their
faces were inches apart. Adora could feel every drop of blood she had flooding her cheeks. “Lucky
them.”

“Wait, what?” The statement smacked into Adora.

“They’ve managed to get away from you,” Catra scoffed as she twirled Adora.

Adora was trying to regain her balance. “They’re my friends! They- They wouldn’t-”
Catra slammed into Adora again, knocking the rest of her statement out of her. She grabbed Adora’s
hands and led her into a slow waltz. “Wouldn’t what? Want to be around you? Want to be in the
blast radius of the inevitable ticking time bomb that is Adora?”

“I- I try not to be,” Adora was struggling to focus. She was trying to pull her hands free, but Catra’s
grip was iron tight.

“Even if they haven’t figured it out yet, they will,” Catra sneered. “Getting away from you was the
best thing to happen to me. I have friends now. REAL friends, not just someone using me as an
emotional crutch!”

“I’m glad you have friends. I’m happy for you Catra, I really am.”

“People respect me now. They look up to me. The Horde believes in ME. All thanks to ditching
you.”

Honestly it was shocking how tight Catra’s grip was. Even if she was She-Ra, Adora wasn’t sure
she would have been able to break free of it.

Catra pulled her in. Their bodies were pressed together. Adora could feel the heat coming off Catra.
“Let’s face it, I’ve done the world a favor,” Catra whispered into Adora’s ear.

Adora pulled her head back so she could look Catra in the eyes. There was something sinister in her
stare. Every word Catra said slammed into Adora’s chest. Tearing. Pulling. It felt like Adora’s heart
had a python wrapped around it, squeezing the life out of it.

“I don’t understand,” Adora airly breathed.

Catra let Adora go, and slowly backed away. The smirk had morphed into a wild grin. Almost feral.
Almost evil. Catra’s claws were fully extended, soaked in red. Adora opened her mouth to plead
with Catra to explain what she meant, but nothing came out. Just a huff of air, and a labored grunt.

It was then that Adora realized that she was getting light headed. Her abdomen felt like it was on fire.
She looked down.

There was a giant gash in Adora’s stomach. Blood was gushing profusely from it. “Ca…Cat… tra,”
Adora managed to push out as she collapsed onto the ground.

Adora bolted up into a sitting position. Sweat was pouring down her face, tears pooling at the
corners of her eyes. Her chest was heaving, unable to catch her breath. She ripped her covers off and
patted around her stomach. No blood. No hole or gash. No claw marks. There was no chance that
there would be. This was more just busy work to calm herself down.

It was working.

As Adora’s breathing slowed to normal; as she wiped away the sticky residue of tears around her
eyes; reality started coming back into view. Her bed. Her dark room in Bright Moon Castle, lit only
by the moons high above in the sky. Judging from their positions, it was around 3 in the morning. A
cool breeze was wafting in through the open doorway to her balcony. The breeze hit Adora. It
danced around every bead of sweat, drawing goosebumps on her skin. Adora spun her legs around
and dangled them off her bed. She sat there, at the edge of her bed, intently staring at seemingly
nothing.

This wasn’t the first time Adora had that dream. Sometimes it went that way. Sometimes it went in a
much more pleasant direction. Adora craned her arm around and gently traced the four gashes that
ran halfway down her back, starting from her shoulder blade. The other side of her back had a
matching set. It had been four months since the battle of Bright Moon, and the scratches on Adora’s
back still hadn’t disappeared. She had for some time now come to accept that they wouldn’t.

Scars.

She-Ra doesn’t scar.

At least, She-Ra never had before, or since for that matter. What damage She-Ra did get never
carried back into Adora. Except these. Adora knew that Catra’s claws were something to fear. She’d
seen them glide through solid metal as one might run their fingers through water. She’d even been on
the receiving end of a few nicks from them. Granted, those instances were met with Catra being
beside-herself distraught with what she had done, not maniacal glee.

Adora kept telling people that they were a statement Catra was trying to send to her. That wasn’t
entirely true though. Adora knew that. They were the punctuation to the statements Catra had told
her back during their ordeal in the Crystal Castle. Adora still hadn’t told anyone about what
happened there, not even Glimmer and Bow. The entire extent of hers and Catra’s friendship was
something Adora tried not to talk about. She thought it would make things between her and her new
friends messier than they needed to be. Which meant that the Crystal Castle ordeal was something
that she’d kept to herself.

She wouldn’t even know where to start at this point. Catra never summoned just one clear emotion
anymore. It was this ball. Lumpy. Messy. That would press down on her chest and stick in her
throat. Safer to just not bring it up at all than try sorting through it.

Not that she felt great about lying to her best friends. Then again, her and Catra apparently spent a lot
of their lives not being honest with each other. Maybe this was just how Adora did friendship. The
thought did something awful to the pit of her stomach. A strong gust of wind billowed in, causing
Adora to shiver. Just enough to jolt Adora out of this pit of self-loathing that she had found herself in.
A pit that she had spent far too many nights in recently.

Chances of getting back to sleep were out of the question at this point. Adora got dressed into a
sporty tank top and workout leggings. As was becoming a frequent custom, if sleep wasn’t going to
happen, Adora decided to do the one thing that still cleared her mind: training.

All things considered, Rift Hollow wasn’t a strategically important part of the Horde. It was hours
southeast of the Fright Zone, even by skiff. A small farming town, it mainly supplied food for a few
of the security checkpoints along the southeast border of the Horde.

Under normal circumstances, reports of civil unrest in Rift Hollow probably wouldn’t warrant even a
Force Captain making the trip, let alone Lord Hordak’s 2nd-In-Command. Catra wasn’t concerned
with the problems of Rift Hollow though. After the initial thrill of her promotion, the realities of the
work set in. While unsuccessful, the assault on Bright Moon had been a great audition for Catra, but
it had also left the Horde forces in shambles. These first four months as Force General had been
dedicated to refortifying the ranks of the Horde’s army.

Catra’s personal project had been to put together a squad that she could trust. Lonnie, Rogelio, and
Kyle had been natural choices. Well, maybe not Kyle, but his inclusion was essential to get Rogelio
on board. They’d seen minor field work before, but today was their first big day. Catra wanted to be
on hand to see how they performed.

The transport skiff lurched to a stop near the entrance of the town. Catra stood below deck, looking
over the status report on Rift Hollow. Above her Force Captain Octavia was barking orders at the
squads. Catra rubbed the bridge of her nose. Even now, as Octavia’s superior, something about that
woman just grated at Catra. She couldn’t argue with Octavia’s effectiveness though. She was just so
damn annoying. Or maybe it was just that this trip had been annoying. Hours of traveling through the
Horde countryside just to come yell at some farmers. Or maybe… Maybe it was just everything.
Truth be told when Lord Hordak had promoted her Catra mostly envisioned hanging out with
Entrapta and Scorpia to come up with plans to take down those princesses, not… reports. Or staff
updates. Or overseeing training.

Octavia was finishing up. Catra let out a yawn before tossing down her notes and making her way
up the stairs.

Octavia’s squad of rookies was tasked with securing the perimeter near the skiff and the entrance of
the town. Catra led her squad of Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio into Rift Hollow. The townsfolk gave
them a wide berth. Their fear was apparent. Catra enjoyed the feeling. They met with a local Horde
security officer named Norn near the center of town.

At the sight of Catra Norn stiffened up and saluted. “Force General! Ma’am? So sorry we weren’t
expecting you! Had we known that-” Norn started.

Catra waved him off. “Relax Officer, you’re fine. I’m just here to make sure my newbies are ready.
Now, what’s the latest?”

“Fourth day of protests. Most of the farmers have halted work entirely.”

“Can’t have that now can we. Where are they?”

“Follow me, I’ll show you.” Norn led Catra’s squad through the town. Within a few minutes they
were at the edge of the farmlands where a group of farmers were forming a pretty meager blockade
and taunting the one Horde security officer already there. At the sight of Catra the farmers began
yelling. The details of what they were saying were lost as too many voices overlapped each other.

Catra snapped her finger at Kyle. He lifted a horn up and pressed the button. A screeching sound
filled the area, causing everyone to fall silent. Catra patiently waited until the horn died down. She
had everyone’s attention. Even some of the townsfolk were making their way to see what all the
common was about.

“Citizens of the Horde,” Catra began.

“You mean citizens of Rift Hollow!” a man called out from the crowd.

“ Excuse me ?” Catra growled. The man was easy to find, especially since as soon as Catra started
moving forward everyone else moved away from the man as if he was contagious. To his credit, the
man didn’t back down. He did gulp hard as Catra bared down on him, so only but so much credit.
“You’re first and foremost a citizen of the Horde. Got it?”
The man mustered all the courage he could. “I was a citizen of Rift Hollow long before the Horde.
And I’ll be one after the Horde too.”

Catra didn’t respond for a moment. She examined the man in front of her. Had to be in his mid-
forties, easily. Without warning, Catra spun jerked her arm up and connected with a backhanded slap
that sent the man careening to the ground.

All of Rift Hollow ground to a stop. Dozens of pairs of eyes were trained on Catra. She flicked her
hand in a couple of motions in the general direction of her squad. Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle began
spreading out.

“Okay. Gonna say this one time,” Catra announced. “Thanks to these little, fits , Rift Hollow hasn’t
made its production quotas in two months. You WILL make your quota next month. If you don’t the
next visit’s gonna involve tanks. Got it? Now, for the rest of today I’m imposing a curfew, starting
now! Everyone go home. Anyone caught protesting, or out at all, will be disciplined.”

A couple of the farmers helped the man that Catra struck to his feet. Nobody was leaving. “We can’t
be treated this way. We’re human beings dammit,” the man huffed.

“Yeah, stupid ones. Squad!” Catra called out. On cue Lonnie and Rogelio turned on their stun
spears. Impressive weapons that had Entrapta written all over them. Kyle followed suit just seconds
after them. Lonnie and Rogelio jammed the closest protesters, who dropped to the ground
immediately in pain.

Panic struck the town. People started fleeing in every direction. A few tried to fight back. Lonnie and
Rogelio were making those few immediately regret those decisions. Even Kyle was taking control of
his area. The Horde security officers were assisting.

Kyle was trying to focus on herding the citizens back to their homes instead of engaging in physical
altercations. “Focus Ky. Focus. You can do this. Just focus,” he kept chanting to himself. He came
across a couple of surly farmers who didn’t much want to move or go home. “Re-return to your
houses now fellas!” Kyle yelped. They just glared at him. “Please!” he added. The two men instead
began approaching Kyle. In a panic Kyle jabbed out his spear. Sparks flickered as it connected with
the first man, who fell over immediately. He swung the spear to the next man, dropping him also.

“Not bad, Ky!” Kyle assured himself. He spun around confidently, only to realize that another man
had snuck up on him. The old man still seemed pretty spry for someone who looked to be in their
seventies. He had a big pitchfork that he was rattling at Kyle. “Oh no,” Kyle whispered.

Meanwhile Catra had her attention trained on the man that she had struck originally. He seemed
determined to stand his ground. Catra smirked while one hand rested firmly on her hip. “Look at
what you’ve done.”

“What I did?! I didn’t threaten a whole town! I didn’t sic guards on people to force them into their
homes! I-”

Didn’t get a chance to finish that sentence. Catra’s fist slammed into his face. The man stumbled.
Front kick squarely into the stomach sent him back to the ground. She stood over the man and
flashed her claws. The smile on Catra’s face was slowly widening.

A familiar screaming broke Catra’s concentration. Without even looking Catra had a good idea what
she was about to see, and sighed. Kyle was standing there, a pitchfork plunged into his shoulder.
Catra’s interest in the man she was assaulting waned.
Out of nowhere Rogelio appeared and sent the old man tumbling onto the ground. All 6’7” of the
stocky green lizard man towered over the elder. Terror washed over his face as Rogelio began
cracking his knuckles one by one. Rogelio began stalking towards the old man when he felt
something tug at his pants leg. Rogelio looked down to see Kyle.

“Rohé, sweetie please, don’t,” Kyle was able to force out. Rogelio reached down and pulled the
pitchfork out of Kyle. He scooped the fraile, blond man up and cradled him in his arms.

Catra appeared next to them. “Rogelio, get Kyle back to the transport, and tell Octavia to get her
squad over here!” Without hesitation Rogelio took off. “Dammit Kyle,” Catra sighed to herself.

Before he even opened his eyes, the noises flooding Kyle’s ears were painting a picture. A rhythmic
beeping that was keeping time with his heartbeat. The low hum of the various machines in the room.
Hissing was sprinkling down from the halogen lights above him. And a constant scratching.

Kyle ventured to pry his eyes open. It took a moment for his vision to come into focus. Everything
was as expected. A Horde infirmary. Judging from the better than average state of upkeep of it, he
was probably in Horde Command, the military city at the center of the Fright Zone, where Fright
Spire, Lord Hordak’s base of operations, resided. Home.

Just to Kyle’s left was Catra, sitting haphazardly in a chair, one leg dangling over the armrest while
the other seemingly crumpled onto the floor. Every minute or two her tail would tap the floor. She
hadn’t looked up yet from the pad she was holding as she steadily scratched a pencil along it. From
his angle Kyle couldn’t make out what she was doing.

“Whatcha drawing?” Kyle croaked.

“Drawing?”

“Oh, I thought you might be doodling something.”

“What am I, 12?”

“You used to love-”

“Reports Ky. I’m filling out reports about today, which you missed the end of. Long story short, Rift
Hollow is complying,” Catra gloated. She slowly pushed herself up and approached the side of
Kyle’s bed.

“Nothing permanent. Doc patched you up good. Even with Rogelio breathing down his neck the
whole time.”

“He worries.”

“I know. I’ll go get him in a minute. He’ll be happy to hear that you’re up. Only reason why he
wasn’t here is because I was getting worried he was going to pace a groove into the floor.”

Their conversation died down. They let an awkward silence pass over them for a moment before
Catra patted Kyle on the shoulder.

“I’m taking you back out of the field.”

“What? No! I can do this Catra!”

“Kyle, you let an old man wreck you on your first day! Look, I didn’t put any of the details into the
report. This isn’t going to affect your permanent record.”

“Really Catra, please, I’ll do better next time! I promise! I-”

Catra waved her hand in front of him. “This isn’t a debate. I even talked to Rogelio already. He
agreed, you’ll be safer here. We’ll find something else for you.”

“He’s my boyfriend, not my father! He doesn’t get to decide what I do and don’t do!” Kyle fumed.
A fire was bubbling up inside of him and spilling over. This probably didn’t fit very well into the
doctor’s ‘rest and recuperation’ plan.

“No, I get to decide,” Catra huffed, done with this conversation. “And I did. Kyle, on your first day
you couldn’t even subdue a simple-”

“-Grandfather!”

Kyle hadn’t meant to blurt it out. Both of his hands immediately shot up to his mouth as his eyes
bulged in his head. He could only muster looking up at Catra for a split second before lowering his
gaze back down. She was silent, glaring at him intently. Her mouth was slightly agape.

He didn’t often win arguments with Catra. Kyle was pretty certain he hadn’t won this either. But
maybe. Just maybe, he hadn’t lost it either.

“What?” Catra floated out. It was softer and more inviting than anything Kyle had heard from her in
months.

Kyle inhaled hard, sucking in as much air, and courage, as his lungs could hold. “I hacked into the
digital records a few years back. I just… I just wanted to know where I came from. That’s when I
found them. My family. Four generations, all farmers in Rift Hollow. I’ll be the first to not.”

Catra sat down on the side of Kyle’s bed. “What happened?”

“Don’t know. That part wasn’t in the file. Something , happened to my parents. And the rest of my
family had to give me up to the Horde.

“I… I check in on them now and again. Just to make sure they’re okay. My family doesn’t even
know I’m alive,” Kyle sniffed.

It lasted only for a brief second, but Kyle was sure he had seen it. A flicker on Catra’s face. The
scrunching at the bridge of her nose. The soft frown.

Compassion.

Just for that second though, then Force General Catra was back. “You’re a Horde soldier. We’re
you’re family now. The only one that matters at least.”

Catra patted Kyle on the shoulder again. “And that detail aside, I still have concerns about you out in
the field,” Catra conceded. Kyle hung his head. Catra scratched the back of her neck. A friend, a
loyal friend, was crushed. It was plainly written on his face. Catra didn’t want to leave him like this.
She’s better than that.

Think Catra.
 Think.

Ah-ha!

The germ of an idea bubbled into Catra’s mind. She looked over to Kyle and gently slapped him on
the arm. “Forget field work. You managed to hack into the Horde mainframe all by yourself?”

Kyle perked up. “Huh? Oh, yeah?”

First came writing reports. Then came filing them into the computer. Catra knew it was probably
faster to just write them on the computer in the first place, but she had an easier time collecting her
thoughts through a pencil than she did a keyboard.

It had been a full day, and these reports had taken her late into the evening. All that was left was
Kyle’s. It was getting late, Catra could feel it in her body, which was calling for her bed. A cruel
thing, really, seeing as how Catra knew that when she got there all she’d do is lie awake for hours,
trying to pick out all the various hums and clanks of all the machines that kept the Fright Zone going.

Focus, or lack of focus actually, wasn’t helping either. Catra kept thinking about Kyle. Well, Kyle’s
family.

Family.

Family…

Catra sighed. With a few clicks, she found herself in another program. A Horde directory. Only
available to the highest ranking members. Something Catra only had available to her for four months
now. She typed her name in and hit the little button with a magnifying glass. The results popped up,
causing Catra to sigh yet again. Longer this time though. She allowed the sigh to deflate her as she
slumped into her chair.

Oh, look, it’s your file. And hey, under “Known Relatives” it lists “None”. Just like the last three
times you did this. You and None really need to hang out sometime and trade family recipes or
something. I mean, you don’t have any, but maybe they will!

The Horde is your family. This is all you have.

Chapter End Notes

Okay, so, Kyle's not really a main character in this story, he was just very useful for this
chapter.

I'm not sure about my posting schedule yet. I'm going to try to post the first three
chapters this week to sort of "jump start" the story, and then I'll try to hit at least weekly
updates. My aim is to post a chapter every Sunday night.
PLEASE, if you see any grammar mistakes feel free to point them out!

Next Time:
“-Entrapta, remember that little talk we had? Several times? In English.”
 Old Places and New Feelings
Chapter Notes

This chapter time jumps 8 months from the end of chapter 1. So we're about a year
beyond the Battle of Bright Moon, the season 1 finale. This is the last significant time
jump.

TW: Violence

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Catra and Scorpia were waiting in the hallway in front of the Black Garnet chamber. For so long just
seeing that door made every hair and strand of fur on Catra’s body stand up on edge. For almost a
year now though a large lit-up neon purple sign hung mounted to the side of the door that read
“Entrapta’s Lab”, and just below that was a plaque that read “All Welcome. Hard Hat
Recommended. Mini-Cupcakes Encouraged.” Both were effective in putting Catra’s mind at ease.
Especially after Entrapta had explained to them what a mini-cupcake was.

What didn’t put Catra’s mind at ease was waiting. It had been over an hour since Entrapta had sent
one of her messenger robots, telling Catra and Scorpia that she needed to see them right away. When
the pair got to the lab though the door was locked. Knocking had resulted in hearing Entrapta call out
“just a minute!”

That was 62 minutes ago.

Catra had knocked a few more times, resulting in callouts like “I’ll be right there!”, “almost done!”,
and “it’s almost ready, just wait!”

Knocking clearly was having no effect, so instead Catra began pacing in front of the door, her arms
folded over her chest, her tail periodically making sudden, violent swishes back and forth. Each pass
in front of the door caused Catra’s golden left eye to twitch. It wasn’t JUST the waiting that was
grating on Catra’s nerves. Scorpia was leaning against the wall across from the door, tapping a claw
against the wall as she hummed. She seemed to be enjoying herself just fine. It was infuriating.

“What are you even humming?” Catra asked, mostly out of need to focus on anything else besides
the fact that this door may never open.

“You know, it’s a song for waiting. I think it’s called ‘the Waiting Song’,” Scorpia gently tapped her
claw against her chin a couple times. “Or is it ‘the Waiting Melody’?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh! You know, ‘do, do do, do- do do do.. Do, do do, do- do do do.”

“ Right , THAT classic!” Catra retorted. Her words were drenched in sarcasm.

“We should sing it together! Time will go by so much faster! Do, do do, do- do do do!”

“Do, do do, do- do do do!” a third voice responded. Entrapta was hovering in the doorway while
balanced on her uncannily long pigtails, purple goggles still over her eyes, trademark jumpsuit
covered in dirt and grease smudges. “What are we singing?” she asked. Her voice was low and
raspy, as it often was when Entrapta was curious.

“Nothing! Nothing at all,” Catra blurted out before anyone else could respond. She quickly pushed
Entrapta into the lab, Scorpia scurrying in after them.

Every time Catra was in this room there was a new a pile or stack of electronics that hadn’t been
there before. An impressive feat considering Catra was in here basically every day. She was starting
to wonder if Entrapta’s secret princess power was conjuring metal.

“You wanna tell us what was so important that you had me waiting for over an HOUR?” Catra
asked. Her last sentence was structured like a question, but the tone was entirely a demand.

“Oh yes. I asked you here,” Entrapta mused. Her attention was cut by a loud buzzing noise.

“I got it!” a voice yelled coming from the opposite side of the room. They saw Kyle scurrying from
his small workstation over to a makeshift oven that Entrapta had built. Entrapta softly clapped her
hands together rapidly and made her way over to Kyle.

“I think they’re ready,” Kyle suggested, gingerly taking the small round cakes out of the pan.
Entrapta snatched one up immediately with her hair. Kyle handed one each to Scorpia and Catra.
Well, more like he had to force it into Catra’s hand.

Entrapta’s hair produced three audio recorders. She examined each for a second before deciding on
the right one. “Fright Zone Culinary Log, day 352. Assistant Kyle is attempting his 73rd recipe
variation of mini-cupcakes.”

“Mmm, not bad if I do say so!” Kyle beamed through bites.

“Chewy! Pretty good Ky!” Scorpia exclaimed, having popped the entire tiny cupcake into her mouth
at once.

“This BETTER not be what you had me waiting an hour for,” Catra growled. Her cupcake remained
uneaten.

“Recipe Variation 73 results: These are awful. But by far the best batch yet. I rescind my initial
hypothesis of Assistant Kyle’s uselessness. Given time I now have full faith that he’ll find good
enough ingredients to make a decent mini-cupcake. Then we can move on to icing.”

“Er, thanks?” Kyle shrugged, blushing slightly.

Kyle got a big purple hair thumbs up. “Assistant Kyle continues to need constant affirmation. It is
endearing, if sometimes tiring,” Entrapta mused into her recorder.

“ENTRAPTA!” Catra exploded. The outburst caused Scorpia to almost drop her fourth mini-
cupcake.

“Right! Why I asked you here!” Entrapta whipped around, turning away from her friends and
slinked over to her work station. “As you know, most of my research has been focused on studying
First Ones tech. And really, the Black Garnet has been a dream to have access to. And thanks to it...”
After rummaging for a couple of seconds she held up what appeared to be a portable monitor, with a
small keypad to its side and a number of wires dangling from the bottom. On the top of it was a
round glass encasing that was glowing red. “...Ta-da!” she exclaimed enthusiastically.

Catra tilted her head slightly to the side, he eyebrows furrowed slightly as she faintly grinned. “Oh
great, a portable monitor, groundbreaking.”

“It’s not just a monitor.”

“What is it then?”

“Well, it is a monitor.”

The twitch in Catra’s golden eye came back. Her hands coiled in front of her, wrapping themselves
around an imaginary neck. Her mini-cupcake was completely crushed. “YOU JUST SAID-”

“-It’s not about what it is,” Entrapta said, cutting Catra off. “It’s about what it can do. I call it the First
Ones Replication, Imitation, and Duplication Device!”

Catra’s posture slackened a little now that progress was finally being made. “Okay. That’s, that was
a lot of words.”

“I’ve just been calling it a Duplicator,” Kyle helpfully chimed in while cleaning the oven area.

Entrapta cleared her throat. “Yes, a Duplicator. By harnessing a little bit of power from the Black
Garnet,” she said, tapping the round glass part on the top of the device, “and cross analyzing the
power signatures of that with those of other-”

“-Entrapta, remember that little talk we had? Several times? In English.”

Entrapta let out a sigh. Her eyes narrowed to convey a sense of hyper focus. “This. First One Thing.
Can. Pretend. To be. OTHER. First One Things.”

“So it can mimic other First One tech? Like,” Catra pointed at the Black Garnet, “if you tell it to it
can do the same stuff that the Black Garnet can do?”

“Not exactly. It can mimic the power signature of the Black Garnet.”

“How is that helpful?” Catra asked with a raised eyebrow. Her patience was starting to slip away.

“ARE YOU KIDDING? Everyone thinks about runestones as these sources of raw power, but
there’s so much more to them than that! They store information. They balance the elements they have
control over. They control access to all kinds of First Ones places. And so much more! I’ve barely
scratched the surface of what runestones can do.”

Bingo. Catra was starting to piece together why Entrapta was so excited about this Duplicator . “So
wait, You’re telling me that we can use this thing to bust into First Onces temples?”

“Imagine,” Entrapta airly hummed. “Simply walking in through the front door. No traps, not weird
First Ones mind games.”

Mind games. Catra still wasn’t sure if it was intentional on Entrapta’s part, but she was good at
pushing buttons. Usually the right buttons. Usually. She was clearly very proud of this Duplicator
thing. And Catra was starting to see the big picture she had.

“So what can the Black Garnet do?” Catra asked. “Can it get us into anywhere good?”

“Not sure actually. But that’s not the one that matters,” Entrapta’s face betrayed the pure glee
bubbling underneath her surface. Strands of hair shot over to a keyboard. Few clicks, a few clacks
and suddenly the giant main computer monitor on the wall lit up. Schematics were all over the
screen. In the center, a rotating 3D model of…
“The Sword of She-Ra,” Scorpia gasped. Entrapta enjoyed showing off new tech to her friends, but
specifically Scorpia, who seemed to be overwhelmingly impressed with everything. “‘Trapta, how
did you get ahold of the sword?”

“Last year, when you stole it at the Princess Prom. Horde technicians did a full scan. They weren’t
able to make heads or tails of it, but luckily they saved all their files.”

At this point Catra didn’t want to make any assumptions or get her hopes up. Best to just ask
questions and try to follow along. “Okay, I’ll bite. What can the Sword of She-Ra get us into?”

“If my calculations are correct, and there is an 83% chance that they are, the Sword of Protection
acts as a masterkey of sorts. It can probably let you into ANY First Ones structure.”

“And of course the Crystal Castle,” Scorpia chimed in.

Catra gave her a confused glance. “Crystal Castle? How do you even know that name?” Scorpia
simply shrugged. “Not in a super rush to get back there anytime soon.”

“But with my Duplicator we could do it safely this time. Just think of the secrets the Temple of She-
Ra has to hold!”

“We?”

“Well I’ll need to be there to work the Duplicator. Besides, I couldn’t pass up another chance to see
the inside of a First Ones Temple!”

“And if you’re both going,” Scorpia piped up. Her giant arms wrapped themselves around both
Catra and Entrapta and pulled them in close. Entrapta simply giggled. Catra hissed but didn’t put up
much of a fight. “We might as well make it a full Super Pal Trio outing!”

“Alright, FINE,” Catra huffed, finally freeing herself from scorpion woman’s grasp. She began
pacing back and forth in a tight formation and mumbling to herself. “Hmm, yeah, this could work.”
A sly grin grew on her face. “Hey ‘Trapta, next time, ‘I found a way for us to break into our arch-
nemesis’ base and be able to learn all of her secrets and weaknesses’ is probably what you should
lead with.”

“Noted!”

The village of Thaymor was one of the few places on the western side of the Whispering Woods that
wasn’t under Horde control. Not exactly strategically important to either side. Which is why the fact
that it was now the site of TWO battles between the Horde and the Rebellion in less than that many
years struck so many as odd.

Adora had, feelings, about Thaymor. This was where she met Swift Wind, then just Horsey. Where
she tried berry juice and apples and murk plums for the first time. Where she met the first Rebellion
citizens that didn’t want to kill or arrest her. Where she finally gained Glimmer’s trust. Where she
defected. Where she lost her .

Only that wasn’t entirely true. Deep down Adora knew that. Adora didn’t lose Catra. She drove her
away. For weeks after that first battle at Thaymor Adora tried to piece together why. How did she
miss all the fragments that should have made the reaction Catra would have to “I just found out the
Horde is evil and since it’s evil I have to leave it because it’s hurting people I don’t even know” so
obvious. Putting together puzzles wasn’t something she was good at, Adora had decided. At least,
not until Catra gave her the rest of the pieces months later.

“We’re here everyone!” Swift Wind announced, setting down gracefully in a clearing near the edge
of town. Bow, then Glimmer, then Adora climbed down from the majestic winged unicorn. The
stallion surveyed the town. Horde troops were engaged with the contingent of Bright Moon guards
that had been assigned to the area. Coming in through the valley that led to Thaymor was an
impressive Horde tank. “This doesn’t look like someplace for a unicorn,” Swift Wind quivered.

“No, certainly doesn’t,” Adora mused. She gave Swift Wind a pat on the neck. “Thank you Swift
Wind, I’ll call you if we need you.”

“Right,” Swift Wind said with a nod. His beautiful rainbow wings stretched out as Swift Wind began
to take off. “Good luck Princess!” he called out as he soared off into the blue morning sky.

Bow had already notched his bow with an arrow. “They couldn’t even wait for us, that’s just rude.”

“Yes it is Bow! Let’s go teach these creeps some manners!” Glimmer delighted. Staff of Micah in
one hand, Glimmer took Bow by the arm in her other hand. “See ya out there Adora!” she quipped
as her and Bow blinked away, leaving only pink sparkles glimmering in the place where they had
just been.

Adora couldn’t help but smile as she slid the massive Sword of Protection out of the sheath strapped
to her back. Becoming She-Ra had come with many complications. There were things about being
She-Ra that made Adora uneasy, nervous.

This though, this was the good part. Adora held the sword high into the air.

“FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!”

Considering that they were outnumbered five to one, the guards of Bright Moon had done an
admirable job keeping the Horde from overrunning the town. That number advantage was starting to
pay off though, and the Horde was pushing through. The main Horde soldier battalion had pushed
the fight through the main street and into the marketplace of Thaymor, sending the remaining
villagers that had stayed to protect their shops and carts scattering.

Horde soldiers were on the verge of fully overpowering the guards when an arrow soared overheard.
It flew past the front lines and exploded into a giant net, ensnaring a good dozen Horde soldiers.
Bright Moon guards took advantage and began driving the fight back. Free Horde soldiers began
frantically scanning the rooftops for the source of the arrow.

“Don’t mind us!” they heard before they saw it. Bow and Glimmer appeared in the air a few yards
above the Horde soldiers. Both came crashing into the soldiers feet first. Bow landed on one of the
soldiers and pushed himself off, sending the soldier to the ground and Bow back into the air. In
seconds he had notched three more arrows and released. They whistled through the air before
exploding into multiple bolas each.

Glimmer landed on a soldier and flipped off them. She spun into the air, sending sparkle shots in
multiple directions before landing on her feet. More sparkle shots were thrust from her hand. Horde
soldiers began closing in around her. Glimmer created a sparkle sphere that hovered just in front of
her. She spun the Staff of Micah into it. Connecting the staff with the sphere created a shock wave,
sending soldiers flying back into each other.

“Hey Glimmer! Sparkle me!” Glimmer heard She-Ra shout. Glimmer spun around. She-Ra was
sailing through the air, falling towards Glimmer. She got a big grin on her face and sent up a large
sparkle sphere into the air. She-Ra landed on the sphere, which exploded immediately, sending her
flying farther into the sky.

She-Ra soared through the air. The tank bringing up the rear was her destination. The tank would
react to her, She-Ra knew that. A blast from the cannon was something the Shield of Protection
could deflect with ease, something she knew from experience.

On cue the tank’s turret spun to meet She-Ra’s position. What wasn’t on cue was that instead of the
usual turret cannon, this tank had a double barreled cannon. Each Barrel ended in large vented
muzzles. Set into each barrel were a couple glass orbs that were suddenly glowing magenta.

Both cannons erupted at the same time. Two massive bolts of energy careened towards She-Ra.
Shield first, she braced for impact. Instead of deflecting the blasts, as she had done many times
before, these two blasts hit the shield spot on and sent She-Ra spinning backwards violently. It took
all of She-Ra’s strength to hold onto the shield as she hurtled into the ground, where she tumbled for
a few yards. She wanted to lay on the ground for a minute, but searing pain sprung her back into
action. She jumped to her feet and threw the shield down. Smoke was rising where it had been
strapped to She-Ra’s arm.

At She-Ra’s will, the shield morphed back into the sword. The transformation seemed to have
dissipated the heat, as the sword was fine to pick up.

“That’s new,” She-Ra muttered to herself. New tank. New obstacle. Same objective. She-Ra nodded
to herself sternly and charged at the tank, this time on foot. The tank began to aim for She-Ra, but
she was able to spin out of the way as the blasts slammed into the ground. Dirt and rock pelted She-
Ra as she continued charging the tank. Before the tank could line up another shot She-Ra leapt into
the air. She came crashing down sword first onto one of the engines holding the tank up off the
ground. It sparked and smoked before catching on fire. The tank wobbled briefly before slamming
down into the ground. Its turret spun around in a desperate attempt to hit She-Ra. The Sword of
Protection cut through both barrels like a warm knife through butter.

She-Ra climbed up the tank and ripped the metal hatch off. A Horde soldier was leaning back in a
chair and looking up at She-Ra, and flipping her off.

“S’up Adora.”

“Lonnie??” She-Ra was taken aback.

“Yup, got that field promotion finally!”

“Looks like I broke your new toy,” She-Ra quipped as a smile emerged on her face. “Impressive
though.”

“Don’t worry, we got more where this came from. Better even,” Lonnie responded.

“Even better than this one?” She-Ra mused. There wasn’t time to think about it though. Suddenly
She-Ra felt something slam hard into the back of her. She went flying off the tank and crashing into
the ground. More annoyed than hurt, She-Ra hoisted herself up. Her eyes searched for a second to
find the assailant. “Rohé!” she yelled at the sight of the massive green lizard man standing atop the
tank. Rogelio made a grunting noise. She-Ra put her hands up as a gesture of admission. “You’re
right, I don’t have the right to nicknames anymore. I’m sorry Rogelio,” She-Ra admitted.

Both Lonnie and Rogelio hopped down from the carcass of a tank. “Damn Adora, we thought for
sure the double-barrels would have taken you out,” Lonnie scoffed as she powered on her stun spear.
“Don’t matter though, we’ll just do it ourselves.”

She-Ra buckled over in laughter. She couldn’t help it. “That’s a good one Lonnie!”

“You dumbass you think we’re joking?”

“Um, look around!” She-Ra gestured around. The tank was destroyed. Most Horde troops were
beginning to fall back, being driven out by Glimmer and Bow and the Bright Moon guards.

“Who cares about Thaymor? I just want to whip your ass!” Lonnie screamed. She started to charge
but Rogelio quickly caught her. “Come on man, you and me, we can take her!” Rogelio looked at
the wreckage of the tank, and back at Lonnie, then back at the tank, then focused his gaze at Lonnie
and simply shook his head.

Lonnie pulled her shoulder from Rogelio’s grip. She gave She-Ra a good, hard stare before
powering down her stun spear. “Tsk, fine. We’ll have plenty of chances.” The two began stalking
away.

She-Ra faded away, with Adora emerging in her place. There was no desire to take either prisoners.
Adora thought about it briefly before deciding to call them out. “Hey! It was, um, it was nice to see
you both again.”

The statement made Lonnie spin around where she was standing. “Are you for real Adora? Damn,
Catra’s right. You may have that sword now, but you’ve gotten so weak! Sad really!” The two
started jogging away, trying to catch up with the other Horde soldiers, in full retreat mode now.

There was a part of Adora that wanted to call them back at the sound of Catra’s name. It had been,
oof, long enough that Adora had to really think about it. A little over seven months since she had
seen her former best friend. Catra rarely took to the battlefield anymore, instead directing Horde
activity from Horde Command. She was a good Force General. Even without seeing her Adora
knew that to be a fact. The Horde had converted the destroyed town of Elberon into a Horde base
right under the Rebellion’s nose. They had pushed the southern border a lot farther, coming
uncomfortably close to Seaworthy. Misdirection was Catra’s forte. Always had been. Only now,
instead of tricking the mess hall cooks into giving her second servings, she was moving troops to one
place, only for the real strike to happen hundreds of miles away.

She could never admit it to anyone, especially not Bow or Glimmer, but Adora was proud of Catra.
She was excelling at something that, growing up, Adora never even dreamed Catra would want to be
good at. If only all of Catra’s success wasn’t a detriment to Adora and all her friends and the people
she had sworn to protect.

Adora glanced at the wrecked tank again, and squinted her eyes. Thaymor wasn’t a huge city or
anything, but just one tank? Hmm.

“Yo Adora!” Bow called out. He and Glimmer were jogging over to Adora.

“Did that tank have a DOUBLE BARREL cannon??” Glimmer screamed. Glimmer had that look
 on her face. One that she wore a lot, particularly when in battle. It sat somewhere between horror and
awe.

“Hah, yeah. Packed a pretty hard punch,” Adora admitted. “Horde R&D have been really outdoing
themselves lately.”

Glimmer playfully slugged Adora in the arm. “Well it’s a good thing that you pack an even better
punch!”

Adora laughed as she got hit. At that moment a searing pain shot through Adora’s head, causing her
to lose her balance.

“Oh come on, I didn’t hit you that hard!” Glimmer protested.

“No, no, this is something else,” Adora said. Glimmer and Bow helped her back to her feet, and
continued holding her by the arms to ensure she was stable. “Thanks guys, I ‘m okay now. That
was… Weird.”

Swift Wind appeared in the sky and landed gracefully in front of the Best Friend Squad. “Adora!
Glimmer! Bow! You have to come with me right now!”

“What is it Swift Wind?” Adora asked.

“I just felt something, it was one of the First Ones temples. The Crystal Castle, I think it’s in trouble!”

“Wait, you just felt something too?” Glimmer inquired.

“Yeah, why? What do you mean ‘too’?”

Adora hopped onto Swift Wind. “I just felt something also. I didn’t know what it was, but I must
have been feeling the same thing!”

“That’s great!” Swift Wind beamed.

“It felt awful,” Adora mused.

“Um, I’ve been tuned to feeling the temples this whole time. I’ve felt ALL your shenanigans,” Swift
Wind scoffed. Bow and Glimmer had climbed securely onto Swift Wind. The beautiful steed lifted
into the air.

“Er, sorry,” Adora continued.

“It’s fine. If you’re starting to become tuned to the temples also that must mean that your training has
been going well. Light Hope’s going to be so proud of you!” Swift Wind remarked.

“Yaaay,” Adora said with a smirk. Adora looked down at the rapidly fading away battlefield. Hmm.

Misdirection.

Chapter End Notes

You know, honestly, I LOVE writing Entrapta. She WILL be a prominent character in
"Jackets", I just love her so much!

Chapter 3 will be posted Wednesday night. From there my goal will be to post a chapter
every Sunday night. And hopefully I'll be able to work fast enough to maybe do extra
updates throughout the week.

Next Time:
"Probably not. These things could tear right through me if I’m not careful."
 The Weakness of the Princess of Power
Chapter Notes

Oh look, I put some catradora in my catradora fic.

TW: Violence, mental manipulation, abuse

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Catra had full faith in Entrapta. In the year that she had gotten to know the quirky princess Catra had
learned to never underestimate her. Despite that though, Catra couldn’t help but be amazed that this
seemed to be working.

The Duplicator had opened the door to the Crystal Castle with ease. It was now hooked up to the
base of the wall just below a giant stained glass image of She-Ra. Catra scoffed at the sight of it. The
arrogance of princesses.

A weird AI lady had popped up and started muttering something about an “Administrator” when
they entered the main chamber. Once Entrapta had connected the Duplicator to the wall the AI had
powered down. The Crystal Castle was under Horde control. Catra and Scorpia were looking around
to idly pass the time while Entrapta, leaning against her robot companion, Emily, did her work.

“What’s wrong Kitty? You look tense,” Scorpia noticed. Catra had been trying her best to hide it.
Had to be her tail, which was flicking back and forth with sharp, violent swishes.

“You don’t have to worry about defenses, I’ve already disabled them,” Entrapta offered.

Giant killer spiderbots definitely were high on Catra’s things to hate, but that wasn’t it. Catra was
honestly a little surprised, and disappointed in herself, that this place still had meaning to her.
Memories. Bad memories. When Catra had followed Adora into here all those months ago she had
no idea that was going to be the last day she would ever look at Adora and feel anything other than
malice.

There were no regrets for any of the decisions Catra had made that day, or in all the days following
it. Still. That day. That ordeal. Ugh. Bad memories.

“I’m fine,” Catra stated flatly.

“Kiiitttty,” Scorpia whined.

Catra huffed. Death would probably be preferable than to admit just how much Scorpia’s friendship
had come to mean to Catra. Times like this weren’t the best though. That whine. Those almost
quivering eyes. Scorpia wasn’t going to just let this go.

“Look, this place just gives me a bad feeling okay? The last time I was here… This place can be
pretty intense. All this weird power and technology, just messing with you.”

“Weird power and technology is quite an apt way of putting it,” Entrapta said, clapping her hands
together in a fit of glee. “The information here is incalculable! The mysteries it could solve, the
theories it could prove, the possibilities are endless!”
“Yeah that’s great and all,” Catra responded. “ How about we get on with our main mission first?”

Entrapta simply nodded. “Yes, discovering She-Ra’s weakness is a priority. That’s why I am
downloading as much of the data that I can while I figure out where to even begin looking.”

“Perhaps I can help,” A new voice stated, startling everyone. All three of the Super Pal Trio trained
their eyes on the source of the voice. An AI, a different one than had greeted them, stood before
them. Taller, more detailed, still purple though.

“I, am Light Hope.”

“Hey, you’re the one that Adora was looking for the last time I was here!” Catra beamed.

Light Hope slid over to Catra and regarded the catgirl for a moment. Her digital brow furrowed.
“Hello again Force General Catra.”

Hearing her name coming from Light Hope made Catra twitch with anger. Her fingers flexed
instinctively, causing her nails to extend. “And how do you know who I am?” Catra said with a
clenched jaw. She already knew the answer.

“I was able to scan your brain the last time you were here if you remember,” Light Hope stated.

“Yeah, and I still owe you for that.” Catra inched closer to Light Hope and stuck a claw into Light
Hope’s shoulder. An opening formed there with pixels sparkling around it. “Not much I can do
though, I guess.”

“Princess Entrapta,” Light Hope began, then stopped. She teleported to just next to Entrapta and
looked her up and down. “The very real Princess Entrapta,” Light Hope restarted, “has full control
over me and this entire temple. It may not be as cathartic, but it is a rather effective form of revenge.”
Light Hope teleported back to in front of Catra again. For a dispassionate computer AI, Catra
couldn’t help but notice a faint sneer on Light Hope’s digital face when looking at her. “I take it you
had a point to all this effort Force General. Should I ask Force Captain Scorpia or would you care to
tell me?”

“You know who I am?” Scorpia chirped.

Light Hope glanced at her, then at Entrapta and Catra before refocusing on Scorpia. “I believe I did
just mention that I have a full scan of the Force General’s mind. Along with 1,000s of years of
Etherian knowledge, and also full scans of Adora’s mind. Being connected to her mental state is key
in her She-Ra training. She has a quite high regard for you Force Captain.”

Scorpia blushed and waved her massive claw at Light Hope. “Me? Nooooo. I never even interacted
with Adora until after she defected.”

With a few flicks of Light Hope’s hands holographic versions of Adora and Catra were standing in
the middle of the room. Fully colored and looking remarkable three dimensional, the only real
evidence that they weren’t real were the occasional flickering and errant pixel that was seemingly
flack off once in a while. They jerked into motion. The holographic Catra and Adora seemed to be
walking. Adora had a stack of books cradled in her arms, while Catra was carrying a single
notebook.

The sight of them caused a hitch in Catra’s breath. She summoned every ounce of willpower to level
herself out.
“It’s not like you just finish this year and BOOM you’re a Force Captain. There’s weeks of Force
Captain Orientation right?” Catra quipped.

Adora adjusted the weight of the books into one arm and rubbed her neck with her newly freed
hand. “I mean, yeah, but Orientation sounds fun actually,” she mused.

“HAH! Orientation sounds boooooooring!” Catra blurted out.

“I don’t know, They pair you up with senior Force Captains for it, I’m excited to actually be
mentored by someone with real field knowledge, ya know?”

“Depends on who they pair you up with I guess. Ugh, could you imagine being stuck with
Octavia?”

“I’d rather not!” Adora squealed. Both girls shared a chuckle. “I hope I get paired with Force
Captain Scorpia.”

“She’s the one with the big red claws right?”

“Yep! She’s so cool! I heard she’s an absolute badass!”

“Probably doesn’t take crap from anyone!”

“And those claws can pulverize solid rock. They may be even more lethal than your claws,” Adora
quipped.

Catra looked at her free hand, as if examining it for the first time ever. “Ya think so?”

Adora grabbed Catra’s hand, causing them both to stop walking. She lifted it up and began
caressing the inside of Catra’s middle finger gently with her thumb.

“Probably not. These things could tear right through me if I’m not careful,” Adora said, shooting a
soft smile at the catgirl.

Catra closed her fingers around Adora’s thumb and smiled back. “I’LL be careful. You’re never
going to have to worry about that.”

The holograms disappeared with a zapping noise. The same zapping noise caused Light Hope to
flicker for a moment. When she returned she was grimacing. Entrapta was standing where the
holograms had been, holding the Duplicator, which had wires trailing back to where they were
plugged into the wall. Emily was holding the wires in her pincers to keep them from tangling up.

“I think we have gotten off track again,” Entrapta stated.

Catra, who’d been staring intensely at the ground this whole time, shot a glance up at Entrapta, who
simply gave her a nod in reply. A faint smile grew on Catra’s face.

“I think-” Scorpia began. She seemingly glided over to Catra and swooped her off the ground into a
bearhug. “-we need to take a moment to appreciate that Catra thinks I’m a badass!”

No amount of squirming or pushing could make Scorpia release her hug before she was ready to, but
Catra was giving it a good effort anyway. “Oh, yeah, full badassery on display right now Scorpia.
Let me down already!” Scorpia reluctantly complied and set her best friend down. Catra huffed as
she straightened her clothes.

“NOW, if we’re all done fooling around,” Catra glared directly at Light Hope, “We can get on with
our business here.”

Light Hope recomposed herself. “What do you wish to know Force General?”

“Simple: how do we defeat She-Ra once and for all?” Catra said with as much sinister atmosphere
she could muster after having just been bearhugged by an overly cheery scorpion woman.

“Do you, really not know how to defeat Adora?” Light Hope said, squinting at Catra.

“No no, not Adora. Who CARES about Adora? She’s squishy and fleshy and it’s probably all about
friendship and she’s SUCH a freaking disappointment.” Every word of Catra’s statement was
dripping with disgust. “No, I want to know about defeating She-Ra specifically. She’s more than
Adora, she’s a force unto herself isn’t she. Adora’s just like, the container that poor She-Ra got stuck
with.”

Light Hope didn’t respond. She examined Catra’s face, one eyebrow cocked. Finally she let her
shoulders slacken. “Very well then. Defeating She-Ra is theoretically simple. You simply need the
Radiant Core.”

“Ooooooooooooooooh!” Entrapta squealed. “THAT sounds fascinating!”

“Alright,” Catra replied. “What’s the Radiant Core and how do we get it?”

“The Radiant Core is one of the runestones that guide all the forces of Etheria. It is THE runestone. It
is the Runestone of Light and the most powerful force in all of Etheria.”

“Perfect!” Catra slyly grinned. “And how does one acquire this Radiant Core?”

“Ah, the catch,” Light Hope stated. “The only being strong enough to wield the Radiant Core is She-
Ra. And in her current state, even she isn’t powerful enough to do so.”

Catra smacked herself in the face. “So the only thing strong enough to defeat She-Ra is something
ONLY SHE-RA CAN USE?! Enough with the games you stupid Light Bright!”

Light Hope’s examination face returned. “If you will, allow me to adjust the parameters of the
question. While you only seem to care about She-Ra, it is simple fact that She-Ra and Adora are tied
together. If you regard them as the single entity they are, then there is another way to defeat her that I
do not think you have realized yet.”

“FINE,” Catra huffed. “As long as this isn’t ANOTHER waste of time then go ahead and tell us.”

“Absolu-” Light Hope began, but trailed off mid word.

“What?” Catra asked.

“It appears the Castle has visitors. Perhaps we can continue this when you are finished,” Light Hope
said and blinked away.
Catra’s teeth were grinding. “‘Trapta, what’s she talking about?!”

Entrapta frantically typed away at the Duplicator. “It seems she was correct. Three humanoid
creatures just opened the door. It was opened with the passcode.”

“Adora and her friends ,” Catra let out a loud growl. “That stupid AI was STALLING us!” Catra
flicked out her hands, causing all her claws to fully extend. “Alright everyone, looks like we’re going
to have to-” Catra began as she looked back at her team. She stopped when she noticed how
uncomfortable Entrapta looked. “Entrapta? You okay?”

Giant purple strands of hair were wrapped around Entrapta as her hands fidgeted together. “I.. That
is…”

Catra’s posture slacked. Claws retracted, she made her way over and rubbed Entrapta’s shoulder.
“You’re not comfortable fighting them.”

“I… I’m sorry,” Entrapta lowered her head.

With a bent index finger Catra lifted Entrapta’s head back up. “Hey, it’s okay. We got this. Can
Emily fight in your place?”

Entrapta nodded in confirmation.

“Good, then you should go hide, get as much information downloaded as possible. We’ll buy you as
much time as we can,” Catra smiled at her.

As a sign of relief, Entrapta’s hair untangled itself and lifted her into the air. She used a hair strand to
tap the stun baton that was strapped to Catra’s waist. “You should use this, I think you’ll be
impressed with the modifications I made to it.” Without further comment Entrapta’s pigtails spun her
around and she stalked off into the hidden corners of the massive chamber.

Catra pulled the stun baton from her waist. The handle grew to twice the length for better two
handed use. The stun part at the end made a clicking noise and the cylinder morphed into four joined
cylinders like a giant electric mace. It crackled with energy. The hairs on Catra’s hand stood on end.
She gave a sly grin before spinning the staff in her hand.

“Welcome home Adora,” Catra sneered.

Adora, already transformed into She-Ra, entered the main chamber of the Crystal Castle flanked by
Glimmer and Bow.

“This place still gives me the creeps,” Bow said. He had his bow at the ready, just in case.

“It’s okay Bow, now that the Crystal Castle recognizes me as She-Ra, it listens to me. Usually,” She-
Ra added a half-hearted chuckle.

They continued to the middle of the room. “Hmm, nothing looks out of place,” She-Ra admitted.
“Weird that the greeting AI didn’t kick on though.” She-Ra rubbed her chin and glanced around the
room. Everything looked normal, but she still felt a sense of unease. “Light Hope?!” She-Ra yelled
into the room. No response. No, nothing. “Huh, strange.”
“Sorry, Light Hope can’t come to the chamber right now!” a voice from above yelled out. She-Ra
spun around with just enough time to use her sword to block the swing from Catra’s stun mace.
Catra landed and flipped backwards, creating some distance from the Best Friend Squad. Catra
stood, yards from them, spinning the mace in her hands. “Hey, Adora.”

“Catra?!” She-Ra blurted out. It sounded a lot less angry than She-Ra had hoped. “How did you get
in here?”

“And why would I tell you that?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Glimmer huffed. She was tapping her staff in her hand aggressively. “Let’s just
show her the way out!”

As soon as Glimmer made the declaration she was struck from the back and tumbled forward on the
ground. Glimmer rolled over, looking furious. Scorpia was standing over Glimmer, her tail recoiling
back. There was a sinister grin on her face as she tapped her claws together. Glimmer let out a
scream and teleported. She appeared behind Scorpia and slammed her staff into the back of Scorpia’s
head. The stout woman stumbled forward, but remained on her feet. Her tail shot out. Glimmer
leaped into the air, just avoiding it. She raised the Staff of Micah up and began to swing it down, but
Scorpia caught it in her claws and threw Glimmer across the room. Glimmer teleported to avoid
crashing violently into the ground. New plan was to begin hurling sparkle blasts at Scorpia, who
lumbered to dodge out of their way.

She-Ra and Bow found themselves engaged with Emily, the orb shaped robot. She had a number of
impressive weapons, including lasers cannons, shock tentacles, and as She-Ra found out as she
charged at the bot, a sonic wave cannon that sent the princess flying back as soon as she got close.
She-Ra landed on her feet next to Bow. She grabbed him and flung them both to the ground just in
time to dodge a couple laser blasts.

“I don’t remember Horde robots having this much firepower!” Bow shrieked. Him and She-Ra
scrambled to their feet. Bow bought them some time by firing a number of arrows in its direction,
including one that splintered into multiple mini-shards of metal.

“This is new!” She-Ra replied. “Between this and the tank, somebody in the Horde’s had a stroke of
genius.”

Bow and She-Ra scrambled behind a pillar to regroup. “I’d be super impressed if they weren’t trying
so hard to kill us!” Bow huffed. He notched his bow again with another arrow. “I’ll draw it’s
attention, see if you can get close this time.” She-Ra nodded at the plan. Bow took a deep breath,
then charged out from behind the pillar.

She-Ra started to run out the other direction but had to drop down to her knees at the last second to
avoid being hit in the face.

“Aw, forget about me?” Catra grinned. She had a firm grip on the mace, waiting for She-Ra to make
the next move.

“Of course I didn’t!” She-Ra climbed to her feet. She swung her sword down. Catra used the mace
to block. The sword clanked into the mace, but didn’t cut through.

Catra used all her might to shove forward, pushing She-Ra off. “Well now, looks like there IS
something your little sword can’t quite cut through,” Catra quipped. She swung the mace forward.

She-Ra swung her sword, knocking the mace away. “That IS pretty impressive.” The two traded
swings and defensive blocks for a few minutes. “You know, if you weren’t siccing killer robots on
me and my friends I’d be pretty glad to see you Catra,” She-Ra said.

“A dork ‘til the end I see!” Catra said, bringing an overhead swing down. She-Ra rolled out of the
way.

“I’m just saying, I haven’t seen you in months!” She-Ra said just as she had to jump back away from
another vicious swing. “Is it wrong that I was hoping maybe we could talk? We’ve never really had
the chance to just talk about, you know, all that stuff that happened.”

One of Catra’s swings finally connected, even if just glancing. It made She-Ra stammer back a few
steps. A wild grin swept over Catra’s face. “What’s there left to talk about Adora? Stuff happened.
I’m 2nd-In-Command now. And you’re-” another wild swing forced She-Ra to jump back to evade
it, “-my enemy. End of story.”

Despite Catra not being able to connect with the next few swings. She-Ra felt a sting in her chest.

Enough games.

Another wild overhead swing was heading for her. She-Ra lifted her arm and simply caught the
bulky end of the mace in her hand. Catra was grunting, and visibly exerting her energy trying to
finish the swing. She-Ra simply held the mace in place.

“I disagree. Look, can’t we just, like, sit down and talk?”

Catra relaxed her effort. The mace wasn’t going to move. Slowly Catra began sliding her hand up
the shaft of the mace. “So, what, are we just supposed to sit down over a couple of fizzy waters and
pretend like we’re not supposed to hate each other?!”

She-Ra cocked an eyebrow. “Since when did you start drinking fizzy water?”

“Really Adora? That’s what you chose to focus on?”

Catra’s hand slid up to reach a small button on the mace. With a press the bulky end of the mace
began glowing bright blue in She-Ra’s hand. A loud ‘BAZOOM’ noise exploded from it, along with
arcs of lightning. She-Ra went soaring through the air. It was Adora that smacked into the ground,
streams of smoke coming off her. The Sword of Protection skittered along the ground.

The sight brought an ear-to-ear grin to Catra’s face. She regarded the mace in her hands for a
moment. “Entrapta, I don’t care if I have to tear all of Etheria apart, I’ll find you that damn cupcake
recipe you’re looking for,” she mumbled under her breath.

Limp and lying on her back, Adora showed no signs of movement. Her chest softly lifting and
lowering as she breathed was the only indication that she was even alive.

Catra took her time stalking over to her. She could feel the power recharging in the mace as she
walked. Catra was standing directly over Adora now. Slowly she raised the mace over her head. “A
dork until the bitter end,” She muttered.

Before anything else could happen Catra was bombarded with sparkle blasts. Out of nowhere
Glimmer appeared, slamming her fist into Catra’s gut. It rose the catgirl off her feet. “You get away
from her, you monster!” Glimmer yelled.

It didn’t take long for Catra to recover and get back to her feet. “Hey Glitter, this was a private party,
stop butting it!” Catra swung her mace. It connected with the Staff of Micah. Glimmer held her
ground and pushed Catra back.

“IT’S GLIMMER!” she yelled, bringing a sparkle charged fist careening through the air. Catra
hopped back out of the way. The force of impact sent dust and debris flying into the air.

“My bad Glowstick, I’ll get it right next time!” Catra yelled back as she started into a sprint.
“OKAY, I THINK IT’S TIME TO GO!” Catra announced abnormally loudly. Scorpia and Emily
joined her as they ran into the first hallway they could find.

Glimmer teleported to Bow, who was propping himself up on a pillar. “Are you okay?” Glimmer
asked.

Bow took a second to answer, but did give an immediate thumbs up. “Y-yeah. Whew, that robot
wasn’t messing around!”

“We can’t let them escape! Who knows why they were even here!” Glimmer huffed.

“Right,” Bow nodded. “What about Adora?”

“As long as we don’t lose those Horde monsters she should be safe.”

The two nodded at each other and sprinted into the hallway Catra, Scorpia, and Emily had ran down.

“OUCH!” Adora screamed as she bolted up into a sitting position. It took a moment for her to level
her breathing off. Standing was a laborious endeavor. A quick scan of the main chamber suggested
that she was alone. “Light Hope?” Adora called out. Her voice was still a bit horse.

“Yes Adora?” Light Hope answered, standing just feet from Adora.

“What happened?”

“The Force General used a weapon on you, rendering you unconscious for seven minutes. They’ve
since retreated into the bowels of the castle. Your friends are giving chase as we speak.”

Adora scooped up the Sword of Protection. “I have to go help them!” Adora jogged into the middle
of the room and looked around. “Which way?”

Instead of answering Light Hope simple strolled over to Adora.

“Light Hope which way did everyone go? I need to go help,” Adora pleaded.

“That is not true.

“We should talk,” Light Hope stated.

But, there’s Horde soldiers in the castle!”

“The Crystal Castle is capable of defending itself. You have seen that first hand.”

“Horde and Rebellion soldiers are fighting right now in the castle! Isn’t winning the war supposed to
be my destiny?!” Adora huffed.
“Nothing here today has been about the war Adora, it’s been about you. Fighting to protect you. To
hurt you. Your attachment to all of them is what has brought this violence on. As I told you it
would.”

“We’re not having this conversation again!” Adora had begun pacing and fuming. “I remember what
you said! And look, I even get the point you’re trying to make, but I’m more useful to them as their
friend than I am just abandoning them!”

Light Hope pulled out her face of the day, the examination face. “If you do not wish to have this
conversation we will not,” she said after a few long seconds of silence.

“Thank you!” Adora sighed. “So, can you tell me why they were here in the first place?”

“They wanted to learn any weaknesses you might have, so they could more easily defeat you.”

“You didn’t tell them anything did you?! What even ARE my weaknesses anyway?”

“No, you showed up before I could tell them anything of importance.”

“Wait, would you have if I hadn’t shown up?!”

“Yes Adora, they had taken control of my computer systems. I was forced to comply with their
demands. Thankfully the fight distracted them enough that I was able to lock them out of my
network. Once again giving me control of the Crystal Castle.”

Adora sighed. There was another question at the tip of her tongue. Something she was now
passionately curious about, but also terrified of the answer.

“So, what IS my greatest weakness? So I can maybe figure out how to defend myself against it.”
Adora finally asked.

“Would you like to see what I would have shown them?”

“... Yes.”

“Very well”

Light Hope flicked her wrists. The entire main chamber melted away. Suddenly Adora was back in
the Black Garnet chamber.

Shadow Weaver stood at one of her computer terminals, doing who knows what kind of work. A
young Adora, about 14, knocked on the open doorway. Shadow Weaver pulled her attention up from
her terminals and glared at the doorway. Her expression, at least as much of it that could be made
out through her mask, softened immediately at the sight of Adora.

“Come in, child,” Shadow Weaver said. The mage made her way over to Adora, who appeared
reluctant to be there. Shadow Weaver knelt in front of Adora and gave a soft stroke along Adora’s
cheek. “Can I do something for you Adora? You seem… Nervous.”

“Are you busy? I can come back later if you are,” Adora said. There was no air in her words. They
were low, almost dipping to a whisper at times.
Shadow Weaver rose to her feet and ushered Adora into the room. “I always have time for you,
child.” Shadow Weaver stood a couple feet in front of Adora, her arms clasped behind her back. “Is
this about your training session today? Octavia said you did very well.”

“Well, yes, and no. Kind of? Not really actually.”

“Adora, you are rambling. Focus, and ask me what you came here to ask.”

“I was kind of hoping that I could ask you something a little more personal. Not as a teacher, but
more as a mo- a mentor.”

“Yes, of course.”

There was no smooth way to launch into this. Adora had been trying to come up with one for hours
now, with no luck.

“So, you know my squad right?”

“I put your squad together personally Adora.”

“Right. Well okay. So there’s Lonnie. She’s cool. I like her, we get along pretty well. And there’s
Rogelio. I like him too. A bit quiet but he’s a great sparring partner. And Kyle. we actually get along
pretty well too. He loves studying. He’s the one person I can get to go to the library with me. But
then, then there’s Catra…” Adora trailed off.

Shadow Weaver’s demeanor changed, becoming clearly agitated. “Did she DO something to you?”

“What? No! No of course not. It’s just, whenever she’s around lately I feel, weird. Like, I get this
sharp pain in my chest. And like, sometimes it feels like I can’t even breathe whenever I’m near
her.”

“And she isn’t physically hurting you?”

“No! No, she would never,” Adora leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She was having
trouble focusing. A million thoughts swirled around her head. Thousands of ways to describe what
she was feeling. Nothing seemed adequate. “Whenever we’re together, I feel like my body is going to
burst. But when she’s not around… All I can think about is how much I wish she was.”

Shadow Weaver gave Adora a long stare, her eyes squinting more with each passing second.

“Adora, what are you trying to tell me?” Shadow Weaver’s voice was even, measured.

“Shadow Weaver…” Adora didn’t know how to say any of this. No book in the Horde Academy’s
library told her how to deal with this. She knew that to be fact, having turned the place over looking
for something, anything to help her figure this out.

“...What does it feel like to be in love?” Adora pushed out of her mouth. It felt like a hand grenade
that she just dropped in the middle of the room.

Shadow Weaver’s eyes were nothing more than white slivers, glowing, glaring, processing what
Adora had just told her.

Any second that hand grenade would explode, Adora knew it. She was bracing for it. There was no
one else for her to turn to, but this wasn’t the smartest of turns. Yet, it had to be done. If Adora didn’t
talk to SOMEBODY about how she was feeling she was sure she would actually burst. Even now,
bracing for Shadow Weaver’s anger, Adora felt relief. To have it out there. To share this secret, the
one secret she can’t tell her best friend.

No explosion came. No outburst of rage. Shadow Weaver was simply rubbing her left thumb along
the fingers in her left hand, as if feeling for something that wasn’t there. A few uncomfortable
moments of silence passed between them before Shadow Weaver recomposed herself. She gave
Adora a stern look.

“Love, is the most powerful, and destructive, force in all the universe. It can be the strength when
you feel you have none. It can be the will to stand in the face of all that opposes you. If used as a
weapon, it can destroy you in an instant,” Shadow Weaver spoke slowly, picking her words
deliberately, keeping her tone even and calm. She placed her hand on Adora’s back and gently
ushered her further into the room. Adora gave no resistance. She wasn’t sure what she had been
expecting, but an actual conversation definitely wasn’t it.

Shadow Weaver gripped Adora by both shoulders. “Love is dangerous. There is no place for it in
your studies my child. Forget it. Focus on what’s important.”

Adora pulled back. “But, this is important. How I feel about her is very important to me!”

“Does she even feel this way about you?”

Hearing the question felt like slamming into a wall. “What? I mean, no. We’re just… friends.”
Adora let out a long sigh. Her entire body seemed to deflate. “She’d… She’d never be, into me, like
that.”

“The better for you.”

“How? How am I supposed to… DEAL with feeling like this?”

“By letting it go. Forgetting about it and moving on.”

“I- I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I want to! I- I want to feel this way about her. I just wish it
wasn’t one-sided.”

Shadow Weaver took a deep breath and let out a big sigh. Then she cupped Adora’s cheeks with
both hands and pulled her close. “My patience is beginning to fray Adora. Catra is nothing more
than a mangy Magicat, a trophy of Lord Hordak, not deserving of your affection.”

Adora tried to pull herself free, but Shadow Weaver had a firm grip. “What? No! That’s not true!”

“Yes it IS! Listen to me Adora. Love is weakness. It is a distraction. One you do not have time for.”

All Adora could feel coming from Shadow Weaver’s hands were a burning sensation. Red bolts of
energy began crackling and arcing around Adora’s head. “You will forget these feelings for that
magicat, your focus should be your studies. The only thing that should concern you is becoming the
greatest Force Captain the Horde has ever seen.”

Tears began rolling down Adora’s cheeks. Every inch of her skin ached. She tried to focus on
looking at Shadow Weaver, but a darkness was creeping over her vision. She was trying to think, to
argue. Words seemed to fall apart as quickly as she formed them in her mind. She tried to grab at
any thought she could focus on.

“But… I lov….” Adora’s eyes went pitch black, and she fell into silence. Shadow Weaver released
her grip as the last red energy bolt danced around Adora’s head and dissipated. Adora stood,
motionless, for over thirty seconds before she began blinking. The blackness over her eyes seemed to
evaporate into puffs of smoke.

“H-hi Shadow Weaver,” Adora croaked. She looked around in bewilderment. “What… What am I
doing here?”

Shadow Weaver patted Adora on the shoulder. “You were so excited to tell me about your training
today that you fell and bumped your head running here. Do not worry, you are okay now.”

The main hall of the Crystal Castle came into focus. Adora’s head was lowered as she stared off into
nothing. Light Hope was standing next to her, focusing intently on Adora.

“She stole my memories,” Adora whispered.

“A known tactic of Shadow Weaver.”

“Guess I sure showed her, huh. By the time I was seventeen I felt the exact same way again about
Catra. Her mistake was letting us continue to hang out.”

Light Hope appeared to reflect on the statement. “I suppose.”

“You were going to show this to Catra?”

“I would have had to.”

“But why this one, specifically? I don’t even remember it.”

Light Hope opened her mouth, but Shadow Weaver’s voice came out, “If used as a weapon, it can
destroy you in an instant.” Light Hope cleared her throat, her voice returning to her own. “This
memory neatly laid out all Catra needs to defeat you. In addition, seeing Shadow Weaver being so
gentle with you would have infuriated her.”

“Do you WANT her to kill me?!” Adora screamed.

“I want her to want to kill you,” Light Hope stated. “But Adora, in truth, the ONLY thing that can
stop She-Ra is you, and your lack of conviction.”

Adora slammed her hand into her chest. “I have conviction!”

“But it is splintered. As long as you continue to cling to all these, human, attachments you will never
be truly whole. Never fully the She-Ra that you were meant to be.”

The main hall of the castle lit up. A circle of lights surrounded Light Hope and Adora. The lights
began to take shape into people. Light Hope began to stroll, and beckoned Adora to follow.

Just about everything Light Hope was saying was making Adora more and more agitated. But, as
Adora had learned over the last year, there was usually some useful knowledge to be had if you
could just sift through all that pretension.

“This is your heart Adora. It should be clear of distractions. Focused. The things that you’ve been
tasked to do as She-Ra are of such magnitude that they should be all that occupies here. But they are
not. They’re not even here at all. Instead it’s full of people, and the feelings you have for them.”

As Light Hope walked she waved a hand toward one of the lights that had taken the shape of Queen
Angella. “Admiration.”

Another group of lights were in the shape of the princesses Perfuma, Mermista, Frosta, Spinnerella,
and Netossa; and also Sea Hawk, Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. “Respect.”

Light Hope stopped at the next light, which had taken the shape of a table with a bowl of chocolate
covered strawberries on them. She tilted her head in confusion. “... pleasure?”

“What?!” Adora asked, indignant. “They’re delicious ! You would understand if you could taste
things Light Hope.” Light Hope simply shrugged and continued on. As she passed, Adora tried to
grab a strawberry. Her hand passed right through it. Not a surprise, but disappointing nonetheless.

The next group of lights had morphed into Glimmer, Bow, and Swift Wind. “Affection.”

Adora was caught off guard by the next one. The lights had turned into Entrapta. Adora reached out
to touch Entrapta’s shoulder, but her hand passed right through. “Regret,” Light Hope stated. She
didn’t wait for Adora, Light Hope simply continued on. Adora had to jog after her to catch up.

At the center of the room the lights had turned into Catra, curled up and napping on a nondescript
surface. “And here, at the center of everything, is her. Affection, regret, pleasure, anger, love. All
right here.”

“You’ve told me all this before Light Hope,” Adora muttered. She couldn’t take her eyes off the
image of Catra. She was so peaceful.

“Yet nothing has changed in all this time,” Light Hope responded. “All these emotions continue to
rage, and hold sway over you.”

“I’m… dealing with them.”

“You’re trying to bury them. That is not dealing with them. How can you move forward? How can
She-Ra move forward if you continue to dwell on this part of your life.”

No answer came to Adora’s mind. “I… Don’t know,” Adora sighed. Her hands were balled into
tight fists as waves of anger and shame and annoyance washed over her. Adora closed her eyes.
Staring at the holographic Catra was starting to hurt. She took a deep breath to calm herself. “Any
sug-” Adora began as she blinked her eyes open. The image of Catra was gone. Adora’s attention
shot up. All the lights were gone, as well as Light Hope. “-gestions?”

The room was still dimly lit by the ambient blue and lavender lights that always seemed to light it up,
but otherwise Adora seemed to be alone. She didn’t feel alone though. “Hello? Light Hope? Bow?
Glimmer? Is someone there?” She pulled out the Sword of Protection. Just in case.

Something faint and soft hit the ground a few yards behind Adora. If the Crystal Castle hadn’t been
so painfully silent she probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

“Why am I a regret?”

It was as if suddenly every drop of blood in Adora’s body had been replaced with ice water. Her jaw
fell open as she sucked in a giant gasp. The Sword of Protection clanged on the floor. Adora knew
that voice.
Slowly Adora turned. Just a few yards away was Entrapta, dangling in mid-air, being held up by her
pigtails, just like always. The goggles sitting on top of her head glowed purple, and a faint green
glow was coming from the monitor she had tucked under one of her arms.

“H-Hi Adora. I, um, I was hiding. And I, I may have overheard everything. And I saw, when Light
Hope showed you ‘your heart’, she said I was a ‘regret’. I was, er, just wondering…”

“Light Hope,” Adora spit out through gritted teeth. “If this is one of your tricks I swear!”

“What? Oh! Oh, no. She’s gone for the moment. I think she... I don’t think she likes me very much.
Which is fair.” Entrapta floated over to Adora and grabbed one of her shoulders with her hand.
“See? Very real.”

The hand on her shoulder drew Adora’s complete attention. She could feel it. This was a real hand.
A real hand connected to, “Entrapta!” Entrapta didn’t have much of a chance to react. Adora pulled
Entrapta down to her feet and threw her arms around her, wrapping her in a smothering hug. Adora
had tried to hold back, but she couldn’t. Tears began freely pouring out of her.

Entrapta stood frozen for a moment. The sound of crying compelled her to awkwardly stroked
Adora’s back with her hand. “H-Hi.”

“We thought you were dead,” Adora squeezed out between sobs.

“WHAT?!” it was like a shock to Entrapta’s system.

“I’m so sorry,” Adora sobbed. “We should have searched,” Adora sobbed some more. “We thought
you were incinerated.”

Entrapta’s expression fell. “Oh,” she simply stated. It took her a moment to examine the situation she
was in, and the woman on her shoulder, drenching her clothes. Finally she mustered a faint smile and
wrapped her arms around Adora, drawing her into a tight hug.

It had been over 15 minutes. Adora was sitting cross legged on the ground. Entrapta’s hair was piled
under her, making something of a beanbag.

“So ALL the new weapons have been you?” Adora sighed.

“I never really thought about what they were being used for. They were just, puzzles to solve.”
Entrapta pushed her fingers together meekishly. “You’re angry.”

“What? No. I mean. I don’t love it, but I get it. Trust me, I understand.”

“Yes, you’re being forced to fight a war against the woman you-”

“-Oh wow you really DID hear EVERYTHING didn’t you!” Adora said with a nervous giggle.

“Your secret is safe!” Entrapta chirped. “I disagree with the hologram lady. I don’t think it’d be in
Catra’s best interests to hear that right now. You really never said anything to her?”

“Not that I remember, but who knows, maybe I did and Shadow Weaver wiped it from both our
minds!” Adora grimaced at her own joke. “That sounded funnier in my head. No. Her friendship
meant the world to me. I didn’t want to make it weird or do anything to jeopardize it. Well, right up
until I threw it all away chasing some stupid destiny.” Adora glared at the Sword of Protection,
laying on the ground next to her.

Adora seemed to become lost in thought as stared intently at her sword. “You’re going to stay there
aren’t you?” Adora finally asked.

“...Yes.”

Worry had been written all over Entrapta’s face. Seeing Adora’s soft smile beaming at her was a
surprise, but a welcome one. “I’m glad that Catra has you in her life.”

“Catra and Scorpia’s presence in my life has been… A rewarding experiment,” Entrapta smiled.

Rabid clanking could be heard from the far hallway. The girls got to their feet. Entrapta seemed
pleased. “That sounds like Emily!”

“I remember Emily. Don’t remember her having Sonic Wave cannons though!” Adora quipped. “If
that’s Emily, that probably means…”

“Go, I can cover,” Entrapta said, cutting her off.

Before they could react though they heard a voice along with the clanking of Emily’s metal legs. It
was Glimmer, yelling out “Adora!”

Both girls looked at the dark hallway in confusion. Entrapta was the first to react. She jumped behind
Adora, and tried to make herself as small as possible, her pigtails wound tightly around her waist.

“What’s wrong?” Adora asked, eyes still trained on the empty hallway.

“Glimmer’s not going to understand!” Entrapta whimpered. “To you, I defected to a place you used
to call home. To her, I’m a traitor that joined the side that killed her father!”

“Don’t worry! She’s going to be happy to see you! And I’m here, I’ll be able to help iron out that...
other stuff.”

Glimmer came into view. She jogged into the main hall and made it halfway to Adora before
collapsing to her knees. Glimmer was covered in sweat and having trouble catching her breath.
Emily appeared in the main hall, a little banged up, with her guns still out. “Adora! Help!” Glimmer
huffed.

“Oh no! Emily’s still in fight mode!” Entrapta said.

Adora took off immediately. Her sword morphed into a shield as she slid to a kneeling position next
to Glimmer. “Are you okay? Can you teleport Glim?”

Glimmer shook her head. “N-No.I’m, I’m spent.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Adora assured her. She rose to her feet, shield facing Emily. “Emily, we’re
not your enemy! I don’t want to hurt you.”

The robot didn’t seem to take any stock in Adora’s words. Emily aimed her guns. The hum of the
power building up in the robot echoed in the room. Adora braced herself.

“Emily stop!”
Adora looked up, Entrapta had jumped in front of her.

“Emily, be a good girl!” Entrapta commanded. The robot trained it’s focus on Entrapta, then gave
Adora and Glimmer a glance, then began retracting it’s weapons. Entrapta gave the robot a hug.
“That’s my girl.”

“Entrapta?!”

The next thing Entrapta knew Glimmer had tackled her into a giant hug. “Oh my goddess we
thought you were dead!”

“I have heard,” Entrapta replied hugging Glimmer back.

“Where have you been?!”

“Weeellllll…”

“The Horde?!” Glimmer shrieked with an expression of pure indignation.

“Now Glim,” Adora interjected. “I think we should try to focus on the fact that our friend is alive,
and has been taken care of.”

“Taken care of?! She’s been with the Horde! She’s been with that catgirl! How well do you think
they’ve treated her?!”

“I can actually answer that, as I am still present,” Entrapta offered.

“Glimmer,” Adora huffed over Entrapta. “I think you’re forgetting that I GREW UP in the Horde!
I’ve known Catra for basically all my life!”

“Yes, but then you got smart and joined the good side!” Glimmer balled her hands into fists. “Not the
OTHER WAY AROUND!”

“Got smart?!” Adora yelled.

“What are we going to tell everyone else?!” Glimmer demanded.

“The truth! I’m sure they’ll at least be happy to know she’s alive,” Adora shot back.

“No, wait,” Entrapta forced her way into this conversation about her. “Is telling everyone a good
idea?” Entrapta had been having trouble maintaining eye contact but she was trying.

Glimmer stared Entrapta dead in the eyes. Just like that, Entrapta’s experiment with eye contact came
to an end. Glimmer attempted to at least lower her voice down to normal levels. “Our friends… No,
your friends, deserve to at least know that you’re alive! Especially Perfuma.” The name made
Entrapta perk back up. “Gods she was so broken up. Still kind of is!”

“She, she is?”

“Yeah, she is actually,” Adora confirmed. “She made a statue in your honor.”
 “She did?” The light in the main hall was dim, which helped hide the fact that Entrapta’s face was
turning a deep red. “I see your point, about telling her, I mean, them.”

Adora placed a hand on Entrapta’s shoulder. “They’re your friends. Even if they have trouble
understanding why, they’re still your friends.” Adora’s eyes squinted. Now that Glimmer seemed to
be finally calming down it finally hit Adora that something was off. “Speaking of friends… Where
are ours?”

Glimmer gasp. “Oh my goddess! Right! Seeing Entrapta totally got me off track! Everyone’s gone!”

“What?!” Adora and Entrapta yelled in unison.

“We were chasing Catra and Scorpia and they ran into a room and Bow followed in after them and
before I could get to the room it did… Something and poof they were just gone and then the room
door closed and vanished into the wall!” Glimmer’s shoulders sank. “They’re just… Gone!”

“LIGHT HOPE!” Adora screamed out. Nothing happened. “Hey Entrapta, you think you can use
that thingy to hack back into the castle?”

Entrapta stared at the Duplicator. “It will take some time, but yes, it should be possible.”

“That will NOT be necessary!” Light Hope protested. She was standing just in front of the
princesses. She stared directly at Adora. “That was in poor taste Adora.”

“Don’t start with me about ‘poor taste’ Light Hope. Where are my friends?”

“Gone, as the Princess of Bright Moon said.” All three gasped. Light Hope held her head in her
hand. “No, no not gone like that. They entered a forbidden part of the castle so I teleported them
away.”

“Oh thank goodness,” Adora sighed. “So where are they?”

“I do not know. Because I do not care,” Light Hope quipped. “They needed to be removed from the
castle so I did. Where was not a priority.”

Adora groaned. “Please tell me you have very limited range for where you can teleport someone.”

“While accuracy is sometimes questionable, theoretically the Crystal Castle has the ability to teleport
someone to any point on Etheria. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to go make sure the
Crystal Castle’s systems are properly defended against further unwanted intrusions,” Light Hope
blinked away.

The three princesses simply stood there for a moment, staring at each other. It was Entrapta to finally
break the silence.

“Oh. That’s. That’s not good.”

Chapter End Notes

Okay, from here on out, updates every Sunday.

Next Time:
"...six of those guys showed up and I was going to fight them but their spears are really
sharp."
 Weird Holiday
Chapter Notes

Not gonna lie, I really loved writing this chapter!

Lots of notes at the end, including a question, for YOU, the reader.

TW: Violence, violence against animals, bad puns

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Bright blue skies hung over the jungle. Tall trees with trunks of varying shades of brown and blue
peppered the area. They were spread out just enough for dense, lush, exotic foliage to mostly cover
the ground. A harmony of bug chirps and bird squawks filled the air.

A new sound began adding to that harmony, and quickly drowned it out. Not a chirp or a squawk,
more of a high pitched “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

Thankfully, the foliage was dense enough to provide a relatively soft landing for Catra. She tumbled
for a moment before coming to a rest against a bush. Another scream rang out just before the sound
of someone else crashing into the bushes a few yards away.

Catra stayed there on the ground for a moment, glaring at the sky, and the world in general. She
climbed to her feet finally and began kicking the weeds around her. “I. HATE! First! Ones!
Temples!” Assaulting the weeds proved cathartic. Catra was able to recompose herself and began
glancing around, attempting to take in her new surroundings. The depression where the other body
landed caught her eyes. “You okay?” She asked, trodding her way over there.

Bow popped up from the weeds. “Yeah, I think so.”

“You!” Catra hissed, stopping dead in her tracks.

“Hey Catra,” Bow responded with a cheery tone. “Have any idea where we are?” he asked,
surveying the treetops above them.

Catra didn’t say anything. Instead she hissed again and pounced at Bow. He was able to leap out of
the way in time as Catra drove her claws into the dirt.

“I’m going to assume you don’t!” Bow quipped before taking off. Catra followed, slashing through
the weeds with her claws. “Don’t you think we should be setting our differences aside so we can
find a way home?!”

“Not really!” Catra barked. Bow didn’t get very far before Catra, with her superior speed, tackled
him. They went tumbling together before finally landing in a standoff; Bow on his back, Catra
straddled on top of him. Bow was holding an arrow, and pushing it’s tip into Catra’s throat. Catra’s
claws were on full display as she hovered her hand over Bow menacingly.

“This isn’t helping either of us!” Bow tried to reason. Catra simply growled at him and flexed her
claws. “Look, on the count of three I’m going to put my arrow away. Then maybe you can get off of
me? Agreed?” Bow shot Catra a big sparkling grin.

It didn’t budge Catra. She grunted and growled through gritted teeth and just glared at the archer.
She was trying desperately to hold onto her anger. The day had given her plenty of it. Surely it
would be useful for getting out of a jungle. Although to be honest Catra wasn’t entirely sure what
was useful in a jungle. She’d never been in one before.

Bow’s sparkling grin dimmed at Catra’s non-response. “Okay, I’m going to do it anyway. On three.
Ready?”

“1…”

“2…”

“3!”

Catra drove her hand down.

“Eeek!” Bow squealed, closing his eyes in fear. It took a second to realize that he wasn’t feeling any
pain. Bow peeked open one eye. Catra’s arm was next to his head, fingers buried in the dirt.

“Fiiiiine.” It was as if Catra had to force the word out of her mouth. She rose to her feet and dusted
herself off. “Just until we get out of here. Then you’re coming back with us as a prisoner.”

“Oh gee, what fun I have to look forward to,” Bow snarked. He slid from under Catra and got to his
own feet. “Is it just the two of us?”

“No, I saw Scorpia, ‘pop’, with me. She should be here somewhere. Hopefully. What about
Glinda?”

Bow let out a chuckle and shook his head. “No, she was still in the hallway when I ‘popped’. You
know,” Bow began.

“Wait,” Catra cut Bow off. It seemed like Bow was about to continue talking but Catra held a finger
up to shush him. Her ears were twitching as she began surveying the horizon. Suddenly she grabbed
Bow by the quiver strap and pulled them behind a grouping of bushes. “We’re not alone,” she stated,
and pointed at a direction along the horizon.

It took Bow a few seconds to see them, but they came into his view soon enough. Three humanoid
creatures, with elongated, almost cobra-like necks, different shades of grey skin, each around seven
feet tall, although a good foot of that was the neck. They were wearing worn, metal armor, and
carrying very sharp looking spears.

“Sniks,” Bow said.

“Oh, um, bless you,” Catra said, eyes still trained on the snake people.

“No, those are called sniks!” Bow huffed.

“Ooh! Right.”

The two continued watching the sniks patrolling for a bit. They seemed to be searching for
something. They kept poking into bushes and scanning the trees.

“I don’t get ‘Glinda’,” Bow said, concentrating on the sniks. “Like, I got ‘Glowstick’, and ‘Glitter’.
You’re playing on the fact that she sparkles. But ‘Glinda’?”

“You’re thinking too hard. I’m just going for a phonetic thing. Two syllables, and starting with that
‘G L’ sound.”

“Aaaah. Okay that makes sense then,” Bow nodded. They both sat in silence for a moment, making
sure not to lose sight of the sniks.

“Gladys,” Bow offered.

“Oh dear Hordak. That just reeks of old and uptight.” Catra glanced back at Bow and shot him a
vicious smile. “It’s perfect.” Catra noticed that Bow had stuck his fist out at her and was holding it in
the air. She rolled her eyes then returned her gaze to the sniks. Then fistbumped him.

They spent another ten minutes watching, and slowly moving to keep a safe distance from the sniks.
Eventually two of the sniks met in the middle of a small clearing, the day moon causing their scaly
skin to shimmer. The sniks began making clicking and grunting noises at each other.

“Oh no,” Catra whispered. “I think they have Scorpia.”

“Wait, you can speak Snek? You didn’t even know what they were!”

“I mean, kind of I guess? I’m only getting about half the words. I speak Liggish, I have a friend
who’s a laug. I guess most reptilian languages are similar?”

Bow just shrugged. After a moment he leaned against Catra’s shoulder. “Aw, look at you, talking
about having friends,” he quipped.

Catra was taken aback. Indignant. “I have friends!” Catra glared at the sniks, “and they have one of
them!”

A few minutes later the sniks regrouped and started moving away. Catra got into a crouching
position. “They probably took Scorpia to their village. I’m going to follow them,” Catra stated. She
flexed out her claws.

“Lead the way,” Bow said has he got into a crouch himself.

Catra looked back and stared at Bow for a moment. “You don’t have to do this with me. She’s my
friend. My Horde soldier friend.”

Bow stopped to ponder what Catra said. “You’re right,” he replied, readying his bow. “Lead the
way.”

It took over an hour before they reached the snik village. Silently Catra was appreciating how adept
Bow seemed to be at sneaking. They had made it all the way to the village without being detected.

To call it a village may have been a misnomer. It was more an outpost, with maybe two hundred
people. A ten foot stone wall surrounded the settlement. Only way in or out was through the front or
back gates, both of which were heavily guarded. Well, maybe there was one other way.

“From above?” Bow questioned.

“Yeah,” Catra replied. They were hiding behind another grouping of bushes at the top of hill less
than a hundred yards from the front gates. Catra pointed up at the treeline. “Look up there. The trees
hang way over the wall. We can climb up and drop in without even being noticed.”

“That sounds like a great plan. Three thoughts. We don’t even know where Scorpia is. How will we
get out once we’re in? And,” Bow surveyed the treeline again, “I can climb pretty well. I don’t know
if I can climb THAT well.”

“I told you that you didn’t have to come!”

Bow slid his bow and quiver off and handed them to Catra. “Hold this for me please,” he said as he
rummaged around the pockets of the quiver. He pulled out two arrowheads, one red and purple.
“Ah, here we go.” Bow handed the red one to Catra. “Explosive arrow. But you can use it without
being attached to a shaft, just click this button here and you’ll have ten seconds before it goes off.”

“That’s great and all,” Catra said, pocketing the arrowhead, “but that still doesn’t answer how we’ll
find Scorpia.”

“Simple!” Bow pulled a little handheld monitor out of his quiver. He clicked the button on the purple
arrow and stuffed it in his boot. A little dot popped up on the screen. “Tracker!”

“And how are we gonna get that to Scor… Oh. No. Bow, not a great idea!”

Bow just shrugged. “Can you think of a better one?”

Catra could not. “Alright. Just, don’t get yourself killed.”

There was a little mock gasp from Bow. “Aw, starting to warm up to me already?”

“I don’t like the idea of prisoners dying while in my custody,” Catra scoffed.

“How, um, humanitarian of you,” Bow said as he shot Catra a suspicious glare. “ANYWAY, I’ll
give you a few minutes to get in position.”

Catra nodded as she slung the quiver and bow over her shoulder. She was able to slink away in
complete silence. Bow watched the tree for a few minutes. Soon he spotted Catra. She was already
making her way along the upper branches.

Before moving Bow took a few seconds to tidy his hair and dust off his clothes. He gave himself a
couple nods of encouragement then confidently sprung up from behind the bushes.

“Heeeeey fellas!” Bow called out to the sniks as he strolled over to them. There were four sniks
standing at the entrance; two at each side and two in the middle. A metal barred gate stood closed
behind them. The two sniks in the center glared at Bow. “I seem to be lost. I was wondering if
maybe you could…”

Two sharp spears pointed at Bow, who stopped in his tracks and mid sentence.

“I guess not!” Bow winced, raising his hands into the air. The two Sniks at the ends rushed over and
grabbed him. “No need to be rough guys!” Bow protested. He was pretty sure that they understood
him, because they seemed to get intentionally rougher with him immediately, yanking both his arms
down and tightly wrapping his wrists together with an itchy rope.

With a creek and a lurch the metal gates began to part. Two sniks grabbed Bow by the arms and
began pushing him into the village. As he passed through the gate Bow shot a smile over his
shoulder at the treetops.

The mini-monitor was a pretty decent piece of technology. Catra had been convinced that most of the
kingdoms that were a part of the Rebellion were stuck in old ways. Swords and bows and horse-
drawn carts. Dryl had been the exception, thanks to it’s brilliant princess. This didn’t have the feel of
an Entrapta made piece of tech though. No flare. No, “it does all these things that make sense and
also this one thing that certainly doesn’t.” Perhaps Catra was underestimating the technological
prowess of the Rebellion.

At the very least, she had underestimated Bow. From afar he seemed like nothing more than a
cheerleader. Someone to make Adora and Glimmer feel better whenever they needed. It was true,
Bow seemed to have an abundance of cheer, but he was so much more. Although, at this very
moment he was nothing more than a purple dot on a screen.

Catra had kept an eye on Bow for as long as she could, but the buildings and bustle of the village
eventually made it impossible to keep track of him and his captors. The tracker was doing it’s job
though.

Eventually the dot came to a stop. Catra had moved along the trees in pursuit. She had been led to a
branch that reached over the wall and dangled over a low, long one floor building that seemed to
have thick walls. After some surveying of the area, an outline of a plan formed in her head. There
was just one component that she needed. And luckily, all the thick vines that had been running
through the trees would do nicely.

Bow crashed into the floor with a thud. A clank of a jail door locking echoed in the big concrete
room. The two sniks that had been escorting him spun around and filed out.

“I got you buddy,” a voice said behind Bow. Before he knew it he was being lifted to his feet. Once
up, Bow was standing face to face with Scorpia, looking her usual chipper self, save for a couple
errant scratches on her cheeks. “Here, let me help you with that,” she beamed. Bow’s arms were still
bound together, but Scorpia’s claws tore through the rope with ease.

“Thanks!” Bow smiled. “Are you okay?”

“Mostly, yeah!” Scorpia replied. “Crazy day huh. First there was that crazy hologram lady, and then
we were all fighting and suddenly I was teleported to a jungle and then those…”

“Sniks.”

“Thank you! I’ve been wondering. Anyway, I ended up in the jungle and six of those guys showed
up and I was going to fight them but their spears are really sharp.” Scorpia gently brushed a claw
past one of the scratches on her face. “Like, really sharp.”

“Well, we’re glad you’re okay.”

“We?”

There was a loud thump noise on the roof.

“Yeah, and I think we should probably duck!” Bow barely had time to say it before the roof
exploded. Both him and Scorpia dove onto the floor away from the blast point. Cement debris rained
down into the jail cell. Dust filled the air. It also began filling Bow’s and Scorpia’s lungs, causing
them to cough.

Through the haze a thick vine dropped into the room. Scorpia followed the sight of the vine up to the
roof. Catra was sitting at the edge of the hole, feet dangling into the room. “Kitty!”

“You gonna just hang out there all day?” Catra cracked. She tried her best to sound disinterested, but
her big smile betrayed her true emotions.

Scorpia and Bow scurried up the vine. A door flung open, and loud grunting and clicks could be
heard just as Bow hoisted himself onto the roof. Without hesitation, and barely giving Bow time to
get out of the way, Catra slashed her claws at the vine. It dropped down into jail below. Catra
handed Bow his quiver and bow back.

Catra greeted Scorpia with a soft jab on the arm. “What’s the big idea, getting yourself captured!”
Catra sounded more playful than angry.

Not that Scorpia’s reaction would have been different either way. She gave a shrug and a chuckle to
her friend in response. “Sorry Kitty, they got the jump on me.”

“Yeah, well,” Catra began striding over to where three vines were dangling down from the branches
above. “They’re going to get the jump on us again if we don’t hurry.” Catra grabbed one of the
vines. With a tight grip she took a few steps back then began running forward as fast as she could.
She jumped and the vine swung her clear over the encampment wall. Bow and Scorpia followed
suit.

Just on the other side of the wall was a grassy hill that led up into more jungle. Catra landed
gracefully. Bow and Scorpia both landed with varying degrees of less grace. Catra helped her large
scorpion friend to her feet.

The trio wasted no time as they made their way up the hill and into the jungle. For a moment Catra
thought that they may have been in the clear, until an arrow zoomed past their heads. A quick glance
over their shoulders revealed a small hunting party of sniks closing in. All three broke into a run,
with Catra leading the way. Every once in a while Bow would fire back an arrow, which was just
enough to slow the sniks down. They zig-zagged around thick, ancient trees. Crashed through exotic
looking bushes. Vaulted over fallen logs and other underbrush.

Soon enough they came to a river cutting through the jungle. Without losing momentum the trio leapt
into the air and grabbed ahold of dangling vines, swinging them safely across the river. Catra was
ready to spring back into flight, but Bow and Scorpia were having trouble getting their legs going
again.

Catra tugged at Scorpia’s arm. “Come on, they’re still right behind us!”

“Hol-hold on a minute Kitty. We don’t all have the endurance you do,” Scorpia huffed out. She was
buckled over, her claws pressed into her knees to hold herself up. Bow was in a similar position.

“Tsh, clearly,” Catra snorted. Her heightened sense of hearing allowed Catra to hear the sniks long
before they came into view. “Come on, we need to at least get out of sight!” Catra barked, renewing
her tugging efforts. Scorpia and Bow stumbled their way into the jungle behind Catra, to a grouping
of large enough trees to mask their presence. Catra took a peek out. The sniks were just starting to
approach the river. Catra took in an honest look of her traveling party.

“Don’t think outrunning them’s going to be an option,” Catra muttered to herself. She dug a set of
claws into the tree and gave a test yank. It was a solid tree, the bark held up to the pressure. She
glanced at Bow. “Got any more tricks in that bag of yours?”

“Heh, yeah, a few.”

“Okay. Bow, get their attention. Scorpia, after Bow gets their attention you’re up.” Catra dug her
other set of claws into the tree and began climbing. “I’ll get around them and strike from behind.”

Despite their reptilian heritage, sniks tended to not enjoy water. Having to wade through a gross river
was just one of the many crimes the sniks were planning to accuse these intruders of. The hunting
party of eight made it across to the bank of the river, where, judging from the pressed down grass,
someone had recently been.

A whistling noise caught their attention. They looked up to see an arrow fly overhead, then suddenly
explode into a stream of colored lights and sparkles.

“Ooooooooh, pretty!” Scorpia marveled as she watched the scene play out from behind the trees.

“Thanks! This one should be more effective though,” Bow said as he notched another arrow and
sent it flying. It slammed into one of the sniks, but instead of piercing their skin, it exploded into a
puff of smoke. A surprising amount of smoke poured out of the arrow, engulfing the area.

Suddenly two of the sniks were lifted into the air and slammed together, knocking them both out.
“Night night!” Scorpia jested as she dropped them.

Another snik spun to attack her. Bow used the distraction to slam his bow into that snik, sending
them to the ground.

The three sniks in the back of the party were backing up, trying to escape the smoke. Catra crashed
into one of them from above, sending him to the ground. Two spears jabbed at her, but Catra
pirouetted out of the way of both. Her claws flexed out. Slash slash. Both spears fell into pieces in
the sniks’ hands. Front kick to the stomach area knocked one of the sniks back into the water. A
leaping roundhouse sent the other spinning lifelessly to the ground.

Catra landed gracefully into kneeling position. She sprung to her feet in time to see Bow and Scorpia
taking care of the last two sniks. “Huh, that went... Well.”

Bow shot her a smirk. “You don’t have to sound THAT surprised.”

A thunderous noise killed their conversation. The kind of thunderous noise that causes all the birds in
the jungle to take to the skies at once. A noise the vibrates solid rock and shakes trees. The sort of
noise that you hope isn’t heading your way.

It was getting louder.

Everyone’s attention was pulled back to the direction they had come from. Catra squinted her
mismatched eyes trying to see something through the trees. Until.

“Oh, you HAVE to be kidding me!” Catra’s eyes grew wide. She spun around and began running at
Bow and Scorpia. “Okay back to plan Run Like Hell!” she shrieked as she flew past them.

“What is it?” Scorpia asked as she and Bow began to jog after Catra.

Her question was answered immediately. On the far bank of the river a tree was torn from the ground
and tossed into the air as a massive, fifteen foot tall creature sprung out of the jungle and onto the
bank. Sand kicked up beneath its four feet as it landed. The creature, being ridden by a snik, arked
it’s neck up and let out a ferocious roar. The creature’s skin was leathery and gray, with a giant horn
at the tip of its noise. It resembled a rhinoceros, if a rhinoceros had been created by an angry teenager
doodling in their fifth period class notebook.

The creature leapt and landed squarely in the middle of the river. It trudged through and began
galloping as soon as it reached land.

Catra and her group’s saving grace was their size. The ability to dodge and avoid the trees was the
only thing that kept any distance between them and that, thing, that had to tear it’s way through the
jungle. Which it was doing with alarming ease.

There was a ridge in front of them. It was wide and deep and down at the bottom spiky rock
formations awaited. On the other side of the ridge was more jungle. Working entirely on reflex Catra
leapt as soon as she reached the ridge without breaking stride. Even with her impressive agility and
catlike reflexes, she was only barely able to clear the gap.

Bow and Scorpia skidded to a halt. “Now what?!” Bow yelled out.

Scorpia had an immediate solution. She grabbed Bow by his collar, wound him up and pitched him
clear across the ridge. Much to Catra’s chagrin Scorpia had aimed and sent Bow crashing directly
into her, presumably to break Bow’s fall.

Alone on her side, Scorpia peered down into the ridge. Not an appealing sight.

“Dammit dammit dammit!” Catra was darting her eyes around, looking for something. More vines.
Anything. “Hold on Scorpia!”

Bow’s shoulders slumped as he let out a sigh. He fished out an arrow from his quiver. It was metal
and bulky at one end, and a wire with a dongle dangled at the other. Bow gripped the arrow tightly
and nodded. “I have an idea,” he said.

“Hey Scorpia!” Bow called out. “You’re gonna have to jump! I’ll shoot you a rope!”

Scorpia looked back over the ridge. “I have many skills Bow, hops isn’t one of them.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get the rope to you!” Bow took the dongle and snapped it into a designated space
on his bow. He notched the arrow and waited as Scorpia backed up a few steps.

“You had a rope arrow this whole time?!” Catra huffed from just behind him.

“Not now! This has to be timed just right!” Bow snapped. Catra was taken aback by Bow’s
suddenly seriousness. She gave him space to focus.

The rumbling of the monster’s stampeding feet was getting louder. Time was up. Scorpia took off
and leapt into the air. Just then Bow shot out the arrow. It zoomed through the air, the metal end
sprung up into a grappling hook. Scorpia didn’t even make it a third of the way across the ridge, but
the arrow got to her. She had to reach out all the way but she was able to snap her claw around the
grappling hook. She swung down and slammed into the side of the ridge.

The force of Scorpia’s swing yanked Bow off his feet. He was sliding toward the cliff but Catra
jumped on him. The two were weight enough to anchor the rope. Scorpia drove her tail into the wall
for extra grip.

The beast reached the ridge. It trudged back and forth along it for a moment, snarling, before giving
up and disappearing back into the jungle.

Scorpia began trying to climb up the rope. Bow and Catra were attempting to pull her up.

“Hey guys?” Scorpia called out when she was close to the top.

“Yeah?” Catra grunted as her and Bow put all their power into pulling.

“I don’t think I like the jungle,” Scorpia admitted.

“Yeah!” Catra agreed as they made the final pull. Scorpia popped up onto the safety of flat land.

All three collapsed onto the grass, taking the moment to try to catch some semblance of breath.

Still flat on his back, a small grin grew on Bow’s face. “You could say, that it’s the pits.”

At first he thought no one heard him. Then Scorpia let out a soft chuckle. Followed by another.
Followed by another until she was having a fit of laughter on the ground. “Because it was a pit of
death! Good one!”

Catra, lying spread out on the ground, turned her head to glare at the duo. They were paying her no
mind as Scorpia attempted to calm her laughing fit down. “This is my nightmare,” Catra mumbled to
herself. Her attention slowly drifted away from her traveling party. Here at the edge of the ridge there
weren’t many trees, allowing the sky to peek through. It was blue, with a few errant clouds. Off to
one edge the amber light of dusk was starting to creep in.

The sky in the Fright Zone looked entirely different from the rest of Etheria. Almost as if it was
another world. A blue sky wasn’t an unpleasant thing to see. Every once in a while a bird would fly
past. That’s something the Fright Zone definitely didn’t have. Birds. Catra remembered learning
about them in Etherian Biology 102. She had been fascinated by birds. Something about them
always made her hungry. For a couple weeks after that semester there had been a plan to sneak out
of the Fright Zone and see these “birds” firsthand. Just her and…

Catra hoisted herself into a sitting position. “We should keep moving. Gonna be dark soon.” Catra
sprung up and helped Scorpia to her feet.

That’s when she noticed Bow. He was sitting up, his knees pulled into his chest as he tried to respool
the wire into the grappling hook arrow.

“Hey, Bow. You okay?” Catra asked.

Bow jumped at her voice, as if he had just been pulled back from being lost in thought. “Oh,” Bow
said. He sighed. He held up the arrow at Catra and Scorpia, who were both standing over him,
concerned looks painted on their faces. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. It’s just that, this was the last of the
arrows that Entrapta had made for me.” He ran his thumb along the shaft of the arrow. “They were
all I really had to remember her by.”

Scorpia and Catra shot each other confused looks.

“I mean, if you ask her nicely I’m sure she’d make you more,” Catra responded.

“Yeah,” Scorpia added. “You want us to ask her for you? Probably be easier if we asked her huh.

“Wait,” Bow raised an eyebrow. He jumped to his feet and stared intensely at the two. His mouth fell
open. “Wait! Are you telling me, that Entrapta’s alive?!”

More confused glances. “What?” Catra asked. “Of course she’s alive.”

“You think she’s still at the Crystal Castle?” Scorpia directed at Catra.

“Nah, knowing ‘Trapta she’s already back in the Fright Zone trying to figure out how to find us,”
Catra said with confidence.

Bow grabbed Catra and Scorpia by the arm. “We thought she was incinerated!” Bow said, tears
streaming down his face, but with a big grin nonetheless. He pulled Catra and Scorpia into a group
hug. Catra began squirming, but with the combined grips of Bow and Scorpia she wasn’t going
anywhere.

Finally Catra was able to pry herself out of the hug. “Huh. That, actually makes a lot of sense,” Catra
said. “But nope, ‘Trapta is 100% alive and well.”

“And, has joined the Horde?” Bow inquired, his face twisted into a more pensive expression.

“I mean, kind of?” Catra offered while rubbing the back of her head.

“To be fair, she’s never officially joined the Horde,” Scorpia added.

“She just kind of started tinkering with things and since they were all massively powerful weapons
we just kind of let her,” Catra added. She was worried that hearing that would dampen Bow’s spirit.
She was also really annoyed about the idea that she was starting to care about dampening Bow’s
spirit.

Instead, Bow just let out a chuckle. “Yeah, that sounds like Entrapta!”

The trio made their way into the jungle, traveling aimlessly, only real destination was to be as far
away from giant rhino monsters as possible. Scorpia and Catra told Bow about what Entrapta had
been up to. Instead of anger, or resentment, Bow just seemed happy to know that his friend was
okay.

Eventually the conversation shifted from Entrapta to more idle chatting. Bow and Scorpia were
entertaining themselves by trying to see who could spot the largest bug, or the fanciest flower. Catra
entertained herself by mocking them. Neither seemed to be bothered by it.

A couple hours passed. Night was almost upon them when they finally came to a clearing in the
jungle. In the center of it was an impressive set of ruins. They looked to be made mostly out of white
stone and wood, eroded by the weather, overrun by plantlife. Faint remnants of ornate carvings could
still be made out in a few places where the walls weren’t covered by moss or vines. It appeared to
have been a large two story building surrounded by a few smaller buildings. Most of the front of the
main building was gone. On the inside was the skeleton of rooms and halls. Dusty and barren.
Surprisingly, what was still standing seemed pretty sturdy. Catra scouted through the building.
Empty. The upside of that meant that there was no one to disturb or fight. The downside was that
there wasn’t even so much as the frame of a bed left. It was fully dark by now though, and they were
absolutely lost. The ruins would make a plenty fine camp for the night.

Catra and Scorpia built a fire on the roof, one of the few places not completely overrun with
vegetation. Bow returned soon with food. Three rarrats; plump animals about the size of pekingese
dogs that tended to scurry around areas with dense bushes. They shared a quiet dinner, then went
back into the ruin to try to rest. Bow volunteered to take the first watch.

It was a nice sentiment, but Catra had long ago learned not to trust sentiment, or anything else for that
matter. When she got to the roof she found Bow using a charcoaled stick from the fire to scribble,
something, on the roof.

When Bow realized Catra was there he simply gave her a nod before returning to his writing. He
would scribble a couple things on the roof, then turn around and stare at the moons in the sky for a
moment. This seemed to be a repeating process.

“Can’t sleep?” Bow asked, eyes still focused upward.

“More like ‘don’t sleep’,” Catra responded. She strolled over near him, making sure not to step on
any of the scribbles. She began staring up at the moons with him to see what all the fuss was about.
Best Catra could tell, yep, those were the nine moons of Etheria, just hanging there. In the sky. Like
always.

“Everyone sleeps.”

“I’ll get a couple hours if I really try.”

“Sounds rough.”

“What can I say? Sleep doesn’t come easy. Got a lot on my plate, ya know?”

“I’m sure being a Force General isn’t a picnic.”

“A what?”

Bow slowly turned to Catra and just rolled his eyes. “Oh jeez, not you too.”

Catra just shrugged. “It’s a hard enough job even if you’re prepared for it. I wasn’t though. None of
this was supposed to be mine.” Catra’s voice had an air of pride, of victory. “I’m sure you’ve heard
all about that.”

“Not really,” Bow answered. He was looking back up at the sky and rubbing his chin.

Catra couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “Wasn’t even worth a second thought. That’s not surprising,”
her voice had turned low. She didn’t mind if Bow heard her, but she wasn’t exactly talking to him.

For the first time since Catra had made her way to the roof Bow stopped what he was doing and
gave her his full attention. “Look,” Bow began. “I know this probably isn’t my place-”

“-It’s not,” Catra cut him off.

“-BUT, I kind of think that the opposite of that is true. Adora doesn’t talk about you much, because it
hurts when she does.”
“Good!” Catra gleefully responded. “Her suffering sounds great to me.”

Bow sighed and stared down at his scribbles. “Right, we’re still enemies.”

A silence came over the roof. Bow decided to do his best to focus on scribbles in front of him.

Catra crossed her arms and stared down at the scribbles on the ground. They were drawings that
didn’t make much sense to Catra. “What is this exactly?”

“Hmm,” Bow turned to face Catra. “I have good news, great news, and not-so-great news.”

“Good news.”

“I know where we are!”

“What? How? From scribbles?”

Bow pointed up at the moons. “No, from them! I was able to use the positions of the moons to figure
out where we are. Sea Hawk taught me how. It’s something sailors have been using for centuries.
You know, I’m technically a pirate.”

Catra doubled over in laughter. “A PIRATE?! YOU?!”

“I’m officially part of Sea Hawk’s crew!”

“Didn’t he set his last ship on fire?”

“His last seven.”

One of Catra’s eyes began twitching before she was able to recenter herself. “Okay, what’s the great
news?”

“I know how we can probably get home!”

“Probably?”

“Do you know what a breeze hawk is?”

“The giant birds?”

“Yes! There’s a colony of them that live maybe two hours northeast of here.” Bow stopped and
looked thoughtful for a moment, making sure to carefully piece together his next sentence before
saying it. “Okay, here’s the not-so-great part. For you and Scorpia at least. They try not to get
involved with human wars, but breeze hawks kind of hate the Horde.”

Catra sighed. “Not surprised. The Horde used to hunt the breeze hawk colonies that lived along the
western border of the Fright Zone. Just about to the point of extinction. Apparently their skin was
good for making leather armor out of.”

“That’s… Horrible.”

A simple statement. Catra reflected on it with a smirk. Wasn’t much to argue about. The Horde and
the kingdoms of Etheria had been at war for decades. Each side did what they had to in order to keep
fighting. Sometimes doing what was necessary wasn’t pleasant. Catra had the worrying suspicion
that what happened to the breeze hawks of the west didn’t have anything to do with ‘necessary’.
“So what do breeze hawks have to do with us getting home?” Catra asked, pushing past her
thoughts.

“Well like I said, they’re don’t really want to be a part of any war, but they’re friends of the
Rebellion. If I ask nicely they may be willing to fly us back home.”

“You think they’d be willing to fly us home? Just like that?”

Bow pulled at his collar. “If I have two Horde prisoners that I need transport then yes?”

“ EXCUSE ME? ”

“Not really my prisoners! Just, you know, pretending until we get back home!” Bow gulped.

“You’re saying that our best chance to get home rests on some giant birds believing that somehow
you overpowered and took prisoner an almost seven foot scorpion bruiser and one of the more agile
and skilled fighters in the Horde?”

“Yes?”

“Out of the question!”

“Catra, on foot it’ll take us a week to get back to Bright Moon!”

“A WEEK?!” Catra was visibly taken aback by that news.

“At best. Let’s face it, we don’t have the supplies to get home. The breeze hawks can get us there in
a few hours.”

The very valid and sensible point was met with grumbling. No rations. No supplies to speak of.
Bow’s quiver was looking pretty barren, and Catra had lost her stun baton back in the Crystal Castle.
Making it another day would be a struggle, let alone a whole week.

Pride had no interest in sensible though. A Force General playing prisoner just to hitch a ride on a
stupid bird?

“No. Nope, no way!”

Mid-morning over Etheria was beautiful. The sky was a deep baby blue with fluffy white clouds
playfully painted in spurts. It was peaceful. Serene.

Until a bird, resembling a hawk but with a 30 foot wingspan and a torso twice the size of a horse,
barreled through the clouds, dispersing them in a poof. On it’s back sat Bow, clinging as gently as he
could to the bird’s feathers. Just behind him was Scorpia, with one claw clinging to Bow while she
waved the other one in glee as the breeze hawk dove into an air current. Catra was pressed up
against Scorpia’s back, her arms wrapped tightly around the woman’s torso.

“Isn’t this great?!” Bow giggled.

“I feel so alive!” Scorpia responded.

Catra’s only response was to grind her teeth. This was, hands down, the worst best idea she’d ever
been a part of. That was a bold claim, considering that her and her, old friend, had come up with
plenty of amazingly awful and awfully amazing ideas growing up.

“At this rate we should be back in Bright Moon in less than an hour!” Bow beamed.

“Wait,” Catra craned her neck to peak around Scorpia’s sizable bicep, “we’re not actually going to
Bright Moon right?” Part of ‘being a prisoner’ included not being privy to the conversation that Bow
and Candir, as this breeze hawk was called, had before leaving.

Bow leaned back as much as he could without letting go. “You don’t think he’d be willing to
actually fly into the Fright Zone do you? Candir’s going to take us to the other side of the
Whispering Woods and land us a couple miles north of Thaymor, which puts us right between
Thaymor and Elberon. You know, the Horde controlled base that used to be Elberon? That good
enough for you?” The mention of Elberon was the first time this whole time that Catra really heard
bitterness in Bow’s voice. Catra was at a loss for words, and at the point where she was afraid that
opening her mouth might result in her losing her breakfast, so she simply answered Bow with a
thumbs up.

Rotten moods weren’t going to be enough to spoil Bow’s. It was too beautiful up here. Soon
enough, Bright Moon Castle came into view. It glittered and gleamed in the afternoon daylight. Next
they passed over the Whispering Woods. Lush violets and greens twisted together in a sea of leaves.
From this angle, the woods looked like any other, it’s many terrors and wonders masked from view.

On the other side of the Whispering Woods was the border. Green fields disintegrated into dirt. Blue
skies became stained yellow and orange. In part from smog and pollution, but also in part of
something else. The natural decay of the Fright Zone was something most on Etheria didn’t
understand. Not even most of the people in the Horde.

Candir flew in a tight line, skirting the edge of the Whispering Woods, making sure to keep well
inside the Bright Moon side of the border.

Thaymor appeared on the horizon. Candir passed over it and their destination, the open field just
north of Thaymor, just south of Elberon, came into view.

Suddenly the view was blacked out. A thunderous noise followed by a flash of light and a giant puff
of black smoke appeared just in front of them. Another one appeared dangerously close to Candir’s
wings.

“Oh no,” Scorpia gasped. “Those are explosive shells!” She looked down, studying the Horde side
of the border. After a couple seconds she pointed her giant claw towards the northwest. Two Horde
tanks could be seen advancing to the border. “There!”

“Everyone hold on!” Bow said just as Candir made a hard bank to the right. More explosions
erupted around them. Candir made more impressive evasive maneuvers to avoid the deafening blasts.
Bow, Scorpia, and Catra held on for dear life as Candir dove and spun and made sharp 90 degree
turns.

Candir swooped up out of the way of an explosion, but another explosion erupted immediately
around them. Catra could feel the heat from it, the boom rattled her bones. So did the thunderous
scream that the breeze hawk let out. Candir began rapidly losing altitude. Catra opened her eyes for
the first time in minutes. Smoke was billowing from Candir’s right wing from a spot where it’s
feathers were missing. Catra slammed her eyes tight and wound her arms around Scorpia even
tighter.
The breeze hawk had somehow managed to reach the open field. The bird slammed into the ground
and bounced back a few feet into the air, all the while maintaining its momentum. It tried to gain
some control with its feet the next time it landed but all that managed to do was cause it to tumble
towards the edge of the forest. It’s riders were tossed and the breeze hawk rolled on the ground a
number of yards before slamming into a tree.

“Ow. Ow,” Catra moaned as she slowly lumbered to her feet. She was in the field, a dozen yards
from the edge of the woods leading back towards Bright Moon. Bow and Scorpia were stirring just a
few yards from her.

Bow tried jumping to his feet, but his left ankle disagreed with that idea, sending him toppling back
down. “Candir?!” Bow yelped. The breeze hawk made a low squak. Bow tried the whole standing
thing again, only this time Scorpia was there to help him to his feet. The two made their way over to
Candir. Bow and Candir conversed in some sort of bird language that neither Scorpia nor Catra
understood.

“He’s going to be alright. Not going to be able to fly for some time though,” Bow reported.

“That’s good to hear,” Scorpia replied as she stroked Candir’s back.

Catra hadn’t moved. She simply glared at them. Slowly Bow and Scorpia noticed her intense stare.
The field seemed so quiet that one could hear the grass rustling in the gentle breeze.

This should be easy.

“Kitty?” Scorpia called out. She had a sullen expression.

A wounded breeze hawk. A wounded Rebellion soldier. An important Rebellion soldier. Tank
reinforcements are on the way.

A Rebellion soldier that asked me to ask our mutual friend to make him some new arrows.

A Rebellion soldier that thwarted my plans to find a way to stop She-Ra.

A Rebellion soldier that helped save Scorpia, twice.

“Something, happened to my parents. And the rest of my family had to give me up to the Horde.”

The Horde is evil.

“Aw, look at you, talking about having friends.”

“Just focus on me, okay? It’ll help.”

“These things could tear right through me if I’m not careful.”

We’re evil, right?

This should be easy.

“Hey, Catra?” Scorpia called out again.

Catra snapped out her seeming trance. She gave the trio another glance. Bow and Scorpia weren’t
hiding the worry on their faces. Candir’s eyes were filled with intense outrage. Catra turned towards
the Fright Zone. The tanks were just barely on the horizon, still plenty far away.
 “They’re going to be here soon,” Catra remarked as she looked over her shoulder at the party. She
took a deep breath that emptied into a sigh. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can, but they’re going to
want to investigate the area. You better not be here when they do.”

Bow limped a few steps forward. “Catra, thank you.” Catra simply nodded and darted towards the
tanks on the horizon.

“Better get going. Gonna be a long walk with Candir here,” Scorpia said as she gave the breeze
hawk another pat on the back.

“Yeah, I better,” Bow said. He didn’t move. Him and Scorpia simply stood there staring at each
other for a moment. Bow was the first to break eye contact. “This is weird right? We’re supposed to
hate each other!” he said with a chuckle.

“That’s what they tell me!” Scorpia retorted. “Just think though, we’ll always have the jungle to
hate.” The idea caused both to laugh heartily. Candir squaked at them. One didn’t have to be a bird
expert to get that it was meant to be taken as annoyance.

Bow helped Candir to his feet as much as he could. “I really do need to be going. Hope you get
home safe, Scorpia.”

“Yeah,” Scorpia scratched the back of her neck with her claw. “Take care of yourself, Bow.”

It wasn’t long before Bow and Candir disappeared into the woods. Scorpia watched them get
completely out of sight before turning to head back to the Fright Zone.

Chapter End Notes

Okay, before the notes, I have a QUESTION: are you all okay with smut in this fic? I'm
probably way overthinking it (I do that a lot). I know the fic has been advertised as
Mature and having smut since the beginning. It's something I've intended to do from the
start and want to do. Truth be told though, so far the story's stayed pretty Safe For
Work. Please put your thoughts in the comments section!

Okay. So, like I said up front. I loved writing this chapter. Catra's, Bow's, and Scorpia's
dynamic was something I wanted to explore from early on in planning this fic. But
something happened that I didn't originally intend. I promise, I didn't plan it. It just sort
of start happening. I know, it's kind of crazy, not the CRAZIEST thing this story will
ask you to go along with, but definitely a little out there. I know I CAN'T be the first
one to ship them, but I honestly haven't been able to find anything else that does. I'm not
even sure it's a good idea, but I'm gonna run with it anyway because I want to. So, um,
hey..... Scorpiow

Chapter 5 next Sunday night!

Next Time:
"Is this why we never got along? Because we’re the same person?"
 Soft Days, Hard Conversations
Chapter Notes

Sorry that "Sunday night" ended up being "Monday afternoon". Had to do a little more
editing than I thought.

TW: Angst, Adult content

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Elevators in the Fright Spire were pretty fast. On most days, at least. Deep down Catra knew that
they were moving the same as always. Just, at this very moment, it felt so slow. She could feel each
time the elevator would momentarily change velocity. A little faster, a little slower. Apparently it
wasn’t very good at maintaining a steady speed.

Catra was paying extra attention to the speed of the elevator as a way to distract herself from paying
attention to the awkward silence on it. Her and Scorpia had hitched a ride back to Horde Command
from one of the tanks that had attacked the breeze hawk known as Candir. There was a short walk to
the Fright Spire where they boarded this elevator. Through that entire hour Scorpia had barely said a
word. Catra often wished Scorpia would talk about 80% less than she does, but much to Catra’s
surprise the silence was killing her.

She’s mad. Mad I let them go. Maybe worse than mad. Maybe she’s lost faith in me. Maybe she
doesn’t think I can do this anymore. Shit. Scorpia, say something. Speak. Speeeeak!

Catra let out a sigh.

Fiiinnne, I’ll go first.

“Dinner after this? Something quick?”

Scorpia jolted her head up. “Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“Cool.”

The conversation hadn’t lasted as long as Catra had hoped. She tried leaning against the wall of the
elevator. Unintentionally she ended up in maybe the least casual “casual pose” possible.

“Hey, Catra,” Scorpia started after a moment. Catra’s ears perked up. She tried hiding just how tense
she was. Scorpia glanced at her and smiled, “I’m proud of you.”

“You, you are?” Catra asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You made a kind gesture to the enemy. It was, a mature thing to do. The kind of leadership I can
stand behind, ya know?”

Catra grunted out a chuckle. “None of that can go into any reports. Doesn’t feel like the kind of
leadership Lord Hordak would stand behind.”

Scorpia nodded in recognition of the order. The conversation died down again.
“Thanks,” Catra said after a moment. Scorpia responded with a big smile and a nod.

Knowing that her best friend didn’t in fact hate her allowed Catra to finally relax. Every muscle in
Catra’s body ached. After getting tossed from a giant bird after a previous day of running and
fighting all Catra wanted to do was go get a quick dinner, maybe clean herself up a little and collapse
into her bed. Sleep or no sleep, just being off her feet would be a welcome change of pace. There
was something her and Scorpia had to do first though.

The door to Entrapta’s Lab swished open. Catra and Scorpia strolled into the room. The lights were
on, but the room was unusually quiet.

“We’re back!” Catra called out. There was no response. “Hey ‘Trapta, you here?”

Catra’s ears picked up a rustling in the rafters, followed by the sound of something soft hitting the
floor. They both whipped around to see Entrapta standing in the doorway. A strand of purple hair
shot out and hit the button to close the door. Entrapta was dangling a few feet off the ground, and
avoiding eye contact.

“I was worried,” Entrapta mumbled. Her voice was low. There was a distance about her, something
that had never been there before.

It was certainly noticeable, but Catra tried to push on; maybe she was just tired and reading too much
into everything. “We figured, that’s why we came here as soon as we got back. Safe and sound.”

“What about Bow?”

“Bow? What about him?” Catra inquired, trying her very best to hide the hints of nervousness rising
up in her stomach.

“He disappeared along with you. What happened to him?”

“Oh, um, no idea. Didn’t run into him,” Catra offered, hoping desperately to change the subject.

It had happened so fast. Even with her reflexes, Catra barely saw it coming, and had no time to react,
not that her aching muscles would have played along even if she had tried. Strands of purple hair
were wrapped tightly around her neck. Catra’s hands shot up to her noose. The grip was firm. No
way it was budging. Slashing it with her claws was an option, but Catra wasn’t still wasn’t sure how
Entrapta’s hair worked. Would that hurt? She was hesitant to find out.

“What… Are… You doing?” Catra squeezed out of her restricted wind pipes.

“You’re LYING again!” Entrapta screamed through gritted teeth. She looked up finally. Her brow
was furrowed. She had a puffiness around her eyes, her cheeks looked vaguely wet.

“Yes, we are!” Scorpia yelped. She rested her claw on the extended strands of hair, and gently
stroked them. “Entrapta, please.”

The grip around Catra’s neck slackened, and in a few seconds the hair was completely pulled back.
Free, Catra doubled over onto her knees in a coughing fit. Scorpia made her way to Catra and helped
her back up to her feet. She gave the catgirl a long stare.
Entrapta was mere inches from Catra by the time she was standing back up. “Stop lying,” Entrapta
pleaded, tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.

Staring at the purple haired princess was painful, but Catra made herself do it. If nothing else, she
owed it to her. “Truth is, Bow helped us get back.

“So I let him go.”

“They thought I died in the blast furnaces,” Entrapta responded. Eye contract was proving too much,
so she shifted her gaze to the floor. “You said they abandoned me.”

“We had no idea why they left you behind,” Catra said.

Entrapta glared at Catra, her squinted red eyes were piercing.

Catra let out a big sigh. “The truth. I didn’t know that they thought you were dead. But, I do know
Adora well enough to know that if she thought that there was any chance to rescue you, she would
have at least tried.”

“Did,” Entrapta began. She let out a sniffle before restarting. “Did you only let me stay because I
could be a valuable tool to fight the Rebellion?” she blurted out all at once.

There were dozens of responses Catra wanted to say. Something to fix this. To end this conversation
and let things go back to the way they were. The truth offered no such guarantees. In fact, Catra
feared it would offer just the opposite. She examined the face just in front of her. Cheeks stained with
streaks of tears, half-lidded eyes focused intently on nothing. The corner of her lip quivering, holding
back sobs.

The truth.

“...Yes.”

Facing Catra any longer was apparently too much as Entrapta spun to face the door. Entrapta’s eyes
fell the rest of the way shut. Her pigtails began wrapping around her.

Catra slinked her way around to try to get Entrapta to look at her. “That’s not why you’re here now
though. Entrapta, we want you here with us.” Catra began to reach an arm out. She looked at the
sight of the princess in front of her, eyes still closed, her arms and hair wrapping themselves around
her. Catra pulled her arm back.

Another sigh. Catra was deflated. Defeated. She let her own eyes fall shut. “You’re free to leave you
know. If that’s what you want no one will stop you. I promise you.” Catra hated every word that
came out of her mouth. Didn’t want to say any of them, but she knew she had to. The truth. Painful,
raw honesty. It sucked.

Catra was compelled to open her eyes when she felt something wrap around her midsection. Entrapta
had buried her face into Catra’s chest. Her arms were tightly wrapped around the catgirl. It took
Catra a few seconds to process, but soon she embraced Entrapta in a tight hug. Some of Entrapta’s
hair darted its way over to Scorpia and pulled her in. Scorpia wrapped her thick arms around them
both.

“Thank you, for telling me the truth,” Entrapta spurted out between sobs.

“Please don’t leave,” Catra whispered.

“I won’t.”

Daylight poured in through the windows of the Great Library of Bright Moon. It was a cavernous
room, carved into sections, stuffed with rows and rows of shelves of books. More shelves of books
lined the walls. Groupings of tables were spaced throughout the library. In the center was the Master
Librarian’s Station. Beautiful chandeliers hung overhead. Adora was pretty sure that the entire
training center where she grew up could fit in here.

Bow had been back from his jungle adventure for three days now. He had been reluctant to talk at
length about what had happened. Adora respected his position. After all, who doesn’t have things
that they’re rather not talk about? Glimmer, on the other hand, was less okay with her best friend
keeping secrets.

“So where did you sleep?” Glimmer inquired. She was leaning against the shelf while idly flipping
through a book, paying no attention to what it was saying.

“For the 100th time, I spent the night camped out in some weird ruins,” Bow huffed. His head was
propped up on the table, pretending to read a book that was sitting in front of him. “Maybe they were
interesting, but I was too tired to notice. Besides, it was night, they were mostly just dark.”

“You didn’t check them out in the morning?”

“Aw jeez Glimmer, I’m sorry I was in a rush to get home because I thought my friends would be
worried sick that I was missing!”

“We were! Sorry, it’s just hard to believe that you spent two days in the jungle and nothing
interesting happened.”

“I told you about riding the breeze hawk right?”

“Okay, one interesting thing.”

“Sorry Glim, that’s all I got for you,” Bow quipped. He raised an eyebrow when he finally paid
attention to the book he was flipping through. “Hey Glim, what are all these for again?”

Glimmer took note of her book as Adora strolled past her carrying another three thick tomes. Adora
let them slam down onto the table with a satisfying thud, causing Bow to jump up.

“Oh! Sorry Bow!” Adora yelped.

“It’s okay!”

Both Adora and Glimmer took a seat at the table with Bow. Glimmer tossed the book she was
holding onto the pile.

“What’s with all the history books?” Glimmer inquired.

There wasn’t an easy answer to that question. The real answer was that four days ago Adora heard
the term “magicat” for the first time. According to Shadow Weaver that’s what Catra was. In all their
years growing up neither Catra nor Adora had known what species she was. Nor had they ever seen
anyone else remotely like her. There were a couple times Adora tried to research it, but the Horde
didn’t value the preservation of knowledge like Bright Moon does. The information available was
severely limited to only the specific information that Hordak and the Horde would want one to
know. It had seemed that Catra’s heritage wasn’t knowledge worth preserving. So maybe here, in
this metropolis of words, she’d have more luck.

“Just trying to brush up on all the history I missed growing up in the Fright Zone,” was the answer
that Adora chose to go with. Not a complete lie, plus a subtle dig at the Horde to boot. Glimmer was
very placated.

“I don’t think I did this much studying when I was still in school!” Glimmer quipped.

“You didn’t do any studying in school,” Bow fired back. The response earned him a playful smack
on the arm.

Adora raised an eyebrow. “Then what did you do in school?”

“Don’t listen to him ‘Dora, I studied plenty. I was a great student,” Glimmer boasted.

“Yeah, great at getting in trouble!” Bow giggled.

“That was only Madam Boarheim’s class! It was just so, so BORING!”

Both Bow and Adora burst into giggling fits.

“I was right there with you Glim, you know I can’t say anything!” Bow said.

“And I certainly can’t say anything. Half the time I would sleep through class because Catra had me
out all night exploring some weird corner of the Fright Zone that we definitely weren’t supposed to
be in,” Adora leaned back in her chair. Images started flickering in her head. Times long ago.

“You and her were pretty close, huh,” Bow said. He laid a reassuring hand on Adora’s arm, eliciting
a little smile from her.

“Once upon a time I thought we were.” Adora heaved out a heavy sigh. “Not anymore I guess.”

Or maybe we never actually were.

Adora was pulled out of her mind by the feeling of Bow and Glimmer giving each of her shoulders a
gentle rub. She squeezed both their hands affectionately.

“Let’s dive into some history, shall we?” Adora said. She made sure her tone was extra chipper.

Glimmer let out a soft groan as she slowly tugged on a book. Less than a minute later the massive
clock in the center of the library began chiming. Glimmer immediately threw her hands up.

“ Oh no , looks like we won’t be able to today,” Glimmer said, just a little too cheerily. She popped
up from her chair and tugged on Bow’s arm. “It’s 11, Bow,”

Bow jumped to his feet. “Right!”

“What happens at 11?” Adora said. She was beginning to regather the stack of books. Glimmer
pressed her hand down on the stack to stop her.

“You stay,” Glimmer ordered. “Keep studying!”

“What? How come?” Adora asked.

The standing two thirds of the Best Friend Squad were beaming ear to ear. “It’s a surprise!” Glimmer
said. “We’ll come get you when we’re ready!”

Just like that, Adora was alone at the table with her books. She was almost alone in the entire room.
Three librarians were on duty, and Adora had only seen about a dozen people roaming the library.

Solitude was fine. In some ways Adora preferred it. In other ways not. Bow and Glimmer were good
for keeping her from falling too far into her own head. Which had been a good thing. It had been a
stormy place ever since their last visit to the Crystal Castle. Seeing Entrapta alive hadn’t done much
to assuage her guilt. The reasoning behind it simply shifted.

Entrapta was just a minor drizzle compared to Shadow Weaver though. Adora had felt the pain of
that mindwipe spell before, but Glimmer had saved her. Seeing it carried out to fruition, the look on
her younger self’s face. It had been haunting her for days now. It was the same kind of pain that
Catra had experienced over and over, but had always kept from Adora. Catra had hid it well when
they were growing up. Or had Adora just gone out of her way to not notice it? She had accepted that
Catra was moody and angry a lot growing up. As far as Adora had known, that was just how Catra
was.

That was the real tsunami; Catra. It all always came back to Catra. Light Hope hadn’t needed to beat
her over the head with the point, Adora was well aware of it. She had spent the better part of the last
year trying to bury her feelings for Catra. To move on. To “let go”. It was proving difficult. Then
Light Hope had to show her that memory, and all those feelings came springing up out of that grave,
like a particularly persistent zombie.

Who needs memories and feelings when there’s knowledge though. Adora picked up a book titled
“Early Kingdoms of Etheria Volume 2”. Volume 1 had been the previous day’s read. This was
where solitude was helpful. Adora elected not to share what Light Hope had shown her to Bow and
Glimmer. It would be hers and Entrapta’s secret. It went into the “things about my life in the Horde
that I don’t want to share because it’ll just complicate our friendship,” pile.

So Adora had kept her sudden fascination with “magicats” secret. After all, if she told them about it,
the next logical question would be “why?” Why obsess over something that’d only be useful to
someone who was actively trying to destroy you? Adora didn’t want to be asked that question.
Mostly because she still hadn’t found an answer for it for herself. Why.

Adora’s finger was slowly running down the index of “Early Kingdoms of Etheria Volume 2”. Ks.
Ls. Ms. A little gasp escaped from her. At the edge of her finger, “Magicat - Half Moon, pgs 78-94.”

“Finally!”

There had been a time when the only emotion Lord Hordak’s throne room elicited from Catra was
terror. For some time now that sense of fear and foreboding had been replaced with a general sense
of discomfort. Granted, Catra was fairly sure that the room had been designed for maximum
discomfort. The glaring green lights casting everything in a hazy lime color. It stunk of motor grease
and burning oil. The long walk up the starkly inclined stairs.

“Ah, Force General. Thank you for clearing your morning,” Hordak mused.

“Of course, Lord Hordak,” Catra responded. She had to fight the chuckle back from the implication
that there was ever a chance Catra could have just said ‘sorry Hordak, day’s full, I’ll fit you in next
week.’

“I read your report on the endeavor to the Crystal Castle,” Hordak said. His voice was smooth. He
seemed to be more interested in digging his razor sharp nails into his armrest than he was in Catra.
“There hasn’t been many occasions to say this since you took the mantle, but I must say, I am
disappointed Force General.”

Catra sucked in air hard. It had been as if the words were a hammer right to the gut. “My apologies
Lord Hordak. It wasn’t a total loss though. We were able to learn of another of She-Ra’s abilities,
which can be useful. And of the existence of the Radiant Core.”

“A useless magical bauble.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“There was loss. A tank was destroyed and over a dozen Horde soldiers were taken prisoner, just for
a distraction. Our forces can ill afford such recklessness. Especially if we are to continue the
suspension of some of our more, ‘traditional’, methods of recruitment.”

“Our forces are stronger than they’ve ever been. More dedicated than they’ve ever been. We are
stronger with an army of recruits that want to serve the Horde than we are with a force of scared
orphans and slaves.”

“Yet, without tapping those scared orphans and slaves I would not have my Force General.”

“Even if it was by volunteering, I’d still be here. Our forces will remain strong. I promise you that.
We won’t let She-Ra stop us. I promise you that .”

“See to it then,” Hordak stated. “That will be all for now Force General.”

A quick bow in deference then Catra made her way out of the room. Lonnie was waiting just outside
of the throne room, leaning against the wall.

“Yo what’s up Force General?” Lonnie said.

Catra just rolled her eyes and continued on down the hall. Lonnie pushed off the wall and caught up
with Catra. They were walking together stride for stride.

“What do you want Lonnie?”

“Heard you and Bossman were having a meeting today. Was hoping to get some news on the next
action.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“Oh come on!”

They were at the elevator. Catra hit the down button. She laughed. “You just got your ass handed to
you at Thaymor.”

“That’s the whole point. How are we supposed to relax when the last thing we did was get our butts
kicked? And for what?! We need to get back out there!”

Elevator was taking its sweet old time. Maybe it really was slowing down. “When we have another
good plan, we will,” Catra continued. “For now, we regroup and try to figure out that next plan.”
“I owe Adora payback for breaking my tank,” Lonnie said, slamming a fist into her other, open
hand.

Catra let out another laugh. “Is this why we never got along? Because we’re the same person?
You’re starting to sound just like me.”

Lonnie scoffed. “And when did you stop sounding like yourself?”

The elevator showed up finally. Catra had to wait for a couple soldiers to get off first. “When my job
suddenly stopped letting everything be all about me.”

“What’s happening to you? Hating Adora used to be the only thing that mattered,” Lonnie
responded.

Catra made her way onto the elevator. “I still have plenty of room in my heart to hate Adora.” Catra
looked down thoughtfully for a few seconds. “There’s just other things that are important too, ya
know?”

Lonnie began to enter the elevator, but Catra pushed her back and wagged a finger.

“No no, you take the next one,” Catra grinned.

“What?! Catra! Catr-”

Thick doors slammed shut on the elevator, cutting the rest of Lonnie’s sentence off. Catra’s grin
grew. “That’s what you get for questioning how much I hate Adora.”

A bright morning had given way to a brighter afternoon in Bright Moon. The Best Friend Squad was
in one of the many gorgeous flower gardens surrounding Bright Moon Castle. A large blanket was
spread out on the grass. All three were sitting on it, along with a sizable basket.

This was Adora’s surprise. Glimmer and Bow had been planning it for a while, but war stuff or
weather seemed to keep pushing it back. Adora was sitting cross legged. Bow and Glimmer were
much more relaxed as they began unpacking the basket.

“What is this again?” Adora asked. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful. All the effort Bow and
Glimmer had put into letting Adora experience new and fun things was greatly appreciated. It was
just that Adora had finally started finding real information on magicats when they came for her.

“A picnic!” Bow beamed. He was holding a cup of berry juice. “Here you go,” he said, handing the
cup off to Adora.

Berry juice was perhaps in Adora’s top five things that she’d discovered since leaving the Horde.
Top ten definitely. “So, is a picnic just outside lunch?”

Bow and Glimmer let out a chuckle. “No silly,” Glimmer said. “It’s a lot more than that!”

“It’s a lot to do with being out and enjoying nature,” Bow added. “Which is why we’re sitting on the
blanket on the ground. Just give it a minute. The light. The breeze. That scent of flowers.” Bow
snorted a deep breath into his nose. Adora followed suit. Scents of lavender and coneflowers mixed
in her nostrils.
The fragrance brought a smile to Adora’s face. She had known what nature was, on a conceptual
level at least. Experiencing it was still pretty new though. The time she had admitted that the
Whispering Woods was the first time she had ever seen a tree in person had left Bow inconsolable
for the entire day.

Glimmer handed Adora a small bowl of some sort of sliced melon. “It’s about the social aspect too.
A picnic is about experiencing all that food and nature with people you care about. Friends, family.”
Glimmer leaned over to close the space with Adora and Bow. “Or of course, you can have one with
that special someone. They make really good dates.” A devious smile was painted all over
Glimmer’s face.

Concentration swept over Adora’s face as she munched on another slice of melon. “Wait. You told
me this one. Date. Don’t tell me! Date. Date… Oh! That’s basically another word for courting
right?” Bow let out a groan. “Did I get it wrong?” Adora inquired. She was confused. She had been
pretty confident in the ‘courting’ definition.

“No, you’re right I guess,” Bow groaned. “Courting is just sounds so, cold.”

“Hah,” Adora gave a nervous laugh. “It’s accurate though. In the Horde relationships are often for,
‘strategic’ reasons. Feelings aren’t really encouraged, especially weak feelings like love.”

“Love is NOT a weakness!” Glimmer argued.

“ I’m not saying it is!” Adora defended herself. “It’s not like people don’t fall in love in the Horde.
We’re still people. You can tell people not to follow their emotions, but it doesn’t mean they don’t
still have them.” Despite herself, Adora was drifting off into her head again. Every effort was made
to not let this conversation conjure up images of anyone in particular, but there she was. Curled up,
tail draped over her legs. She wasn’t wearing her headpiece. Adora liked the way tufts of hair fell on
her face without it.

“I didn’t mean you of course,” Glimmer said, a hint of remorse in her words. She handed Adora an
overstuffed sandwich.

There were at least four different meats on the sandwich. Adora chomped on one of the ends. “It’s
alright Glim,” she said, partially muffled by bread and cold cuts. “This is really good, by the way.
Thank you both so much. This is really nice.”

Another round of berry juice was passed around. “Anything for our best friend,” Bow smiled. “So, I
know you don’t like talking about your time in the Horde, but I gotta know though; did you ever
‘court’ anyone when you were still in the Horde?”

Not a question Adora was expecting, as evidenced by the spurt of berry juice that shot out of her.
Bow and Glimmer gave her a very sympathetic round of laughter.

“What? No, of course not! There wasn’t time for that. The cadet training is pretty rigorous, and what
little free time I did have was spent getting into trouble with Catra.”

Bow leaned in, his face was growing devious. “MmmHmm. There wasn’t anyone you had feelings
for?”

Most, if not all of Adora’s blood was rushing to her face, she could feel it. “I, I didn’t say that .”
Every last drop of blood. “Never acted on it though.”

“How come?” Bow asked.

“Didn’t want to have to deal with getting rejected I guess,” Adora sighed.

Glimmer broke out in a fit of loud laughter. “You really think someone would have rejected you?”

No good answer sprung to mind, so instead decided to shove the whole remainder of her sandwich
into her mouth. Which was a lot. Bow and Glimmer laughed and cheered as she managed to power
through it.

Just then a small shadow came over them. They looked up to see a Bright Moon guard standing at
the edge of the blanket. She had striking indigo hair that tapered off just below the chin. Judging
from the lack of helmet or armor she must have been a rookie.

“Ahem. Excuse me, princesses?” she meekishly asked.

“Yes?” Glimmer responded.

It was good that Glimmer took the lead, there was still plenty of sandwich in Adora’s cheeks.

The guard straightened her posture so perfectly it could have made a pole jealous. “Queen Angella
has asked me to inform you that the princesses of the Alliance have begun arriving. The meeting will
be in an hour.”

“Oh. Thank you,” Glimmer responded.

The guard bowed and spun on her heel. She walked a couple steps then stopped, and turned back
around. “If you’ll excuse me one more time,” the guard said, making her way back to the blanket.

“What is it?” Bow asked, being the only one prepared to answer. Adora had finally downed the rest
of the sandwich and was washing it down with berry juice. Reminder of the upcoming meeting sent
Glimmer into thoughtful reflection.

The guard sucked in a large breath. “Forgive me, but if I may be so bold. Princess of Power, I just
wanted to say what an honor it is to be in your presence.”

“It’s Adora,” she said, getting to her feet. She stuck out her hand at the guard. The guard pensively
looked at Adora’s hand and slowly raised her own. Adora grabbed it and gave it a good shake.
When she let go the guard retracted her hand and gave it a good look over.

“Princess Adora, my apologies.”

“Just Adora. I’m no princess. She-Ra’s the princess,” Adora said with a snort, more denoting
discomfort than anything else. There was still something about the idea of being a princess that never
sat well with Adora. When she was She-Ra sure, but just Adora?

“I see. Adora, seeing you in action is inspiring. I was here when you defended Bright Moon from the
Horde. It’s what inspired me to join the royal guard!”

Adora wasn’t sure what to do. She settled on rubbing the back of her neck in an attempt to stop
herself from getting flustered. “Oh? That’s really cool to hear. I was just doing my best though.”

“Are you kidding? You were amazing! And your technique with your sword!” the guard made a few
mock slashing motions in the air.

Adora waved her hands in a dismissive fashion. “Anyone could do that, with enough practice.”

The guard blushed. “I don’t think I could ever figure it out.”

“I could give you some pointers if you’d like?” Adora offered.

Somehow the guard blushed an even deeper shade of red. “You’d really be willing to do that?!”

“Sure!” Adora responded.

“Are you free tonight?”

“I should be. This princess meeting shouldn’t take long. Training Center 4, say around 6?”

“I’ll be there!” the guard squealed. “The name’s Zayn, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Zayn!”

“Yes, likewise Prin-, er, Adora. I will, I will see you tonight,” Zayn beamed. She then scurried off.

Adora stood and watched her go. She had apparently been pretty focused on watching her go
because she did not notice Bow and Glimmer come stand on either side of her until Bow threw his
arm around her shoulders.

“Training with Zayn tonight huh?” Bow said. Adora was very worried about the size of Bow’s grin.

“I’m sure they’re going to get lots of training in,” Glimmer snickered. Adora raised an eyebrow.

Bow squeezed her tight. “Congratulations on the first, you know, date.”

“WHAT?! No.

“Nooooo.

“No?”

Considering the circumstances, the afternoon Princess Alliance meeting went about as well as
possible. Adora and Glimmer had called it to discuss the recent revelation of Entrapta’s continued
existence. That was one thing that Bow did make a point to mention about his adventure, that he had
found out Entrapta was alive. According to him, he saw her before getting zapped away.

Breaking the news to everyone was one of the hardest things Adora had done since joining the
Rebellion. There had been a sense of relief from everyone in the meeting. Unfortunately there were
also a lot of other emotions mixing in the room. Having dealt with the same feelings herself, Adora
recognized the sense of guilt on Bow’s, Mermista’s, and Sea Hawk’s faces. There was also
confusion as to why Entrapta was choosing to stay. Adora didn’t have any easy answers. The best
she could tell, Entrapta just, liked it there. This idea, along with a bunch of other ones drew grumbles
from Glimmer, who, despite suggesting this meeting, spent most of it being combative and annoyed.

During the majority of the meeting Perfuma had chose to remain quiet. When Adora first announced
that Entrapta was alive, Perfuma had jumped up in her seat. Once she settled back down though, she
said almost nothing until the end of the meeting. Adora was hoping to talk to her afterwards, but as
soon as the meeting was adjourned she disappeared.

All in all it had been an unpleasant afternoon, post-picnic anyway. An evening training session was
just what she needed to clear her head and refocus herself, and for once, she wasn’t alone.

“All right, give me your best front attack!” Adora yelled, wooden practice sword firmly in hand.

Zayn charged forward. She swung down with her wooden practice sword. Adora blocked. Zayn
spun to deliver a side swipe. Adora blocked. She tried slashing across her body. Adora blocked.
Zayn dropped to a crouch and tried swinging at Adora’s shins. Adora quickly pinned the sword to
the ground with her foot.

“What was that?” Adora asked.

“Um, I was trying to sweep your legs?” Zayn offered with a nervous smile.

“That’s not a thing in swordfighting,” Adora chuckled. She offered her hand and pulled Zayn to her
feet. Zayn popped up. There was maybe a foot between them. Adora smiled at her. “That was pretty
good though!”

“I didn’t even get close to landing a blow!”

“Yeah, but I’ve been training my whole life. You were saying you only joined the Royal Guard a
year ago? Got a lot of natural ability. You just need more training,” Adora chirped. “Here, let’s start
with your stance.”

Adora was moving around Zayn. Lifting her arm. With both hands Adora twisted Zayn’s hips. She
took Zayn’s wrist in her hand and adjusted it’s angle. “Spread your legs a little, it’ll help your
balance,” Adora said, inches from Zayn’s ear. “See, your whole body’s controlling your swing now,
not just your arms. Isn’t that more comfortable?”

“Y-Yeah,” Zayn said, with a slight hitch in her breath. She recomposed herself and leaned into
Adora more. Her back was pressed gently against Adora’s front. Zayn regathered her confidence.
“You certainly know how to move a woman’s body,” Zayn whispered. Adora blushed so hard Zayn
could feel the heat coming off her cheeks. “You should be the one training the Royal Guard.”

Adora detached from Zayn and walked back over to her starting position. “I can just train you, then
they’ll put you in charge of training,” Adora said.

There was a large smile growing on Adora’s face. “Shall we go again?”

Nights in the Fright Zone weren’t very dark. Smog held the light from the cities, creating a bright
haze. That orange tinted glow poured into Catra’s room through open window blinds. Catra was
sitting on her bed, leaning against the wall, and scribbling away at reports when she heard the
familiar sound of a claw rapping against her door.

“Yeah?” Catra lazily called out.

“Hey Kitty,” Scorpia greeted her as she came into the room and plopped down at the edge of her
bed. “I got your comm message.”

A decent sized stack of folders were sitting next to Catra, partially toppled over and resting against
her leg. She fished a specific one out of the pile and handed it to Scorpia. “I know it’s getting late,
but I was hoping you could give these training schedules that Octavia submitted a once over for me.”

“Of course!” Scorpia beamed.

“Thanks,” Catra said. The break from writing was an opportunity to let out a big yawn. She put her
pad down and rubbed her face with both hands.

“Everything okay?” Scorpia asked.

Catra wanted to glare at her, but couldn’t find the energy. She gave the scorpion woman a long stare.

“Lonnie was being annoying earlier,” Catra eventually offered. “It got me thinking about Bow
again.”

“Yeah, me too,” Scorpia immediately, and absentmindedly, added.

For now Catra decided to ignore it. “I can’t believe I let him go! What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” Scorpia flatly stated. “How would Entrapta have reacted if we brought him back as a
prisoner?”

It took Catra a good minute to ponder that question. She knew the answer immediately. It took her
some time to fight off images of an enraged Entrapta.

“Can I be honest with you? I miss hanging out in the lab. I wish things would go back to the way
they were.”

“Give it time Kitty, she’ll forgive us. Point is, she’s still here.”

“Lonnie said I was changing.”

Scorpia chuckled. “Well isn’t that a good thing? You’re the Force General of the Horde. You
wouldn’t be able to do this if you just stayed as that angry, enraged rookie Force Captain.”

“I like to think my anger serves me pretty well. I’m always a little angry.”

“Is that your secret?” Scorpia chortled. It actually got Catra to chuckle.

Catra pulled herself together quickly. Her eyes narrowed and a thin smile grew on her. “So, why
were YOU thinking about Bow?”

“What?! Oh, um, you know, same as you. Just thinking about how crazy and mature it was of us to
let him go!” Scorpia stammered through the statement.

Amid her own laughter, Catra gave Scorpia a playful punch on the shoulder. “Go on, get those
training schedules done.”

Turned out that the libraries of Bright Moon didn’t limit how many books one could check out at a
time. Which was a good thing because Adora had settled on that number being as many as she could
carry. Even without being She-Ra, that was a pretty substantial amount.
A sizable stack sat on Adora’s desk. Next to it was a stack of paper for Adora to take loose notes on.
Things such as “Wow, Catra you wouldn’t believe this (yellow book, pg 78”) and “I wonder if you
can do that too (E. Species book, pg 164)”.

Learning about magicats was exhilarating.

Yet, Adora was feeling weird. She had been back from her training session for a little over an hour
now. Besides a quick rinse-off shower she had spent that whole time reading ostensibly about Catra.
It was something Adora had been looking forward to since the morning. Right now though, she
couldn’t help but feel like she was doing something to insult Zayn.

The first year Bright Moon guard was, pleasant to be around. Zayn was the first person in Bright
Moon outside of Bow and Glimmer that Adora was able to make any sort of real connection with. It
was good to have another friend. Which is all Zayn was. Which was all Adora wanted her to be.
Which was something that Adora realized she was saying to herself a little too often.

Adora pushed herself away from the desk. She slouched back into the chair and rubbed her temples.

“Didn’t realize She-Ra got homework.”

Adora jumped upright in her chair. She wheeled around in the chair to stare in disbelief towards her
balcony. “Catra?!”

The catgirl had propped herself up on the balcony railing. She gave Adora a sly grin and hopped into
her room. Catra took a quick survey of the place. It was bright. Everything was round edges. Soft.

“Huh, so this is it. What you left me for.”

Adora made a start to stand up but Catra grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down into the
chair.

“Relax. I’m not here to fight. Or waste time pointlessly rehashing old shit.”

“What are you here for then?”

Catra rested both her arms on Adora’s right shoulder and leaned over to stare at the desk. “Bored I
guess,” Catra admitted. “What’s all this?” She began flipping through the open book.”A, magicat?”

Adora blushed slightly. Catra was so close. Her smell was intoxicating. So familiar. But also, after
almost a year apart, so new. Adora was trying desperately to not notice that Catra’s chest was inches
from her. “That’s you actually. I finally found out what you are.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” Catra scooped the book up and began reading it and pacing.

There was an awkward few minutes of silence as Catra studied the book.

This shouldn’t be happening. Adora hated to admit it though, it felt so normal too. She was happy to
let Catra finally find out about where she came from, but Adora was also a little disappointed. She
wasn’t sure how or even if she’d ever be able to talk to Catra about magicats, but there was a part of
her that had hoped that it would have been with a little more fanfare than this.

“Huh, says here that magicats enjoy napping in the daylight,” Catra said, nose still buried in the
book. “Kind of ironic that seemingly the last magicat on Etheria lives in the one place that doesn’t
really get daylight, don’t ya think?”
“Haha, yeah,” Adora answered. Catra was here. In her room. Just hanging out. Adora couldn’t get
her heart under control. It was racing so fast she was worried it would actually explode out of her
chest. There was so much she wanted to say. So many things to talk about. To catch up on. A whole
year apart. All the adventures that she had. That she had wished Catra had been with her for. Where
to start. What to say. Adora decided to work her way backwards.

“I, I think I went on my first date tonight,” Adora sheepishly said.

Catra snapped the book closed. She stared at Adora, eyebrow raised, for a good 20 seconds before
doubling over in laughter. “You THINK?! Hahaha! How have you never been on a date before?!”

Adora seemingly shrunk in the chair. “I don’t know! All my free time used to be spent hanging out
with you!”

If Adora was being honest, the mocking wasn’t that surprising. Something about being apart all this
time though made it sting all the more.

What was surprising was Catra’s next action. The catgirl turned the chair to face away from the desk
with Adora still in it. She bumped Adora’s knee which made her sit upright in the chair. Then Catra
plopped down, straddling Adora’s lap.

“Couldn’t have been much of a date.”

“W-why?” Adora gulped. Catra was SO close. All of Catra’s weight was in Adora’s lap, slowly
rocking back and forth. Her tail was slowly weaving its way through Adora’s legs. Adora was
starting to feel tingly all over.

“Well, it’s not even 9:30 and it’s already over? Not a very good finish to a date if you ask me.”

“What would be a good finish to a date?”

“This!” Catra thrust her hand downward, sliding it down Adora’s abdomen and pressing it hard into
the center of her crotch.

“CATRA!” Adora yelped.

The catgirl leaned in. She gave Adora’s ear a quick nibble before whispering into it. “This is what
we both want, isn’t it?” Catra pulled back to look Adora in the face. Her hand hadn’t budged.

Adora stared into those mismatched eyes.

Then Adora punched Catra in the arm. Not a real punch. More than a playful punch though. “Damn
it! Damn you Catra! After all this time! I finally spend some time with someone else and now you
show up?! This isn’t fair!”

Catra leaned back. She had one of her trademark devious smiles on her face. “Hey, just say the
word. I’ll go and we never have to talk about this.”

Adora glared at the woman in her lap for a few seconds.

Then she grabbed Catra’s face with both hands and pulled her in, slamming their lips together. At
first it was sloppy. Angry. But then Catra slid her tongue into Adora’s mouth, and she began to melt.

Busy hands tore off Adora’s belts and flung her trademark red jacket open. Adora clumsily kicked
her boots off. Catra’s fingers were digging into and balling the sides of Adora’s pants into her fists.
In one hard motion Catra yanked both Adora’s pants and underwear down to her knees. She rolled
them the rest of the way off of Adora’s legs then tugged at the socks.

It made Adora giggle. “Is that really important right now?”

“I’m not fucking a girl in socks,” Catra grinned. Catra bit and nibbled her way up the inside of
Adora’s left leg. Her arm was gently caressing it’s way up the outside of Adora’s right thigh. Catra’s
small layer of fur brushing against her thigh caused the best kind of goosebumps.

Catra nibbled and kissed Adora’s stomach just below her bellybutton. She shot a quick glance up.
Her princess simply returned an airy smile.

It was all Catra needed to drop her head into Adora’s lap. Her mouth slammed into and began
suckling on Adora’s clit.

The sweetest little gasp Catra had ever heard floated out of Adora, spurring Catra on. She slid her
thumb up and down along Adora’s lips, noting all the places that elicited more gasps. Catra’s coarse
tongue flicked and traced circles around the plump clit, as her thumb began pushing its way into
Adora.

As Catra continued running her tongue up and down Adora began rolling her hips to match the
catgirl’s rhythm. Both of Adora’s hands were buried in Catra’s beautiful dark mane.

The thumb tugged at Adora’s folds, making room for that tongue to play inside of her. Catra’s free
hand had slipped under Adora’s shirt and wandered up. She was playfully kneading Adora’s breast
over her bra. Every once in a while she’d pinch at a hard nipple.

Closest thing Adora could do to talking as this point was a series of grunts and variously pitched
moans. Her eyes were rolling into the back of her head. Her entire body began tensing. A powerful
convulsion exploded throughout her body, forcing out a giant gasp.

Adora clenched her fists around clumps of Catra’s hair in an attempt to hold on for dear life while her
orgasm wracked her body.

Adora remained tense as a few aftershocks rumbled through her, helped in no small part to Catra.
She planted sloppy kisses on Adora’s pussy, sending more aftershocks careening through the
princess.

Finally, as her orgasm passed, Adora fell limp into the chair.

Catra placed a few more kisses up through Adora’s neatly trimmed bush before resting her chin on
Adora’s stomach, taking in the sight of the spent princess.

“ That’s how you finish a date,” Catra chirped.

It took some effort, but Adora was able to raise her hand to caress Catra’s cheek.

Energy slowly returned to her body as Adora sat up and smiled at Catra. “Who said anything about
‘finished’?” Adora asked. Her tone was soft, inviting. “Get on the bed, it’s your turn.”

“Hah!” Catra sniggered. “I have to get back to the Fright Zone tonight. I don’t have the days it’d take
you to figure out how to do this."

Adora huffed. “I’ll try my very best.

 “I want to make you happy. I’m so glad that you’re here with me.”

Catra shook her head and laughed. She reached up and rapped Adora on the forehead with her
knuckles three times.

“Oh Adora, don’t you get it? I’m not here.”

Adora bolted upright in the chair. Her eyes were blurry and still half closed. It took her a minute to
adjust to her surroundings.

There was a piece of paper stuck to her face. She pulled it off. It had been adhesed with a pool of
drool. Adora sleepily wiped her cheek with her sleeve.

Her world came back into view. She was in front of her desk. The stack of paper was disturbed from
where Adora’s head had been laying on them. She quickly patted herself down. Clothes were still
fully intact.

Another three rapping noises rang out. This time followed by the sound of Glimmer’s voice.
“Adora?”

“Coming!” As Adora continued adjusted to her sudden consciousness she gave a rushed scan of the
room. There was no Catra. There was never any Catra. Not really.

“Heeey,” Adora nervously offered as she opened her door to Glimmer and Bow.

Bow and Glimmer plopped themselves down on Adora’s bed while Adora settled back into her
chair.

“You okay?” Bow asked. “You seem, I don’t know, a little out of sorts.”

Somehow, being called out made Adora relax. “Dozed off reading and had a pretty intense dream, is
all. I’m fine, really.”

“I’d hope so!” Glimmer said. “We need to hear all about your date!”

Both Glimmer and Bow’s eyes were huge. Adora could feel them burrowing through her skin.

“Really, it wasn’t a date! Just a friendly training session.”

“Sure, we definitely believe you. So tell us every juicy detail!” Glimmer demanded.

Chapter End Notes

Poor Adora's kind of an emotional mess huh. That's the downside for characters I relate
to, I tend to mess with them more.

Do I need to change the rating of this to "Explicit"? I'm not sure where the "Mature"
and "Explicit" lines are!

Look for the next chapter this coming Sunday night!

Next Time:
"Can we just wallop her already?"
 Temple of Shifting Plains
Chapter Notes

So, I had edit this while having what feels like the flu, so if there's any weird words or
whatnot I'm blaming that.

Make sure to check out the end notes for, um, a defense of myself.

TW: Violence, Emotional distress

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Entrapta’s lab was packed. Entrapta herself was busy bouncing back and forth around her various
work stations that took up a good portion of the lab. Kyle was cleaning up the remnants of the
morning’s foray into mini-cupcake testing (this batch was ‘passible’). Off to the side of the room
Lonnie, Scorpia, and Rogelio were gathered around a small table playing cards. Catra was slouched
in a chair a few feet from them with her legs propped up on a metal container. She was reading
through the previous day’s reports on a mini-monitor.

“No. No no no!” Lonnie exclaimed, tossing her cards on the table. “You cheated. You HAD to have
cheated!”

Scorpia chuckled as she slid the pile of chips over to her own pristine, and tall, stacks. “How exactly
did I cheat?”

“I don’t know, hidden cards?”

“WHERE? I don’t have sleeves! I don’t have HANDS! Do you have any idea how long it took me
be able to hold cards with these pincers?”

“Oh, yeah, my bad,” Lonnie meekishly fell back into her seat.

Scorpia gave Lonnie a hearty slap on the shoulder. “I’m just giving you a hard time!”

“Heh, think you can give me my money back?”

“I’ll give you a chance to win it back,” Scorpia grinned.

Rogelio collected the cards and began shuffling them. His technique was a work of art. A hidden
skill of the stocky laug. Lonnie and Scorpia sat, mesmerized as the cards flew every which way but
always collected back into a neat stack in his hand. He was just starting to deal when Entrapta
appeared in front of everyone.

Excitement was bubbling over in the purple haired princess. Her giant pigtails were bobbing her up
and down in the air as she clapped her hands together in rapid, small claps. A giant grin was on her
face.

Catra put her monitor down. “Yeah, Entrapta?” she asked softly.

“I’VE FOUND SOMETHING!” Entrapta screamed, a bit louder than she had intended. “Er, sorry!”
Entrapta waved for everyone to follow her as she bounded back to her workstations.

Walls of half translated text was scrolling all over the giant main monitor, along with charts, pictures
and maps. Entrapta’s hair did some work at a keyboard and everything on the screen was
minimalized except for a giant map, taking up most of the screen. On it were a number of red dots
that kept blinking.

“As we know,” Entrapta announced, “almost all I’ve been doing these last couple of weeks has been
pouring over the data that we recovered from the Crystal Castle. It could take years to sift through,
especially given that fact that a lot of it is written in First Ones language. That is good news though!
There’s so much here I’ve been able to begin piecing together a translation key. That will take
months, maybe even years to fully decipher.”

Entrapta turned back to see a bunch of raised eyebrows. “That’s not why I was excited though! Well,
I mean, it is exciting. Deciphering the First Ones language could change our entire understanding of
the world!”

“Yo girl, just get on with it?” Lonnie butted in.

“Ahem, yes. Right. As you can see this is a map of Etheria. These red dots are all the First Ones
temples in the world.”

Catra groaned. “Ooooh, that’s a lot,” she muttered under her breath.

Most of the red lights on the map dimmed, while one, in the northeast portion of the main continent,
was highlighted.

“This is the Temple of Shifting Plains. As you can see it’s nestled in the wilderness between
Skydancer Kingdom and the Kingdom of Snows. My research into this temple has led me to the idea
for a new experiment. If my hypothesis about the temple are correct it’s going to be amazing !”
Entrapta ended her sentence in an excited whisper.

“What’s it gonna be?” Catra asked.

The princess began playing with her fingers. “I-I don’t want to say until we’ve been to the temple
and I know for sure what’s there. I don’t want to get any of our hopes up.”

There was a low grumble under Catra’s breath that she was trying to hide. “We have to go to this,
Temple of Shifting Plains, don’t we.”

“For me to collect the data as well as mineral samples that are stored in the temple,” Entrapta
answered.

“When did you wanna go?”

“As soon as possible?”

“We can go today if you want,” Catra mused. Didn’t look thrilled about it though.

“YES! That would be preferable!” Entrapta beamed. “While it is still in the forefront of my mind.”

Catra rubbed her chin. “We’re going to have to be better prepared this time. Even with a distraction
She-Ra still found us last time.”

Entrapta began typing on a keyboard. Blocks of text began scrolling by on the monitor next to an
image of She-Ra. “As the Princess of Power, She-Ra apparently has dominion of, and thus some sort
of connection with, the First Ones temples of Etheria. It may be impossible to infiltrate one without
her being alerted somehow.

“Before you ask, no, I haven’t found a way to sever that connection.”

“Then we’ll just have to try to work faster,” Catra mused.

“I agree. That’s why I wish to bring Assistant Kyle,” Entrapta said.

“GASP! I get to do something in the field?!” Kyle was beaming.

“He has tiny hands. They are useful for delicate work,” Entrapta added.

Rogelio made a few grunts. The entire room erupted into laughter except for Kyle, who was instead
turning redder than a strawberry.

“Rogelio!” the cherry colored young man fumed.

Lonnie elbowed Kyle. “Hey, man, good for you,” she sniggered.

“I’M GOING TO GO CLEAN SOMETHING!” the walking tomato said before storming off.

Catra patted Scorpia on the arm. “Up for a day trip?”

“Super Pal Trio Plus Kyle Excursion? Of course, Kitty!”

“Alright. We leave in an hour.” Catra stood on her tippy-toes and cupped her hands around her
mouth. “Hey Loverboy did you hear me? We leave in an hour!”

“YES I HEARD YOU CATRA!”

Entrapta bounced back to her work area and began collecting tools into a pack.

“What about us?” Catra heard over her shoulder. She turned around to see Lonnie, arms folded,
tapping her foot. Behind her was Rogelio, looking disinterested, which seemed to be his default look
except when interacting with Kyle.

Catra tapped at the monitor she was holding then handed it to Lonnie. “You know Glenmar? That
mining town?” Catra asked. Lonnie nodded as she took the monitor. “Reports are that they’re having
problems with bandits. They say that it’s hindering the town’s day-to-day work. I want you two to
go figure out what’s up and fix it.”

Lonnie’s eyes were gigantic. “You’re. Giving. Us. Our. Own. Mission?!” She began vibrating,
which caused Catra to chuckle. Catra was sure Lonnie was going to explode, but instead she just
overly enthusiastically saluted. Her and Rogelio spun on their heels and left the room.

With everyone else set, Catra turned back to Entrapta, who was still sorting through which tools to
bring. “Hey, Entrapta. An hour gonna be enough for you to get everything you need ready? We can
leave later if you want,” Catra offered. She was standing on the other side of the long work table in
the middle of the area.

“An hour will be sufficient,” Entrapta stated. She didn’t look up or even stop what she was doing.

Catra nodded a couple times then spun on her heels towards the door.
Entrapta sighed and stopped packing. She fished out a recorder and stared at it for a few seconds
before clicking it on. “Shifting Plains Experiment, hour 1,” Entrapta started. She was talking much
louder than she usually does when dictating into her recorders. Catra made a start to leave, but was
stopped by a tugging on her tail. She whipped around to see strands of purple hair coiled around the
end. The hair retracted itself. “I have been successful in convincing us to make the journey to the
Temple of Shifting Plains, in hopes that the data and samples gathered there will lead to something
great. Despite her misgivings and past experiences, it was easy to convince Catra to return to the First
Ones temple.

“I do not believe that she realizes that I forgave her days ago for her past dishonesty. I must compile
a list of things I want before she wises up.” Entrapta clicked the recorder off. With a slight grin she
returned to packing.

For once Catra didn’t have the desire to get a final word in, or to make snarky remark. She simply
smiled and left the room.

Adora leapt out of the way of the strike. Zayn’s wooden sword cracked down onto the floor mat.
She brought her sword up for a spinning slash. Adora blocked it. Zayn gripped her sword with both
hands and tried pushing it through the block. The momentum caused Adora to back up a few paces.
A gap in the mats tripped Adora, sending her crashing onto her back. Momentum sent Zayn falling
onto her.

Both girls giggled. Zayn hoisted herself up to her hands and knees. Their faces were less than a foot
apart. Adora shot her a pleasant grin. “You’re getting so much better at this,” Adora said.

Zayn chuckled. “Probably shouldn’t have fallen down with you!”

“Okay yeah. Knocked me off my feet though. That’s a start.”

They lingered there in that position for probably a little too long. Zayn eventually got to her feet and
offered her hand.

Adora hadn’t even gotten halfway up before toppling back over, gripping her head and screaming.

“What’s the matter?!” Zayn asked, trying to comfort Adora. After a moment she was able to get
Adora up to her feet.

“I’m fine now, thank you,” Adora strained. “It’s a First Ones temple. Something’s wrong.”

Just then Swift Wind barged into the training room. “Adora!”

“WINGED UNICORN!” Zayn blurted out. Her eyes were bulging out of her head as Swift Wind
strode over to the two of them. Zayn’s mouth was slightly agape as she stared unblinkingly at Swift
Wind.

“Oh, hey. Zayn, this is my friend Swift Wind,” Adora said. It seemed to fall on deaf ears.

At the sight of Zayn Swift Wind brought out his best horsey smolder. “Heeey there. Adora’s told me
so much about you,” Swift Wind said.
“YOU TALK!” Zayn yelled. She began shaking Adora. “YOUR HORSE TALKS!”

“Madam, I am my own horse.”

It took a bit, but Adora was able to get Zayn to calm down. “Hey, I’m sorry but I have to go,” Adora
said.

“Right. I get it. Duty calls,” Zayn responded. Her words were reassuring. Her face was far more
dejected though.

“I’ll see you later?” Adora asked.

“Of course,” Zayn answered.

Adora made her way over to Swift Wind and they began to leave. Before getting out the door Swift
Wind twisted his neck to look back. “Don’t worry!” He yelled. “I’ll have her back to you in no
time!”

“What are you doing?!” Adora said in an aggressive whisper after they left the room.

“Wingmanning for you. You’re welcome!”

“I don’t need a wingman!”

Swift Wind gave her an accusatory glare. “Um, yeah you do.”

Catra appreciated the color scheme of the Temple of Shifting Plains. The Crystal Castle was too pink
and lavender. Too princessy. This place though, bright beige stone with gray concrete accents. It felt
almost normal. The main hall of the Temple of Shifting Plains bared more than a passing
resemblance to a cave. A pale yellow haze engulfed the room as light streamed in from openings in
the ceiling and mixed with dust. It was large, open; with plenty of stalagmites and stalactites all
about. Granted, the stalagmites and stalactites pulsated with a weird blue glow, but other than that,
normal!

Per Entrapta’s instructions, Kyle was slowly extracting rock samples from the stalagmites and
bottling them into plastic containers. Each container had a perfectly sized spot in a cushioned crate.
Entrapta herself was working furiously on a small computer setup that was hooked up to a tall
pedestal in the center of the room. Emily was using her little pincers to remove panels on the walls
and run cables from them to Entrapta’s computer.

“Shifting Plains Experiment log, hour 7. Initial findings are so much better than I dared to dream of!
The rock structures here are radiating with First Ones energy unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
Despite how dangerous and volatile they are…”

“Wait, what?!” Kyle blurted out.

“... If my hypothesis is correct,” Entrapta carried on, seemingly uninterested in acknowledging Kyle,
“they could lead to the biggest breakthroughs of my entire life! I’ll need to continue data collecting.
Unfortunately the Temple of Shifting Plains has no guide to answer any of my burning questions.”

That was something else Catra liked about this temple. Outside of the generic greeting AI that
Entrapta had turned off as soon as they got there, there weren’t any other annoying artificial beings to
mess with them. At least, not any that Entrapta could find in her precursory scans of the temple
databases.

“The worst thing happened.” Catra snarled. Her and Scorpia were idly wandering around the room
together.

“Oh no! What’s wrong Kitty?” Scorpia responded.

Another snarl. “Octavia graduated a perfect class.”

“That sounds great!”

“Nooo! Because now it’s my job to give her a… a…. Commendation ,” Catra hissed.

Scorpia couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “You’re never going to like her are you?”

“Have you looked at her?”

“It’s what’s on the inside that counts, Kitty.”

Catra flexed her claws out. “DON’T tempt me.”

The two shared a laugh that was interrupted by the sound of a loud beeping.

Entrapta typed at her computer and the beeping cut off. “It has now been a little over an hour. About
as long as it took the Best Friend Squad to find us the last time. Taking into account how far we are
from Bright Moon, we should expect to see them in 20 or so minutes,” Entrapta stated very matter of
factly.

“The Best Friend Squad??” Catra questioned. “Bow came up with that didn’t he.”

“I believe so, yes,” Entrapta responded.

Catra cracked her knuckles together. “Okay, Entrapta, Kyle, two of you keep working. Emily,
Scorpia, and I will greet our frie…” Catra trailed off. Scorpia was being too distracting. “Um, Scorp,
what are you doing?”

What Scorpia was doing was nervously and repeatedly straightening out her suit. “Is this too
wrinkly? Oh, it’s too wrinkly isn’t.”

The response Catra gave didn’t involve words, only a glaring eye twitch.

“Right, right,” Scorpia nodded. “We need to focus. Got it Kitty!”

“Can we just get into position like we talked about, PLEASE?” Catra barked.

Almost as if on cue, as soon as Catra said that the sound of the ancient stone door began sliding
open. Catra sighed, “20 minutes huh?” Entrapta simply shrugged and doubled her typing efforts.

There were no hidden hallways in the Temple of Shifting Plains. No dark corners or forbidden
rooms. Nowhere to hide or flee to. Catra had decided as soon as they got there to take a different
approach this time. She straightened herself up and folded her arms. Catra had always been slight of
build, but as she had to learn over the last year of leading an army of people who wanted to question
her, she knew how to project an air that made her seem so much more imposing. Taking the cue,
Scorpia concerned herself with looking as professional and intimidating as possible. The robot Emily
clanked up behind them.

Adora, already in She-Ra form, marched in followed by with Bow and Glimmer just behind her. The
Super Pal Trio Plus Kyle stood directly some hundred yards in front of them. They were on a slightly
raised platform in the middle of the room. She-Ra took large strides. Like this she was more
confident than Adora ever dreamed of being. Glimmer and Bow were a few feet behind, unable to
quite keep up. Glimmer exuded righteous anger, just as she always did around the Horde. Bow
however looked mostly pensive, like he wasn’t entirely happy to be doing this.

“Should I pretend to be surprised? Or can we just skip that part?” She-Ra asked as she strode up. She
had a slight smile on her face.

“Hey Shero,” Catra sneered. She glanced past She-Ra for a moment. “Hey Bow…. What’s up
Gladys.”

It might have been Catra’s imagination but she could have sworn that she could see steam shooting
out of Glimmer’s ears. It was delicious.

“GLADYS?!” Glimmer fumed. Despite trying his best not to, and his hand covering his mouth, Bow
let out a snicker. Even She-Ra let out a small hum in amusement. Glimmer glared hard at Bow.
“That’s it!” She pulled the Staff of Micah from it’s sheath on her back and made a move to charge at
the Horde contingent standing just a few feet away.

It was only She-Ra’s speed that stopped her. She shot an arm out just in front of Glimmer, serving as
a chiseled barrier. “Don’t let her rattle you Glim, it’s what she wants.”

“Duh,” Catra remarked.

She-Ra turned back to the Horde. She shot a brief look at Entrapta, who had made her way to the
group before turning her attention back to the catgirl. “Besides, I was hoping that we might be able to
resolve this peacefully.”

Catra scoffed. “Yeah sure, we can do that. All you have to do is turn around and leave.” Catra
paused for effect as she narrowed her eyes.

“You’re good at that.”

Even after well over a year, She-Ra still hadn’t found a good way to respond to that sort of barb.
Catra had given her plenty of chances to practice at it, but the few quips and snarky retorts that She-
Ra had mustered in her mind always seemed to get stuck in her throat on the way out. Jabbing insults
back and forth used to bring her such joy. Back when they both laughed at the jokes. Back when
they were told while roughhousing in her bunk. Way back then.

Instead of reacting, She-Ra simply swallowed hard. “Catra, you’re not in the Fright Zone, you don’t
belong here.”

“Oh I’m SORRY!” Catra began pacing back and forth on the platform, making sweeping arm
gestures. Her tail was swishing wildly for added effect. “The misfits left their cage and are roaming
the countryside. Lock up your children everyone, they might get eaten!”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” She-Ra huffed. “We’re between a Princess Alliance
kingdom and a kingdom that has a peace pact with the Rebellion.”

“Yeah, ‘between’. We’re in unclaimed wilderness. We have every right to be here,” Catra
responded.
She-Ra felt a tug on her arm. “Can we just wallop her already?” Glimmer whispered.

Maybe a new tact was necessary. She-Ra turned away from Catra. “Entrapta. I’m sorry but you
know I can’t just let you use this to make more weapons for them.

“It’s good to see you again though,” She-Ra added with a smile that was sincere but not quite from a
place of happiness.

“I… Who said anything about weapons?” Entrapta asked. “The tech here has so much more
potential than just any one thing!” She continued, her voice gaining more confidence as she went.
“Yes, weapons are a possibility, that’d be just barely scratching the surface of what I could do with
this stuff!”

Catra stepped in front of She-Ra’s line of vision. “How dare you think you can talk past me?”

“I’m just trying to see if we can maybe resolve this with words instead of violence!”

“Yeah, words aren’t working for me anymore,” Catra said as she leapt into the air. Claws fully
extended, she slashed down. She-Ra blocked the attack with her sword.

The single act of aggression was all that was needed. Entrapta regrouped with Kyle. “F-Finish with
t-that sample, then come help m-me with the data retrieval.”

Kyle grabbed Entrapta’s shoulder and nodded. “Hey, are you okay ‘Trapta?”

Entrapta gave a couple half-hearted nods then made her way back to her computer. As she furiously
typed she pulled out a recorder. “Shifting Plains Log, hour 8. Data and sample extraction is almost
complete. However… For many years I convinced myself that there would be no one that cared for
me, or that I cared for in return. I made peace with that. Then She-Ra returned to Etheria and
everything changed.” Entrapta stopped typing and took a deep breath. “There are ten people in my
life that have great meaning to me, and seven of them are currently trying to kill each other. Hardly
an optimal condition for data collection.”

Across the room Emily was firing at She-Ra with two cannons that jutted out from the top. She-Ra
dodged the first three shots, but was caught in the shoulder with the four one. It stung. A lot. To She-
Ra’s surprise though there was no bullet wound or laser burn on her shoulder. What Emily had fired
was on the ground near She-Ra feet. She picked it up to examine it.

“Rubber?” She-Ra was turning over the thick rubber bullet in her hand. She dropped it when she
heard Emily making another whirring sound. She looked up to see another weapon powering up.
“Dammit not Agaaaaiiin!” She-Ra yelled as a blast from Emily’s Sonic Wave cannon hit her.

Not far from Emily were Scorpia and Glimmer. Initial attempts to land any blows with the Staff of
Micah had proven futile, so they were currently locked into a ballet of dodging sparkle blasts and tail
jabs.

“Your sparkle attacks looks really nice,” Scorpia said as she ducked under a couple of the said blasts.

Glimmer teleported to right on top of Scorpia and drove down a sparkle fist. Scorpia threw up a claw
to block, although judging from the cracking noise the fist made when making contact, it still hurt.
Scorpia swung out her other claw and knocked Glimmer to the side. Glimmer teleported and landed
on her feet.

“You’re not going to be able to distract me!” Glimmer cried out, flinging more sparkle blasts.
“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Scorpia quipped as she charged at Glimmer.

Up on the raised platform area were Catra and Bow. The two were trading blows. Catra with her
stun mace, Bow using his bow as a melee weapon.

“So Gladys was a success,” Catra said. A mace swing, and a block.

“I’m not going to hear the end of it for laughing at that by the way!” Bow chuckled. A slash from the
bow, and blocked.

“Maybe she won’t even remember.”

“HAH! You really need to get to know Glimmer better!”

“Well maybe me and her will go get lost in the jungle for a while.”

“But I want you both to live!” Bow chuckled.

Catra chortled. Another mace swing, that was blocked. During the swing though Catra’s tail shot out
and pulled Bow’s foot from under him, sending the archer crashing onto his back. Catra waved the
stun mace playfully at him. “I want you to live too.

“Weird feeling isn’t it.”

Before they could react the mace was forcefully knocked away from Bow. She-Ra was standing
over him, pointing her sword menacingly at Catra.

“What the hell?!” Catra demanded as she recollected her mace. “You dumb battering ram you’re
going to get someone hurt like that!”

“ I’M going to… UGH! I’m just trying to protect my friend, Catra!” She-Ra yelled. She extended her
hand to Bow and hoisted him up with ease.

“See, Bow’s fine!” Catra stated, pointing at him.

“All good here!” Bow tried to add.

It didn’t seem She-Ra was quite buying it. “Yeah, because I got here in time!” She-Ra shook her
free, non-sword hand, at the catgirl in frustration. “We didn’t have to do this today! I tried to give
you an out this time and everything!”

“Oh did you really?!” Catra snapped back. “Don’t tell me that you just came here to talk! You were
looking for a fight the moment you walked in all “hulked up” like you always are!” Catra twisted her
hands around the shaft of her mace. “I wouldn’t even care, but look at her!” Catra swung a finger in
the direction behind her. “Entrapta’s terrified, because of you!” About a dozen yards back Entrapta
and Kyle were sitting together leaning against the pedestal she had jacked into. Entrapta’s knees
were buried into her chest. Kyle had his arms wrapped around her, and was shaking.

“Hey, I’m not sure how fair that is,” Bow interjected.

“No, she’s right,” She-Ra mumbled. She stared at the runestone in her sword for a moment. Her arm
dropped, and the Sword of Protection dangled at her side, gently scraping on the ground. She-Ra
changed back into Adora.

Despite every thought of never wanting to show any weakness in front of her, the sight of Adora de-
transforming took Catra aback for a moment. At a loss for words, she just stared at Adora, only
realizing that she didn’t want to bite her lip in front of her when it was far too late to stop it.

“What?” Adora meekly asked. She suddenly felt as if the was under an intense magnifying glass.

“Oh, um, nothing,” Catra lied. “It’s just, this is the first time I think I’ve seen you in… Well shit,
almost a year at this point.”

Something about Catra’s gaze made Adora blush. “What are you talking about? You saw me just a
few weeks ago.”

“No, not She-Ra. You,” Catra responded. “And those few seconds when you were knocked out on
the floor definitely don’t count.”

… Because I wasn’t able to stare into those eyes of yours then.

“I’m sorry that we’re upsetting Entrapta. I was trying to avoid fighting specifically because I didn’t
want to put Entrapta in the middle of that again,” Adora admitted. “All you had to do was walk
away.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Catra scoffed. “You’re unbelievable Adora. Actually no, you’re completely
believable.”

“What? What did I say?!”

“You just apologized and then blamed ME in the same breath!”

“I wasn’t saying it was all your fault!”

“Then what were you trying to say, Sword Girl?!”

“Maybe we should all take a deep breath,” Bow tried interjecting. He received two piercing glares in
return. “Or not! What do I know?!” Bow slowly backed up. “Hey Glimmer?”

“A little busy Bow!” Glimmer yelled from across the room. Her and Scorpia were still going at it,
although it seemed like Glimmer was putting a lot more effort into it than Scorpia was. The Staff of
Micah was crackling with sparkle energy. Bow had interrupted her just as she was about to swing,
distracting Glimmer just long enough to Scorpia to close the distance. She swatted the staff back up,
causing it to shoot a powerful sparkle blast up to the ceiling.

There was a colorful explosion that erupted from mixing Glimmer’s magic with the glowing rocks of
the temple. A number of stalactites dislodged and fell. Directly at Bow. It happened so quick.
Between instinctively shielding himself when he heard the explosion and the general disorientation
of all the sound and smoke and debris, Bow had little time to react to the falling rocks.

Lucky for him that both Catra and Adora had better reflexes. They simultaneously rushed at Bow
and shoved him out of the way. Their combined shove sent him flying back a good ten yards.

Just as Bow cleared their touch the stalactites slammed into Adora and Catra. There was a giant
explosion of glittering smoke that began swirling in the place where the girls just stood. It was
accompanied by a noise that sounded like blustering winds. The sound increased in intensity as the
glow at the center of the swirling smoke got brighter and brighter. Then noise abruptly stopped with
a pop and the smoke swirled tighter and tighter into itself until it vanished in a matter of seconds.

Dark, blue glittery ash settled onto the floor in the area where Catra and Adora had just been. There
was no sign of them anywhere.
“ADORA!” Glimmer screeched and teleported to middle of the ash. She looked at it for a second
before she dropped to her knees and began sobbing. “Oh goddesses, what have I done?!”

Scorpia rushed up onto the platform over to Bow, who had been sitting where he landed, unable to
do anything but stare at the spot he, then Catra and Adora, had just been.

With two massive red claws tucked under each arm, Bow was hoisted to his feet. “Come on, I got
you Buddy Bow,” Scorpia softly said. They made their way over to the ash pile together.

“Glimmer,” Bow called out. She didn’t look up. She was far too busy sobbing into her hands. Bow
dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his best friend. Glimmer was momentarily
brought out of her hysteria by an unexpected sensation. She faintly noticed that a claw was softly
rubbing up and down her back as Scorpia knelt behind her.

Another sensation interrupted them. Soft purple hair began wrapping itself around and tugging at
their chins, causing the trio to look up. Hovering above them was Entrapta, with a look of unbridled
joy on her face. “Do not despair!”

Entrapta moved her attention away from the trio and brought it to a tentacle of purple hair that she
had wiped through the ash. She gave it a closer look. Rubbed it between her fingers. Sniffed it.
Tasted it. Despite not enjoying the tasting part, Entrapta looked exceedingly happy. So happy that
she was rapidly clapping her hands together.

“Shifting Plains Experiment log, hour 8, second entry. Friends Catra and Adora were forced into an
impromptu testing of the temple’s First Ones magic,” Entrapta began dictating into her recorder. She
shook her hands in the air triumphantly. “AND IT WORKED!”

“Wait, ‘Trapta, ” Scorpia said, rising to her feet, “are you saying that Catra and Adora are still alive?”

Suddenly Scorpia was being shaken by purple hair as Entrapta hovered inches away from her face.
“YES! That’s exactly what I am saying!”

Bow and Glimmer hopped to their feet. Even Kyle had made his way over, still visibly shaking.
Entrapta took the sudden audience as a cue to expand on her statement. “Catra and Adora are
definitely alive, but are no longer here. It’s quite exciting actually! My hypothesis is correct! The
rocks in this temple have been imbued with First Ones technology that has given them matter
dispersion properties-”

“-Entrapta!” Scorpia, Bow, and Glimmer yelled in unison.

The recorder clicked on as Entrapta took a deep breath. “Shifting Plains Experiment log, hour 8,
entry three. Endeavor to make at least one intelligent friend.”

“Are you saying they were teleported?” Kyle questioned, only just then reminding most of them that
he was there at all.

“Precisely!” Entrapta said.

Bow wrapped his arm around Glimmer’s shoulders. “See Glim, everyone’s okay! We’re not losing
any friends today.”

“Where are they then?” Glimmer asked, attempting to pull herself together.

“That, is a good question. That I do not have the answer to,” Entrapta responded.
Scorpia gave Entrapta gentle nudges with her elbow. “Hah, this is definitely the last time Catra’s
gonna let us come to one of these temples for sure!”

“Agreed,” Entrapta responded. “I shall attempt to make the most of this trip then! Come Assistant
Kyle, we must get back to work”

“Hey ‘Trapta,” Scorpia called out. The purple haired princess spun around. Scorpia began nodding
her head at Bow.

“Right!” Entrapta said then scampered off to her work area.

Fully recovered now, Glimmer broke free of Bow’s hug to stand on her own. “Now wait a minute!
Just because Adora is currently missing doesn’t mean that you’re suddenly allowed to go back to
pillaging this temple!”

The only reply she got was a shrug from Scorpia. Entrapta appeared next to her. They walked over
to Bow together. From somewhere in the living mess of Entrapta’s hair emerged a cylindrical
package that she handed to Bow.

It took almost no time for Bow to unwrap the package and pull out, “new gadget arrows!”

“Scorpia told me that you needed new ones,” Entrapta smiled.

“Thanks you two!” Bow exclaimed. “Entrapta you should see some of the ones I’ve been working
with on my own!”

“I would love to Bow, as soon as I’m finished!”

“Wait, how did Scorpia know you needed new gadget arrows?” Glimmer asked, holding a single
finger up.

Bow began frantically biting his lip. “Well, you see,” Bow began rubbing the back of his head with
his free hand. “Heheh, kind of a funny story actually.” Bow trailed off.

The package of arrows fell out of his hands as Bow began wailing. “I’M SO SORRY GLIMMER!
I’VE BEEN KEEPING A SECRET FROM YOU! I WAS AFRAID THAT YOU’D GET MAD
AT ME BUT YOU SHOULD GET MAD AT ME BECAUSE I’M A TERRIBLE FRIEND!!”

“Bow what are you talking about?!” Glimmer asked, very confused.

Red pincers gently gripped Bow around his arms. “Hey there Buddy Bow, calm down. Glimmer
will forgive you! You were just trying to protect her feelings, right? Breathe. Breeeaathe,” Scorpia
encouraged.

“Buddy Bow?” Glimmer’s eyebrow shot up.

A couple deep breaths later Bow was starting to settle down. “Whew, thanks Scorpie Girl, that
helps.”

“Scorpie Girl?!”

Bow turned to Glimmer. He was still looking very nervous, sporting a smile that made him seem
somehow less confident. At least his breathing was leveled out. “Hey Glim. There’s something I’ve
been needing to tell you…”

Glimmer stood glaring at Bow, arms folded, eyes narrowed, foot tapping frantically. “Let me guess;
 this has something to do with the jungle doesn’t it? You DID go on some kind of grand adventure,
didn’t you?!”

“Gulp.”

Chapter End Notes

Okay, so one thing you probably noticed is that this chapter, while going different
places and accomplishing different things, plays out similarly to chapter 3. And yes, it
sets up a chapter 7 that has scenario similar to chapter 4. I had plenty of time to change
it, but I didn't, and here's why:

1) - I just like what each of these chapters play out, regardless of their similarities.
2) - Getting to see how Catra reacts to being stuck with Adora as opposed to be stuck
with her best friend & one of the more charming men on Etheria was a lot of fun and
worth exploring.
3) - This is the last time this sequence happens, promise. SPOILERS, but Catra doesn't
keep getting teleported places against her will.
4) - Fun Fact/Trivia/Confession: So how did I end up with two similar scenarios in the
same story in the first place? Well that's because "Jackets" is made up of ideas that I had
for 5 different She-Ra stories. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do first so I
thought "could i put these together and tell one more elaborate story?" And so I did. :)

Next chapter will be up next Sunday!

Next Time:
“He tells me everything that annoys him. Which is a lot actually.”
 Cracks in Walls
Chapter Notes

Did someone order a serving of light to moderate angst?

TW: Violence; violence against non-human creatures; angst; adult situations

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Adora remembered shoving Bow out of harm’s way. She also remembered that for some reason
Catra had rushed to help Bow also. There had been a slight jabbing in her back as the stalactite
slammed into her. After that everything was glitter and the sound of wind. A similar experience as
when Glimmer used her powers, only this glitter was blue instead of pink.

Blue glitter blinked away to reveal white. Adora threw both arms up to brace for impact just before
she slammed into the top of the snowy mountain. The wrist of her hand that held the Sword of
Protection took the brunt of the impact into the rocky surface. It bent weird and the sword shot out of
her grip as she screamed. The rest of her momentum sent her hurtling a few more yards before
crashing back down into the snow and sliding to a stop.

“Ouch,” Adora groaned, while rolling onto her back. The sky above her was a dance of various
violets and lavender. It was pretty, but not nearly distracting enough to make her forget about all the
aches and soreness in her body. Adora attempted to push herself up. Her right wrist gave out as soon
as she tried. “OUCH!” She was more careful on the second attempt to sit up.

Just in time to see Catra appear a few yards up in the sky and flop down into a snowdrift. Adora
couldn’t help but giggle. Catra had tried to do the cat thing and land on her feet, but the drift wasn’t
solid and she sunk right into it. End result was that Catra was lying face down, half buried in the
snowdrift when Adora got to her.

There wasn’t much movement from Catra, only the expelling of a long, low groan and a few agitated
tail flicks. “Comfy?” Adora giggled.

“Oh I’m doing wonderful ,” Catra sneered. She pushed her face out of the snow. Adora couldn’t
help but laugh at the sight: large clumps of snow stuck in Catra’s hair, wedged into her headpiece,
packed onto her cheeks. “Well I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Catra commented as she tried
wiping away some of the snow.

“Come on, let’s get you out of there,” Adora said as she offered her hand. Catra reached up, and
smacked Adora’s hand away. Adora recoiled, but not from pain. It took more effort than she had
hoped to climb out of the snowdrift by herself, but it was worth it Catra decided.

A quick shakedown dispelled of most of the snow on her. Catra stretched her arms while staring off
into the distance. “Congratulations, you win. I’m never setting foot in another First Ones temple
again,” she scoffed.

“I’m not trying to win anything Catra. I’m just trying to do what’s right and protect the people
important to me,” Adora said, walking up next to her.
Catra shot a subtle scowl at Adora. “Oh yeah? How’s that working out for you?”

Adora just sighed.

A moment passed.

Both Catra and Adora were idly staring off into the distance. It was a sea of snow dusted mountain
tips, with most of their mass obscured by fog. The skyline was pink and lavender and a little orange.
The navy blue of night was starting to creep in along the edges.

Catra began shifting uneasily on her feet. “Where are we?” she mumbled.

“Hmm,” Adora continued surveying their surroundings. Eventually she let out a gasp. “Oh no. I
think we’re on Mount Snows.”

There was nothing subtle about this scowl. “Mount Snows,” Catra grumbled. Adora nodded. “The
tallest mountain on Etheria?” Adora nodded again. Catra looked up to the sky and let out a laugh.
“Of COURSE! That’s just fantastic!” Catra’s annoyed state suddenly shifted to one of fear. “How
are we going to get down from here?!”

“It should be okay.” Adora began scanning the mountain clearing they were standing on near the
summit. “I can call Swift Wind to come get us.” Catra was giving Adora another piercing stare.
Lucky for Adora her red cheeks could have been easily explained by the cold. “What?”

“First of all, your plan relies on your pegasus to come find us.”

“He’s a winged unicorn.”

“Who cares?!”

“He does! He’s very picky about it.”

Catra’s mouth opened and closed a few times, cancelling the first few drafts of the sentence she
wanted to say. “How do you know that your pega-unicorn, is picky?”

Adora shrugged. “He tells me everything that annoys him. Which is a lot actually.”

“Wait,” Catra cocked an eyebrow. “Does your unicorn talk?!” Adora nodded. Catra smacked her
head with both hands and drug her fingers down her own face. “How is your life this WEIRD
now?!”

It wasn’t a particularly deep statement. Nevertheless it made Adora ponder everything for a brief
moment.

“Just lucky I guess,” Adora finally suggested.

“Second of all, why do you ALWAYS have to try to play the hero?!” Catra closed the distance
between her and Adora in a flash. “All your solutions are just you doing everything.” She was trying
to muster as much anger as she could. Wear and tear of the day was taking its toll, however.

“I’m not trying to be a hero!” Adora huffed. “We are stuck, miles up. It would take weeks to climb
down under the best circumstances! And we’re at about the opposite of ‘best’! This is the only plan
we have.” Adora’s face softened. “Catra, please. I just want us both to get home safely.”

It wasn’t fair. Catra was actually starting to miss She-Ra. With She-Ra, her hate and angered flowed
easily. Everything about the Princess of Power was off-putting to Catra. Adora though, that was a
different story. There were no fountains of hate to be found in those eyes. Just the opposite.

Catra let out a little scoffing laugh. “FINE, let’s call your stupid unicorn.”

Without saying anything Adora turned from Catra and began pacing around. “Hmm.” Adora had
doubled back to where she had landed. “Well first we have to find my sword.”

“WHAT?!”

“I lost it when I landed,” Adora said, looking over her crash site.

“How hard is it to hold onto your weapon?!” Catra asked, holding up her stun mace and waving it.

“That’s not fair! You landed in a snowdrift. I smacked into a rock.”

“Well why didn’t you try landing on your head, this way nothing valuable would get damaged!”
Catra mocked. She walked over to Adora. The cold snow pricked at her feet with each step. It was
one of the only times that Catra wished she was wearing boots.

Adora pushed out a half-hearted chuckle. “Sounds like something a smart person would think of.”

“Hmm,” Catra pondered Adora’s response. “Well, you got me there.”

“It couldn’t have gone far. Not like it can get up and walk on it’s own,” Adora said, abruptly
changing the subject. “Can you check over there?” Adora asked. She was pointing at a small
grouping of loose boulders. Plenty of gaps and crevices for a sword to fall into. Catra groaned
again.To Adora’s surprise though, instead of it leading to an argument, Catra hopped up on the rocks
and began searching the gaps.

Most of the snow on the summit of Mount Snows was pristine, undisturbed. It made finding the skid
the Sword of Protection made pretty easy. Adora called out to Catra, who perked up from between
two boulders. The skid went on for a good thirty feet, until…

“Oh no,” Adora whispered to herself. “No no no no no.” Adora dropped to her knees, and looked
over the cliff that the skid ended at. There were more flat areas below them, but no sign of the sword.

Catra joined her at the edge. There were no words for a moment as they both stared down the
mountain. Nothing needed to be said, Catra knew right away what had happened. She wanted to be
angrier. For a brief moment she actually believed Adora would be able to help her. There she was
though, kneeling in the snow, useless as she always was. Anger wasn’t flowing however. Mostly,
Catra felt tired. Besides, it looked like Adora was busy beating herself up just fine.

First noise to break the silence wasn’t a word, but a long, drawn out sigh from Catra. “Don’t suppose
there were any other plans?”

“No. None,” Adora squeaked. She hadn’t moved, eyes still focused on the mountain below them. A
flood of words flashed in her mind.

Fool. IDIOT. Don’t lose the sword. It was like my ONE job.

A tapping at Adora’s shoulder pulled her back out from the recesses of her mind. She looked up to
see Catra pointing.

“Over there,” Catra said. “It looks like slope is the most gradual over there. We should be able to get
down the next leveled area from there. It couldn't have fallen the whole way down the mountain,
Right? We just gotta find it.” Catra began striding, taking as large of steps as possible. Adora
followed.

The angle of the slope was probably just fine for someone with sizeable claws that could be dug into
the rock. Adora examined her very short, chipped, and generally uncared for nails. Maybe it
wouldn’t be so bad if Adora still had two properly working hands.

Without warning, Catra slapped Adora in the stomach with the back of her hand. “Think you can do
it? I know you don’t have claws, but this isn’t too bad, right?” There was a faint grin on Catra’s face.

Suddenly it all felt so familiar to Adora. So comfortable. The goading. The mischievous grin. The
naked dare in her words. She knew this Catra. She missed this Catra desperately.

Despite her misgivings, Adora nodded. Catra went headfirst and on all fours, claws keeping her
planted where she stepped. Adora started down herself, trying to descend in a slow, controlled slide.
For a little while it was going great. The rockface was jagged, plenty of places to grab at and make
good footholds of. Adora was attempting to keep up the best she could, despite her circumstances.
Every now and again Catra would call back some sort of teasing ridicule about how slow Adora
was. She’d fire something back, which usually elicited a condescending snort from Catra.

About two thirds of the way down the rockface smoothed out considerably. The smoothness allowed
Catra to pick up her pace. Adora was trying to keep up, but with less places to grab onto it was
proving difficult. She tried planting a foot on one of the few footholds still present, but it crumbled as
soon as she applied pressure. Instinctually she shot her right hand back up to the jutting rock above
her. She remembered too late about her wrist. Sharp pain shot through her arm. Adora recoiled
immediately and went tumbling down the mountain side. Her momentum was interrupted briefly.
Catra had grabbed her by the arm. Adora’s momentum was too strong though, and they both
tumbled the rest of the way down the slope.

Adora crashed and rolled onto the snowy gap in the mountain. A second later Catra slammed on top
of her. They both laid there for a moment. Adora on her back, Catra strewn face down across
Adora’s stomach.

“I take it gaining phenomenal cosmic power didn’t cure your clumsiness,” Catra mumbled. The
catgirl pushed herself up. She stared at Adora, and gave her a smirk. “You okay?”

Just about everything ached. Adora’s wrist was throbbing. It took a minute for her to get her wind
back, it had been knocked out by the tumble, and then Catra.

“Check back in a minute,” Adora answered.

For good measure Catra gave her a light bonk on the head. “How about now?”

The expression on Catra’s face wasn’t easy to read. Especially combined with playful violence.
There was a time when Adora would have felt supremely confident in their meaning. Now though,
she was only able to make a guess, based on what she used to know. She really hoped it was the
right one.

A clump of snow flew into the side of Catra’s head, courtesy of Adora’s good hand. She gave the
catgirl an innocent smile. Catra returned it with an intense glare.

Little lumps of snow began dripping down the side of Catra’s face as the intensity of her glare grew.
Adora was starting to grow panicked. She was sure she had made the wrong guess. Until.

“Oh you are DEAD!” Catra hopped up. With both hands she shoveled a cloud of snow onto
Adora’s face. For some reason Adora couldn’t help but giggle as she scrambled to her feet. By the
time she was up a snowball puffed into her cheek. Not to be outdone Adora connected a snowball
directly on Catra’s shoulder. The force of the explosion sent snow all over her neck and hair.

A good dozen more snowballs found their marks, and dozens more tossed every which way, before
they ran out of momentum.

Once a snow-truce had been established, Adora leaned against a boulder, while Catra stood a few
feet away, hands on her knees. Despite the circumstance, and the hate and animosity that had come
to define their relationship, they couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably .

Eventually that laughter died, and was replaced by an awkward silence.

Recovering from laughing, and falling, and a day of fighting, Catra forced herself upright. She gave
Adora a look over.

“What’s wrong with your arm?” she asked.

Not a question Adora was anticipating. “What? How’d you know?”

“You were throwing with your left the whole time. You’re not left handed.”

“Look at you, Snow Detective,” Adora chuckled. “I hurt it when I crashed into the mountain earlier.
And I think I may have made it worse by overusing it on the climb down.”

“And when were you gonna tell me?” Catra growled.

Adora shrunk in the moment. “I, didn’t think it was important.”

Catra scoffed. “Why do you always have to be so damned proud?”

“What? That’s not why I didn’t say anything! Why do you think everything I do has some sort of
ulterior motive?”

“Oh I don’t know. Years of evidence?” Catra fired back.

“I just didn’t think you would care,” Adora stated. There was no force in her voice.

“Maybe you’re right, maybe I don’t care,” Catra said. There was no anger in her voice, no malice
even. There was no intent in Catra’s statement, just facts. “But I need you alive so you can summon
your stupid horse so we can get out of here.”

It felt as if giant snake had taken up residence in Adora’s chest. Constricting. Squeezing. There was
still flecks of snow on her arm. A moment just past that suddenly felt so far away. Adora dusted the
snow off her arm. “We should probably get back to finding the sword then,” was all she could
muster to say.

The gap in the mountain they were on led to a path that wound down part of the mountain. They
chose the most probable direction and followed it. It wasn’t planned or discussed, but a mutual
understanding passed between them to walk for a time in silence.
Never thought I’d be wishing I was back in the jungle being chased by a giant rhino monster.
Instead I get to be stuck on this desolate mountain with the last person I want to see. Or talk to. Or
even look at. Adora’s so annoying. With her stupid perfect teeth that sparkle when she smiles. And
the dumb way she brushes her hair out of her face when she’s embarrassed. And those dumb little
dimples that she gets when she laughs.

The longer they were on Mount Snows, the colder it was getting. Catra could feel it in her bones. In
an attempt to keep her mind off of the chill, Catra had started compiling a list of things she clearly
hated about Adora. She thought it was going well.

Catra wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hold in as much heat as possible. Despite her layer
of fur, the cold was starting to get to her. What little daylight had reached them up here was
withdrawing as dusk rapidly approached. Catra began to shiver as the shadows of the mountain
grew.

So focused was Catra on her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Adora getting closer to her until
she suddenly felt something draped over her shoulders. It startled Catra. She screamed and jumped
and yanked what was on her shoulders off and held it up in front of her. Catra gave it an inquisical
look.

“Your jacket?” Catra asked, holding the vibrant red thing at arms’ length.

“Sorry, you looked cold,” Adora responded. She was mostly focused in staring at her feet. “I thought
it might help warm you up,” she continued.

“Don’t you need it?”

Adora brushed a few errant strands of hair out of her face. “No, I’m okay.”

“How are you not freezing?” Catra asked.

There was a pause while Adora searched for the best way to word her answer.

“You’re not going to like it if I tell you,” Adora admitted.

It took a few seconds but Catra began to understand what Adora was trying to get at. “Oh, you have
to be kidding me!” She sighed.

“Ever since I became She-Ra, I don’t really feel extreme temperatures anymore. Like, I know what’s
hot and what’s cold, but it just doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“That’s just not fair,” Catra mused as she slipped her arms into the jacket. Catra fumbled with the
zipper, which seemed stuck. “How does this…”

“Here.” Adora was inches in front of Catra. She twisted the zipper slightly and slid it up. “You have
to sort of yank it to the side to get it started.” Adora fastened the belts around the jacket with a click.
Then she straightened out the collar. She gave Catra a soft smile. “There you go. Feeling warmer?”

Catra adjusted herself in the jacket. “Wow, this thing’s thicker than I thought it’d be.” She stretched
her arms in a few directions to test the jacket’s limitations. “Hmm. it’ll do.”

The duo continued on for a bit longer. It was becoming apparent that the sword wasn’t anywhere
along this path. The path ended at a ledge that wrapped around the mountain downward. It was just
barely wide enough for one person. They made their way down, slowly but surely. Catra kept herself
braced to the wall with her claws. Adora followed behind, gripping the wall the best she could.
Descent down the ledge took a while. Winds kicking up weren’t helping either. Cold may not have
been a problem, but Adora’s fingers were getting raw from scraping against rock for so long. She
had tested using her right hand once or twice, but it was effectively useless for gripping. Despite
having a clear advantage, Catra remained just a few steps in front of her. Adora had taken to using
the holes that Catra’s claws left as good gripping places.

One set of holes weren’t so good though. Adora dug her fingers into them, but instead of gaining any
grip the rock simply crumbled. The lack of something to grab on to caused Adora to stumble forward
as one of her feet slid off the ledge. Catra’s hand shot out, grabbing Adora by the bicep. She pushed
Adora back against the wall and held her there until Adora was able to regain a grip. Adora stood
there for a moment, forehead pressed against the rockface, cursing to herself.

“What’s wrong?” Catra asked, very confused.

Adora weakly chuckled. “I think I rolled my ankle just then.”

Catra guffawed. “They’re gonna change your name to the Princess of Porcelain at this rate.”

“Hah! Seems that way. I guess icy mountains aren’t a good habitat for me.”

“You think they’re any good for me?”

“Haha, no, you like the daylight too much.”

“What?” Catra asked. Her eyes were squinted and peering at Adora, very confused by the
proclamation. The Fright Zone didn’t get much in the way of direct daylight. It was mostly just a
bright haze filtered through layers of smog. Daylight wasn’t a part of Catra’s existence.

“Oh, um, nothing,” Adora gulped. She gave her foot a test. Definitely did something to it. She turned
to Catra, who had finally released her grip. “You should go on without me, I’m just slowing you
down.”

“Hmm,” Catra appeared thoughtful for a moment. Her face seemed to be passing through a number
of emotions. Anger. Sadness. Annoyed. Anger again. There was a brief smile in there too. It settled
on a stern look. “What good would that even do me? I need you to use the sword.”

There was a silence for a moment. “No, you don’t,” Adora admitted. Her voice was soft, hollow. If
Catra didn’t have extra impressive hearing abilities it might of been lost under the wind. “When you
find it, just hold it up and speak Swift Wind’s name into the runestone. Glimmer did it once when
she needed him, and it worked for her. The runestone allows people that are important to me limited
access to a few of the sword’s abilities.”

“How do we know it’d even work for me?” Catra asked. She had locked her gaze with Adora, and
was refusing to break it.

Adora chuckled again. “It’ll work for you.”

“So that’s it?” Catra asked, her angry face was coming back. “You’d rather just give up than do the
obvious thing.”

“What? No I don’t want to give up! But I-”

“-But you’d rather that than ask me for help? Got too much pride to stoop that low Princess?” Catra
scoffed.
“No!” Adora barked, anger rising in herself. “I just didn’t want to slow you down anymore! Dammit
Catra, not everything I do is some kind of judgment on you! Did you ever think that maybe, maybe
it’s about my own stupid hook ups? Just maybe it has nothing to do with whether or not I believe in
you?”

“Ask me.”

“...Catra.”

“ASK ME!”

“Will you please help me?!” Adora screamed. She was shaking, doing everything she could to hold
herself together.

Catra glared at her for a second, then shimmied back to her and interlocked her arm with Adora’s.
“Brace yourself against me. We move on my word, got it?” Catra asked. Adora gave her a nod.
“Okay. 1...2… step. 1...2...step.”

It took another ten minutes before they were able to reach a gap in the mountain. Happy to be back
on flat land, both girls collapsed. Adora was the first to move. “This mountain really needs an
elevator,” she quipped between breaths.

“Tell Princess Petite to get right on that,” Catra giggled. She climbed back to her feet and made her
way over to Adora, who had managed to sit up. “Come on,” she said. Catra looped her arm under
Adora’s and helped her to her feet. “Please tell me you see the sword around here,” Catra pleaded,
scanning the ground around them.

“No, but I see the next best thing.”

“An actual elevator?”

“HAH! No, silly. Look,” Adora pointed to the mountain wall a couple dozen yards away. “A cave.
Let’s face it, it’s just about dark, this wind is biting and the cold’s only going to get worse. The
sword’s going to have to wait until morning.”

It took a very deep breath before Catra agreed. They made their way to the cave and crept inside. It
was pitch black for a moment, although Catra was able to make out the general shape of the room.
Except for a couple piles of rocks that had fallen from places in the ceiling, it seemed empty. Catra
pulled out her stun mace and clicked it on. It began to glow blue with electric energy. Adora jumped
at the sight of it.

“Relax,” Catra remarked. “I’m just using it as a light.” Catra made a lap around the room while
Adora rested against one of the piles of rocks. “Well, good news. Doesn’t seem to be anything here
that wants to eat us. Bad news. Nothing here to eat for ourselves.”

“Sorry I didn’t find us one of those fancy four-star caves,” Adora giggled.

Catra walked toward Adora, mace pointed at her. When she was only a couple of feet away the
mace powered down. “Here. I can see well enough without it. Stay here. There was some dead
shrubbery around. I’m gonna go try to scrounge it up, maybe get a fire going.” Catra didn’t give
Adora a chance to protest. As soon as Adora took the mace Catra made her way out of the cave.

Adora let herself slide down to the ground and prop herself up against the rocks. She didn’t know
how she felt about Catra doing all the work. Adora was happy to be getting attention from Catra. She
was thrilled that they seemed to be getting along; giddy even. There was a part of her that felt
tremendously guilty about making Catra do everything though. Not that Catra seemed to mind,
shockingly. For some reason the catgirl’s mood had become more agreeable since Adora twisted her
ankle and effectively became dead weight. Adora decided it was best not to dwell on her thoughts
too much, that’s how unhealthy hopes happen. So she busied herself by giving the stun mace a good
look over.

The bounty of withered weeds and wilted shrubs that Catra returned with after about 30 minutes
wasn’t huge, but it had been enough to keep a small fire going for about an hour now. To protect
them from the cold Catra had used the stun mace to cave in the entryway. That is, after she was able
to assure Adora that they’d be able to blast their way free in the morning.

“... And then Entrapta pressed the button and Scorpia went flying clear across the room!” Catra
chortled as she tossed a couple more sticks onto the fire.

It took Adora a minute to get control of her laughing. “Poor Scorpia!” she said, wiping a few tears
away.

Heat from the fire licked Catra’s arm as she poked and prodded at it with a stick. “Heh, she’s pretty
durable. Beside, there was safety padding in the room.”

“Taking precautions? Wow, Entrapta’s come a long way!” Adora snorted.

“Eh, the padding was mostly Kyle’s idea.” Catra tossed the stick she was poking with into the fire.

“Oh, that makes more sense.”

Flickering flames danced for a while. Adora and Catra let their conversation die down as they
watched sparks pop and fire devour. It wasn’t a tense silence. For the first time in a long time, it was
one of those peaceful moments they used to share often before Adora left.

One more twig went into the fire. “That’s the last of it,” Catra announced.

Adora rested her head against the rocks. “We should probably try to get some rest anyway. Get back
out there bright and early.”

“Yeah.”

Catra had been sitting a couple feet from Adora. She pulled her knees under her chin. The fire was
mesmerizing. It only held her attention for so much though. There was an idea that kept flickering in
Catra’s head. She hated it. She loved it. It was logical. Sound. And the dumbest idea her brain had
created in a long time. It was the only thing she wanted to do.

The first attempt to speak was a false start. Instead of words there was just a small croak followed by
a coughing fit. Turned out Catra’s mouth was bone dry. She licked her lips to help.

“Hey, Adora?” Catra asked. “Are you asleep yet?”

“Hmm? No, still awake.” Adora was still mostly sitting upright, propped up against the mound of
rocks behind her.

“Probably gonna be getting cold in here once the fire is out.” Catra tugged at the coat she was
wearing. “Guess it’s not going to be much of a problem for you huh.”

Embers were all that was left of the fire at this point. Adora leaned forward. She could barely see
anymore, just the soft outline of Catra in the dim glow. Adora had an idea. She knew it was practical,
so there was a chance Catra would go for it. Truth be told though, practicality wasn’t the impetus for
the idea.

“Say, do you remember wilderness training?” Adora ventured. She could see the silhouette of
Catra’s head perk up. Her ears twitched. “I mean, I’d understand if you don’t want to. But, we can, if
you did want t-Oh!” Adora sucked in air hard at the touch. Catra’s hands were pushing Adora’s
knees apart. Without saying a word Catra crawled in and flopped into Adora’s lap. Her head nestled
against Adora’s chest, her arms draped around Adora’s right arm. Adora gently squeezed her legs
back together. Catra’s tail lazily snaked its way around their legs.

“You’re warm,” Catra noted. Her voice was faint, airy.

“Phenomenal cosmic power makes a pretty good internal heater,” Adora said. She got a light laugh
in return. Adora’s left hand dug into Catra’s mane of hair, eventually finding the base of her ear. She
gently scratched at it. A soft rumble came out of Catra, vibrating them both.

“You remembered,” Catra murmured. Her eyes were heavily lidded. The few embers that still
burned danced in the corners of her blurry vision.

“Always,” Adora whispered.

They sat that way for a few minutes, the only sound around them being Catra’s soft, rhythmic purrs.

“Hey, Catra?” Adora breathed after a few more minutes.

Nothing.

Adora arced her neck forward, attempting to move her body as little as possible.

The sight she saw was a catgirl, eyes closed, mouth slightly agape, chest subtly heaving up and
down with each subdued breath. Adora smiled.

“Right. You always could fall asleep as soon as your head hit the bed,” Adora grinned.

Another few peaceful moments passed by. Adora’s cheek was pressed against the woman in her
arms. Cold may not bother her, but it did dull Adora’s sense of smell. With her nose buried in Catra’s
hair though, she was able to take it all in. All the familiarity. All the comfort. Part of Adora was
blissfully happy. There was also a tenseness rising in her chest.

A handful of tears dropped onto Catra’s hair. The sleeping catgirl didn’t seem to notice.

“I really messed this all up, didn’t I?” Adora muttered. To Catra. To herself. To the night.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever forgive me…

“I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself...

“I don’t know how to fix this...

“But I miss you so much.”

Adora gripped Catra tighter. The last thing Adora thought of as she fell asleep was the feeling of
Catra’s breath caressing her arm.
Pitch blackness engulfed Adora. It was still the middle of the night when she sat up. Her lap was no
longer occupied. Adora climbed to her feet, gripping the rocks behind her for leverage.

“Catra?” Adora called out. There was no response. She felt around for the stun mace, trying to
remember about how far it was from her when she last saw it. What she found was a small pile of
rocks that she tripped over, sending her stumbling into the wall.

Leaning against the wall Adora tried calling out again. “Catra? Where’d you go?”

On cue the fire was rekindled. Catra was kneeling in front of it, stoking it higher. “Right here,
dummy.”

“Sorry. I was… I was worried,” Adora admitted.

“It’s fine,” Catra responded, with a giggle.

All Adora could make out in the dim light was her silhouette. Catra stood up and began strolling
over. As she closed the distance details began to fill in. Catra was still wearing the red jacket. It was
hanging open, belts dangling at the side. It was the only thing she was wearing.

Once Adora realized that Catra was basically naked she gulped. All the blood in her body rushed to
her face. Her voice cracked as it involuntarily rose a few octaves. “CATRA?! What are you..?!
Where are your…?!”

Catra reached Adora and threw her arms over Adora’s shoulders. Her hands began rubbing the back
of Adora’s head, and playing with loose strands of hair at the base of her neck. Instinctively Adora
grabbed Catra by the shoulders. “There’s no one else for miles. It’s just us here. What’s there to be
afraid of?” Catra smiled.

“I mean, nothing I guess. That is… Wait,” Adora stared at where her hands were gripping Catra.
After a few seconds she let out a sigh. “I’m dreaming again.”

“What gave it away?” Catra asked, an amused grin on her face.

Adora confidently squeezed Catra’s shoulder with her right hand. “Besides how unlikely this is? No
way my wrist and hand are feeling this much better after a couple hours of sleep.”

Catra tapped Adora on the nose. “Who’s the little snow detective now?” Catra leaned in and began
nibbling Adora’s neck.

“No, Catra, this isn’t real,” Adora protested.

“So?” Catra asked. She blinked her mismatched eyes at Adora. “This IS the closest you’re ever
going to get to this after all. Why not just enjoy it?”

“I-I don’t know. This feels off,” Adora confessed.

“Oh, what, just because the real me actually nearby for once? You worried that you’re cheating on
her, with me? Or is it that you’re cheating on Zayn with me? Or are you cheating on Zayn with her?
Or are you cheating on her with Zayn?”

As Catra presented each scenario Adora clutched her head harder. “No! I mean, I don’t know!
UGH!” Adora let out a pained grunt.
“It’s not that hard,” Catra said. She pulled her face up to Adora’s. They were inches apart. Adora
could feel Catra’s breath tickling her lips. “Stop thinking so much,” Catra whispered.

Adora let go of her head and stared at the catgirl in front of her. She looked real enough right now.
She looked gorgeous, teasing everything, but thanks to the jacket and shadows, showing almost
nothing. Adora ran her hands up Catra’s arms, thumbs messing a trail in her fur. She leaned in to kiss
Catra.

Catra aggressively kissed back. The force pushed Adora hard into the wall. Adora slipped her arms
inside the jacket, caressing Catra’s sides before finding her breasts. Her thumbs found Catra’s nipples
as she cupped Catra’s perky tits.

There was a sharp tug at Adora’s pants, yanking them and her underwear halfway down her thighs.
Giving Catra’s hand just enough room to slide in between Adora’s legs. The contact brought a series
of gasps out of Adora. Catra slowly slid her fingers along Adora’s pussy, playfully poking here and
there.

“Holy shit, you are so fucking wet!” Catra snorted. “Gross.”

“I’m just, really turned on by you right now,” Adora whimpered.

Catra continued sliding her hand up and down. She pressed down with her thumb, pushing against
Adora’s clit. It got a few moans out of her.

“Of course you are. This is excessive though. And messy. Makes you seem that much more
desperate,” Catra mused in Adora’s ear. Her fingers began digging around the lips of Adora’s cunt.
“Guess I’m in too deep to stop now though.” Catra pushed her index and middle fingers into Adora,
who gasped loudly. “Get it, ‘in deep’?”

Adora moaned out a giggle. Catra’s fingers began thrusting in and out of Adora. Fast for a bit.

Slowly for a bit.

A few times all the way down to Catra’s knuckles.

With each thrust Catra’s thumb pushed and prodded at Adora’s swollen clit.

Adora wrapped her arms around Catra’s head, fingers tangling themselves in Catra’s beautiful mane
of hair. She chomped down onto Catra’s collarbone to try to quiet herself. It just made her make a
series of muffled grunts as she nibbled at Catra.

Pretty soon Adora was enthusiastically rolling her hips in rhythm with the thrusting.

It wasn’t long before Adora began convulsing against the wall, waves of her orgasm crashing
through her body. Catra kept herself pressed firmly against Adora, holding her upright.

Once the orgasm passed, Catra gently pulled herself out.

“If we’re not careful you’re gonna flood this whole damn place,” Catra cracked.

A faint, breezy laugh came out of Adora, who was still regaining her bearings. She smiled at Catra as
her arms were draped over Catra’s shoulders. “Do you get a turn this time?”

“Heh, not a chance.”

“Please? I want to make you happy.”

“There’s important stuff down here,” Catra said, waving her hand over her groin. “It’s not like
messing up a project in science class. You mess up, I’m in for a world of pain!”

“I won’t.”

“You mess everything up. What makes you think this time would suddenly be any different?”

“Because it’s important to me. You’re important to me,” Adora pleaded.

“Aw, you really care for me don’t you,” Catra said, her eyes narrowing.

“Of course I do.”

“Gonna be honest, that’s pretty sad,” Catra stated. She took a step back.

Adora clumsily pulled her pants back up. Her shoulders were drooped. “I… I know you don’t feel
that way about me. It’s okay.”

Catra scoffed. “Do you really think anyone could really care about you?”

A few tears rolled down Adora’s cheeks. “I-I don’t know. Maybe. Probably not. I still want to make
you happy though.”

Suddenly Catra’s hand was wrapped around Adora’s neck. She could feel claws pressing into her
throat. Adora tried to pry the hand off, but the grip was firm.

“You want to make me happy?” Catra growled. “How about you hold onto your dumb sword. Or
just don’t get yourself hurt so I don’t have to drag your dumb ass around this fucking mountain.
Better yet, don’t get me stuck on this mountain in the first place! Or even better still, how about
removing yourself from my life completely! Everything about my life is better without you!”

“Ca...tra…” Adora struggled. She could feel Catra’s claws digging further into her. Adora could feel
the moment they began to pierce through her skin.

Adora shot up. It took a while to calm herself down. Skin was soaked with a cold sweat. Her heart
was pounding through her chest. No amount of gasping could help her catch her breath. Her eyes
darted around the room erratically, trying to piece everything together, but not focusing on anything
enough to really take it in. Her attempts to catch her breath led to a coughing fit. It was disruptive
enough to finally start bringing Adora down from her almost frenzied state.

Terrific, even the “good dreams” are starting to go bad now.

It was the first coherent thought Adora was able to stitch together. Slowly details of the world around
her began snapping together. Streams of daylight flooded into the cave through little gaps in the pile
of rock where the entrance was. The ashy residue from the fire sat a few feet away from her. Also, it
seemed Adora was alone.

“Catra?” Adora called out. She got no answer.

Oh no. Did I say something in my sleep? Did I DO something in my sleep?!

Adora clambered to her feet. Her ankle was sore, but better enough to walk normally. Wrist was still
in a great deal of pain though.

“Oh no,” Adora whispered.

“Catra!” Adora yelled.

The stun mace was gone. The entryway appeared to be undisturbed. Adora spun around in a panic.
That’s when she noticed a tunnel at the back of the cave. It was partially obscured from view by a
pillar.

Maybe something terrible happened to Catra. Maybe she decided to abandon Adora. Maybe Adora
DID do something in her sleep and she ran away for her own protection. A million other thoughts
flooded Adora’s mind as she made her way over to the tunnel.

“CATRA!” Adora desperately yelled down the dark path.

“Hey, Adora!” Catra called back. Blue glow from the stun mace suddenly appeared from around a
bend down the path. Catra sauntered her way back toward Adora, smile plastered on her face.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Catra remarked. She poked Adora on the forehead. “Worried I ran off?”

“Just ‘worried’,” Adora said.

Catra smacked her in the shoulder. “Relax, I’m just messing with you!

“Figured I’d check out the rest of the cave while you were getting your beauty sleep.”

Adora smiled at Catra. “Find anything?”

“Actually I did! Come on!” Catra grabbed Adora’s left hand. They scampered together down the
passage for a couple minutes.

When they came to a stop Catra waved the stun baton at a place in the wall. There was a small crack
in the base of the wall. Light could be seen on the other side.

“Where’s that light coming from?” Adora wondered.

“Don’t know. But that’s not all, listen carefully.”

Adora pressed the side of her head against the crack. She gasped. “Is that?!” She looked back at
Catra, who nodded with a big grin.

“Stand back,” Catra exclaimed. Adora scrambled behind her. The stun mace blasted a hole in the
wall. After the smoke cleared a rocky surface could be seen about a dozen feet below the passage
they were standing in. Catra hopped down into it. Adora sat at the edge of the hole then scooted
herself off and into Catra’s waiting arms. Catra caught her and slowed her fall so that she landed
gracefully.

“Whoa!” Adora exclaimed immediately. Catra turned to see what all the fuss was about.

There was a lake in the mountain. They were in what seemed like a spacious grotto. There was a
sizable hole in the ceiling that light was currently pouring in through. Small waterfalls poured in
through a few other holes in the ceiling. Around the lake was various foliage. Most of it was just
grass and weeds and moss, with a leafy shrub sprinkled here and there. A number of tunnels fed into
the room.
The girls ran immediately to the water. After a few cautious test licks they began lapping it up
wholeheartedly. The drinking was interrupted by a mild splash fight that only didn’t go on longer
because, as Catra put it, “it’s still fucking freezing in here.”

After finally quenching their thirst, they decided to look around. Adora was fascinated by the plant
life that was growing, in large part in hopes that something might be edible.

While Adora was busying herself taste testing grass, Catra had noticed a rocky hill that the day moon
was beating down on. It made her think about something Adora had mentioned the day before.

Catra hopped up the hill and just sat there as the light engulfed her face and shoulders. “Shit, that
does feel weirdly nice,” she murmured to herself. She didn’t understand. It was just light.

“Whatcha doing?” Adora called out.

It made Catra spring to her feet. “What? Nothing! Just, er, just thought this would be a good vantage
point to scout the whole room,” Catra fumbled through. “Yeah, that’s definitely what I’m doing,” she
added under her breath.

“See anything?”

“Nothing special.” Something did catch Catra’s ears though. Her ears perked up and began
twitching.

Adora’s gaze followed the twitches. “What is it?” she asked.

Catra hopped down from the hill. “Don’t know. Almost. Almost sounds like something walking.”
That was when it hit her nose. She took in a few hard sniffs. “Something’s alive down here,” Catra
said. All the previous playfulness was replaced by a severe seriousness.

Just as soon as Catra trained her ears in a specific direction a creature emerged from an opening that
was a good 30 feet off the ground. It was humanoid in shape, but with an almost bearlike face. The
creature stood over 15 feet tall and had thick limbs. It was covered in white fur.

“Yeti!” Adora yelped.

Catra pushed Adora behind her and pulled out her stun mace. “Stay behind me! Maybe we can just
slip out without it caring.”

The yeti focused on the girls and let out a thunderous roar. It scaled down the wall to the ground in
seconds and barrelled at them, forcing them to dive out of the way.

“Maybe not!” Catra shouted.

The yeti had charged so fast that it had sent itself crashing into the rocky hill. It was quick to shake
that off and refocused itself.

Catra didn’t give it time though. As soon as the yeti had regained its balance Catra slammed the stun
mace into it, sending a shock blast into the creature. It roared in pain but redoubled its attention to
Catra.

Just then a rock slammed into its head. It turned to see Adora standing atop the hill, bad arm cradling
rocks, good arm loaded for another throw.

A second rock slamming into its head demanded attention. The yeti turned.
“Hey you shag carpet, don’t walk away!” Catra screamed as she leapt into the air. The stun mace,
fully charged cracked into the yeti’s face. The power of the blast sent the yeti to the ground and
tossed Catra back. Her cat instincts helped her land on her feet.

Adora slid down the hill and returned to Catra’s side. They cautiously paced around the yeti for a
moment.

The yeti let out a grunt and began stirring.

Catra grabbed Adora by the arm. “We have to get out of here!”

“Which way?”

It only took a quick scan for Catra to make a decision. “That one!” She said, pointing across the
room. Adora grabbed Catra’s hand and they sprinted across the room together.

The tunnel they chose was poorly lit, but not completely dark thanks to the light from the grotto
behind them and more light apparently somewhere in front of them. They raced along the straight
path for a couple minutes before it curved and fed into a room. High above them in that room was a
tiny opening that allowed a trickle of light in. Off to the left was another tunnel that curved
downward at a sharp descent. That tunnel was brightly lit by light bouncing off the dusting of snow
on the ground and walls.

Heading down that side tunnel was the obvious choice. Catra could hear the yeti off in distance
behind them as it continued to recover. In front of them, the sound of wind. The sharp slope of the
tunnel and the snowy surface of the ground slowed their progress.

One of the yeti’s angry roars, despite still being far away, shook the entire mountain.

They came around a bend to the end of the tunnel. It fed out to a small shelf of rock that jutted out of
the mountain. Only ways off the shelf was a small ledge that curved back around the mountain or
back up the tunnel they had just came out of. The ledge was even thinner than the one they had
tackled the day before. Catra cursed at their circumstance.

“Keep going,” Adora stated. Her voice was calm, determined.

Catra knelt near the ledge and felt the footing. “I don’t know if this is going to work,” she remarked.
She turned back around, only to realize she was on the jut of rock by herself. “Adora?” She made
her way back into the tunnel and caught up with Adora back at the top of the tunnel, at the entrance
to the room with the trickle of light.

“What are you doing?!” Catra asked, tugging at Adora’s arm. “We have to go! That thing’s footsteps
are getting louder. It’s gonna be here soon.”

Adora gave her a severe stare. “We’re not going to be able to outrun it. You saw how fast it scaled
that wall back there.” Adora grabbed Catra by the arm, and gently caressed it. “But you can, if I can
distract it long enough.”

“NO! No, I thought we were past this hero shit Adora!” Catra huffed.

“Hmm,” Adora grunted. She let go of Catra and stared at the tunnel where a yeti would appear any
moment. “There’s nothing heroic about this, Catra,” she admitted. Adora’s face looked pain, but
there was a glint of resolve there too. “This is all I’m good at. I’m not a good leader. Or tactician. I’m
not that smart. I’m a terrible friend. But punching things? Being a shield to protect the people I care
about? I can do that.”
Catra didn’t want to hear it. She was too busy trying to pull at Adora. “You don’t stand a chance
against that thing you idiot!”

Adora spun around and wrapped Catra in a tight hug. “I don’t have to. I just have to buy you enough
time,” Adora whispered. She gripped Catra tighter. So tight Catra was sure that she’d be crushed.

As soon as Adora released her hug she gave Catra a good shove, sending her stumbling back into the
tunnel. To Catra’s surprise, Adora was holding the stun mace. She was pointing it directly act Catra.
“You have to go,” she stated, then tossed the charged stun mace into the air. It smacked into the top
of the tunnel entrance and exploded.

“Adora!” Catra screamed, before having to jump back out of the way of the entrance caving in on
itself.

Where the tunnel entrance had been was now a solid wall of rock. Adora pressed her hand against
the wall and gave a melancholy smile.

“I love you, Kitten.”

The yeti didn’t give Adora much time for reflection. Within a minute it appeared in the room,
announcing itself with a mighty roar, as if it needed to.

Adora turned her attention to it. She grinned at the thing. Adora shook her left arm to loosen it up,
and gave her right one a test. Still hurt.

“Alrighty big, ugly, and… You know that’s really all I know about you so let’s just stick with those
two. You ready to do this thing?”

“Adora!” Catra screamed. There was a brilliant flash above her as the stun mace connected with the
ceiling. Catra had to jump back to avoid the falling rocks. The tunnel was steep angle. Her jump was
awkward, rushed. She wasn’t able to find her footing. Despite her excellent sense of balance, Catra
tumbled backwards, and continued tumbling all the way back down to the jut at the end of the
tunnel. She slid to a stop on the jut of rock, just beyond the edge of the tunnel. Bright blue sky was
all around her.

The day moon was assaulting. Shining in the sky. Bouncing off the snow below her. Reflecting off
the snow on the wall next to her and the mountain side above her. Catra squinted as she stumbled to
her feet. “Adora!” Catra screamed again, this time as more a desperate growl.

Before Catra was able to even think, a roar from the yeti rumbled through the entire mountainside.
Catra barely had time to see the sheet of snow that dislodged from the mountainside above the tunnel
before it came spilling down onto the shelf.

Catra tried to move, but there was little room to maneuver. A wave of snow slammed into her legs,
kicking them out from under her. She landed on sliding snow and scrambled as fast as she could.
With one last gasp Catra leapt with as much force as possible. She landed half on the ledge that was
just to the side of the shelf and began slipping off. Frantically she scratched and dug at the icy ledge,
and finally found enough grip to hold her with nothing but her hand and forearms still on the ledge.

Claws firmly planted, Catra dangled there for a moment, huffing to catch her breath.
A scream, so guttural and raw that she was lucky she didn’t dislodge any more snow, bellowed out
of her.

“Alright universe! I get it, you fucking hate us! We get it, fucking stop already!” Catra screamed at
the top of her lungs. Her head was hung, eyes closed. Winds gently swayed her in place. A tear or
two dropped down onto the mountain. “I get it already,” Catra added, under her breath.

After indulging in a moment of self-pity, Catra returned to the task of pulling her up. She raised her
head. Just above the ledge she was dangling from was another jut of land. It caught her eyes. Catra
let out a weary laugh before steeling herself for the climb up to it.

The yeti’s swing was so broad it’s claws scraped the ceiling. The giant, white, fluffy hand slammed
into the ground where Adora had been standing seconds ago. Adora jumped on the yeti’s arm. Not
having thought any further than that, she held on tight as the arm lifted back into the air. Vigorous
shaking sent Adora flying into the wall. She was slow to get up, and needed the support of the wall
to do so.

“Okay, climbing Mr. Fluff-Fluff maybe wasn’t my best idea,” Adora chuckled.

Claws fully extended, the yeti swung at Adora again. She made a move to dodge it.

The yeti was so preoccupied with Adora that it didn’t notice that behind it a few rocks at the top of
the cave in dislodged and fell.

With her best roar, Catra bound out of the newly formed hole and flew through the air, Sword of
Protection in hand. The yeti looked up just as Catra jammed the sword into a massive stalactite
hanging from the ceiling. The whole stalactite, and surrounding rocks, crumbled off the ceiling and
fell onto the yeti.

Catra bounced off the falling rocks and landed gracefully. Her eyes were focused on the yeti, now
mostly under a pile of rocks. Finally it seemed the yeti would stay down. Catra cracked a smile.

“See Adora,” Catra began as she turned to locate Adora. “I always said, we’re stronger to…ge...”
Catra trailed off when she finally caught sight of Adora. She was lying motionless near the far wall.
“Adora!” She bounded across the room, letting go of the sword and dropping to her knees as she
reached the still blonde.

“Hey! HEY!” Catra rolled Adora onto her back. She was unconscious. Her breathing was labored.
On her stomach was three deep gashes. Blood was pooling under her.

“Nononononono! Adora! ADORA!” Catra reached over and retrieved the sword. She set it on top of
Adora’s left arm. Catra grabbed Adora’s right hand and manually wrapped Adora’s fingers around
the handle. “Adora, come on, you have to wake up. I found your sword. You have to wake up and
use it.” Catra was on her knees next to Adora, gently shaking her shoulder.

“You dummy, you were supposed to hold on until I could get back to you,” Catra said with a
hopeful smile. Catra started shaking her harder.

There was a faint stir from Adora. Catra shook even harder. Adora’s head tilted slightly. “Ca…..tra?”
“Adora I found your sword!” Catra exclaimed, wasting no time.

“Y… u... S… posed… to… run…”

“Yeah, well you were supposed to keep all your blood inside you, you dummy,” Catra smiled.
Adora went quiet again so Catra returned to shaking her. “Hey, stay with me Adora! The sword’s
here, you have to use it to heal yourself!”

Adora’s hand began sliding off the sword. Catra caught it. It twisted and very meagerly gripped
Catra’s hand.

“I… sor…ry,” Adora croaked.

“For what? It doesn’t matter right now Adora!” Catra put Adora’s hand back on the sword. “Come
on, you have to say the words Adora. Come on. Just say them!”

Catra gripped both of Adora’s shoulders in her hands. “It’s easy Adora, just say them! Come on!
Like me, ‘For the honor of Grayskull’. Now you say it.”

Nothing happened so Catra began shaking both shoulders.

“Come on! ‘For the honor of Grayskull’! Just say it!

“‘For the honor of Grayskull’! Say it!” Catra squeaked.

“...Wha…” Adora finally mumbled.

“Adora! Come on! ‘For the honor of Grayskull’!”

“Fo… hon….r,” Adora’s voice cracked. “Fr….hon...r….”

“Please! Adora, you have to stay with me!”

A few clear drops hit and splattered on Adora’s shirt. “Just say the stupid words! Please!”

Catra was trying to press Adora’s hand harder onto the sword. Maybe the grip just needed to be
tighter. Maybe she just needed to be pressed against it harder. Catra was pushing on the sword, right
at the rune, hoping that maybe Adora would absorb it and be better.

Nothing was happening. Catra leaned in so that her face hovered inches over Adora’s. Tears were
raining down onto Adora’s face. It didn’t seem to phase her.

“I know we’re not in a good place anymore. But I can’t lose you Adora, not like this. So just say
your damn saying already!” Catra sobbed.

“Come on! ‘For the honor of Grayskull’!”

Still nothing was happening. Catra was trying to control her sobbing, which was just another losing
battle she was fighting. Her hand was still resting on the sword. She pressed her forehead against
Adora’s.

“You’re not allowed to go somewhere I can’t follow you to,” Catra whispered.

Nothing.

“Please,” Catra begged, completely succumbing to her sobs.

Sounds of sobbing and choking tears echoed throughout the cave.

A cyan colored light flickered in the corner of Catra’s extremely blurry eyesight. At the same time
her hand was starting to feel a warming sensation under it. Catra lifted her head. The runestone on
the sword was glowing under her hand. Wisps of cyan colored magic danced and darted around
Catra’s arm and began circling Adora’s abdomen. Her entire abdomen became engulfed in light.

Catra couldn’t bring herself to move. Her mouth hung agape at the sight magic wisps floating around
them.

Suddenly Adora’s chest arced up as she took in a massive gasp of air. Her eyes flicked open,
although they didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular. Adora’s grip around the sword
tightened. She tried to lift it. Catra had to help her steady her arm.

“For… the honor… of GRAYSKULL!” Adora crescendoed.

The force knocked Catra off of Adora. She rose into the air and became engulfed in blinding light.

In the meantime Catra busied herself trying to clean herself up the best she could. She used the
jacket’s sleeves to wipe up her face the best as possible.

The light touched back down on the ground as She-Ra emerged, healthy as ever. Catra was already
on her feet.

“Well it’s about damn time,” Catra snarked.

She-Ra examined the sword in her hand. “You found it! Thank you Catra!” She suddenly spun
around, just remembering that there had been a giant yeti. “Oh,” She-Ra gave a long glance at the
pile of rocks. “Did, you stop the yeti?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Catra asked, eyebrow cocked.

“Hmm. I was trying to avoid the yeti’s attacks. It didn’t seem to be going great.”

“Yeah, well, the yeti did nick you, but I showed up and defeated it for you, gave you the sword, and
now you’re She-Ra.”

She-Ra nodded. “Easy peasy huh?”

Catra scoffed. “Yeah… Easy peasy.”

Something unseen caught She-Ra’s attention. A smile grew on her face. “Did you call Swift Wind
already?”

“You said I could! Figured it’d save time.”

She-Ra stared up at the ceiling, at the small hole of light. “Ready to get off this mountain?”

“You have NO idea.”

A blast shot out of the Sword of Protection and hit the ceiling where the hole of light was, making a
much bigger hole.

Without giving Catra a chance to protest, She-Ra scooped her up and cradled her. “You might want
to hold on,” She-Ra remarked with a big smile. Piecing what was about to happen together, Catra
threw her arms around She-Ra. She-Ra bent her knees before pushing off hard, launching them into
the air. They shot out of the hole and cleared the mountain completely.

For a few seconds, at the top of the leap’s arc, they seemed just float there. High above the clouds.
Above the world. Just them. Blue sky all around. Wisps of glittering gold hair fluttering about. Catra
slammed her eyes shut and tightened her arms around She-Ra’s neck. “I got you,” She-Ra
whispered.

Just as they began their descent they came to a sudden stop. Catra opened her eyes to see majestic
rainbow wings flapping in front of her.

“Hey there!” Swift Wind exclaimed.

“Swift Wind!” She-Ra called back. She gave his mane a playful rub. “You’re a lifesaver, buddy.
Literally!”

“All in a day’s work for the hero equine deserve!” Swift Wind beamed.

Catra laughed. “Wow, he really is your pegasus Adora.”

As soon as Catra said it she realized her mistake. Her and She-Ra traded nervous looks.

Swift Wind twisted his head back, eyes squinting. “Excuse me dog lady , what did you say?”

Around twenty minutes later Swift Wind touched down in a clearing. They were in an uninhabited
area that was mostly just grassy plains. It was about two hours north of Bright Moon and a little over
an hour east of the Fight Zone.

The girls climbed down off of Swift Wind, who decided to go get a grassy snack, and give them
some space. She-Ra immediately transformed. Adora looked down at her shirt. Her entire midsection
was exposed. She looked confused. “A nick you said?”

Catra waved it off. “That looks worse than it was.”

There was a silence between them for a moment. Neither were sure what to do next.

“I’m guessing I’m not a prisoner?” Catra asked.

“What? No, of course not,” Adora responded. “I’m just glad we both got out of there safely.” Catra
nodded in agreement. “Hey, Catra,” Adora began. It took her a minute to build up the nerve to
continue, but she seemed to have Catra’s attention.

“I was, I was hoping to apologize. For all the stuff that did, and didn’t, happen while we were
growing up.”

Catra shot a hand up. “What did I tell you before? There’s no point. It’s stuff. It happened. What’s it
going to change now?”

“Nothing,” Adora admitted. “I just wanted you to know. There’s a lot of stuff I wish I could go back
and change.”

“Does that sword magically turn into a time machine now?” Catra asked. Adora shook her head.
“Then see, no point.”

Adora sighed. “I know. It’s just, except for the yeti thing, I actually had a lot of fun up there. With
you. And me.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Catra turned to glance in the general direction of the Fright Zone. Her face was
getting more annoyed. “It could have been like that all the time.” Catra turned back to glare at Adora.
“But you made your choices. So now I’m going to go home. And you’re going to go back to that,
that glistening tower of decadence.”

There was a huge knot in the pit of Adora’s stomach. It had nothing to do with the already healed
yeti nicks. “You’re right,” Adora whispered.

A breeze blew through, rustling grass, rustling hair. Nothing else seemed to move.

“I’m sorry,” Adora said after a moment.

“But...” Catra added.

“But?”

“There’s always a ‘but’,” Catra sneered. “Ya know, ‘but the Horde is evil’, ‘but I can’t watch
innocent strangers get hurt’.”

Adora chuckled at Catra’s impression of her.

“No buts. No excuses. I’m just sorry. For everything,” Adora said, covered in an air of melancholy.
Swift Wind approached behind her. She gave him a pat on the neck.

The glare on Catra’s face faded. A more cold one replaced it. There was a faint sigh as Catra slid the
red jacket off her shoulders. She held it up at Adora.

Adora gave the jacket a long, hard look. “You keep it,” she decided. “It looks better on you,” Adora
added with a smile.

Catra pulled the jacket back in and regarded it. Then she held it back out. “What if I don’t want it?
What if I’m just going to throw it in the mud? Or better yet,” Catra paused. She flexed the claws on
her free hand out. “What if I just want to tear it to shreds?”

Instead of saying anything at first, Adora just closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She
hopped up on Swift Wind’s back. “If you could do me a favor then. Wait until I’m out of view
before you do?”

The question seemed to deflate Catra.

Swift Wind prepared to take off. Adora turned to give one last look at Catra. “Take care of yourself,”
she said with the faint remnants of a smile. Swift Wing galloped forward and launched into the air.
Etheria fell away from them quickly. Adora sat hunched over, staring off into nothing.

“Hey, are you okay?” Swift Wind asked.

It took a moment for Adora to respond. She tried to say yes, but instead all that came out was a sob.
Her hands shot to her face. “I’m sorry,” she got out between sobs.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright Adora,” Swift Wind assured her. “Let’s get home.”
 Catra watched as the unicorn carried Adora away. Soon they disappeared in the mid-afternoon sky.
Her attention refocused on the jacket in her hand as she held it out at arm’s length. All she wanted to
do was close her eyes, so she did.

On Mount Snows her nose had spent its entire time being stuffed up, or draining grossly. During that
entire time she could barely smell anything. Down here though, in normal weather, it was finally
functioning. She had noticed it almost immediately, and now that Adora was gone it was all the more
obvious. She pulled the jacket in, burying her face in it. With all her might she sniffed.

It smelled just like Adora.

Another deep sniff. Catra slipped the jacket back on. She yanked the zipper to the side as she zipped
it up. The belts buckled easily into place. Catra played with the collar in her fingers.

Dammit.

The walk back to the Fright Zone was going to be a long one, but at least it would be a warm one
too.

Chapter End Notes

Oof. This chapter was a beast to write, and not just because it was way long. There's a
lot going on here, and it was a bit of a rollercoaster to write. I was also really excited to
write this one though! It's the idea that started this whole story. I hope everyone enjoyed
it!

(Also, don't worry, I won't overuse the "Adora has a sex dream about Catra" bit. I just
wanted to give people reading this for smut SOMETHING before the real stuff starts
happening. Besides, Adora's such a mess right now. She probably won't be having fun
dreams anytime soon)

Next update is next Sunday night! If I don't OD on Easter candy before then.

Next Time:
"Great Catra, now you’re lying to yourself.”
 Additions and Contemplations
Chapter Notes

*Sorry this is a day late! Had some stuff come up at work last week and over the
weekend and ended up having to work a lot of extra hours*

Somehow my light, breezy chapter has turned into the second longest chapter so far!
Whoops!

So, I've been putting out "Jackets" for about a month now, and I really want to say,
THANK YOU! You know, fan fiction is often a personal labor of love, as much a way
for me to engage with the incredible show as it is meant for public consumption. I was
writing this just for myself. But YOU'RE reading it! It fills my heart so much to see you
all consuming and enjoying something I've made. All the people that have bookmarked
it, added it to their subscriptions, left kudos, everyone silently reading and driving that
'hit' number up over 2,400 in a month(!), those of you that have commented once or
twice, that lovely group of you that come in and comment on every chapter, THANK
YOU. You all make me so happy!

But we're not done, oh no, not by a long shot!

TW: PTSD episode; blatant disregard for traffic laws

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Along the far wall of Adora’s room was an alcove with a large, round window and a cushioned
bench built into it. Many of Adora’s recent mornings were spent curled up in this reading nook while
pouring over tomes of Etherian history, scouring for any scraps of magicat information she could
find.

Today, however, it seemed to be a nonstarter. Adora sat there, book in her lap, stack of paper for
notes sitting next to her. The book had been on the same page for more than ten minutes now as
Adora idly stared out the window. Her mind was bouncing to a million different things all at once,
none of which were in the book in front of her.

Swift Wind had gotten Adora back to Bright Moon from her mountain excursion with Catra late
yesterday afternoon. Glimmer and Bow were so relieved that they threw her a small, impromptu
party. The three of them, Swift Wind, Spinnerella and Netossa, who just happened to be around.
Glimmer also just so happened to invite Zayn.

It was a pleasant distraction, for a time. They meant well, Adora knew that. She loved her friends,
loved how they wanted to celebrate life at every opportunity. Last night Adora didn’t feel like
celebrating though. She stayed as long as she could, but eventually slipped out when the opportunity
struck.

Adora had hoped that a good night’s sleep would be the remedy she needed. Sitting there now,
propped up against the wall in her reading nook, early morning light streaming in through the
window, Adora couldn’t help but laugh at what an unrealistic idea that was. She woke up just as she
went to sleep: consumed with images of Catra.
Instead of any clarity, their day together had only made everything harder. Adora had been trying to
heed Light Hope’s advice, in her own way. She had been trying to put Catra out of her mind, to not
dwell on her. Adora even managed to mostly convince herself that she was studying magicats for
purely academic purposes. It hadn’t been an entirely successful endeavour, but she was trying.

Then they spent the night together.

In the year and half since arriving in Bright Moon Adora had become more accustomed to her new
life. She no longer needed Glimmer and Bow to have a sleepover every night. Not that they ever
complained about doing so. One thing that was probably going to never change though: Adora
would wake up a good two hours before Glimmer and Bow. Something she would probably never
shake from a childhood of military training. Not that she minded. It often allowed her to get in a light
morning workout and still have time to mentally prepare herself for the day.

There was no workout this morning. Adora decided to give herself the extra time to wake up and get
ready. It was a big day. Today was the day that the Princess Alliance would finally be allowed an
audience with the ruler of Skydancer Kingdom, Princess Embra. Glimmer had been working on this
for months now. Skydancer Kingdom was the last still-existing kingdom from the original Princess
Alliance that hadn’t yet joined. Rebuilding the Princess Alliance fully to its former glory was a point
of pride for Glimmer.

Ever the good friend though, Glimmer had told Adora that she could sit this one out if she needed to,
considering everything Adora just went through. A sweet gesture, but Adora was determined to go.
This meant the world to Glimmer and besides, any proper pitch to join the Princess Alliance would
need She-Ra to be on hand for.

A knock at her door made Adora stir from her spot. “Come in,” she called out as she collected her
book and notes into a neat pile.

The door creaked open as Zayn made her way in. “Hey there.”

“Oh, hi Zayn!” Adora responded, somewhat surprised to not see Glimmer. She recovered quickly
and patted the spot next to her on the nook bench. Zayn made her way over and sat a couple inches
from Adora.

“I didn’t see you leave last night,” Zayn said.

“Sorry. It was nice seeing you there. I was just tired.”

Zayn nodded with acknowledgement. She rubbed the back of her head. “Well, I just wanted to
check up on you before you head out for Skydancer today.”

“Thank you, that’s so sweet,” Adora smiled. “I’m fine. Nothing a good night’s sleep couldn’t cure.”
Zayn gave her a nervous smile back. Adora took a deep breath and turned toward Zayn. Adora
clasped Zayn’s right hand. “Zayn, I have to be honest with you. I’ve enjoyed spending time with you
and getting to know you,” Adora began. She had to take another deep breath before continuing.

“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Zayn said. Her brow furrowing upward.

Adora giggled softly. “See, you’re really smart too.

“I don’t know what I can give you right now,” Adora said.

Zayn nodded slowly. Any remnants of a smile on her face were gone.
They both allowed each other a moment to collect their thoughts.

“Is… Is there someone else?” Zayn eventually ventured.

Adora let out a big sigh. That question. “No… Well, yes?” Zayn tilted her head at the response.
Adora decided to try again. “There sort of was, for a time. I just, I’m really not sure I’m over her.
And I felt you deserved to know that.”

“Is she over you?”

“Hah!” Adora couldn’t help but guffaw. “Oh yeah. I’m not actually sure if she was ever that into
me.”

“Sounds like she was a fool,” Zayn responded. Zayn placed her free hand on Adora’s hands and
gently rubbed her thumb along Adora’s knuckles. “We’re having a good time together, right?”

“Of course,” Adora answered.

“So maybe we can just keep having a good time, and see where it goes?” Zayn offered. She had a
timid smile on her face as she gave Adora’s hands a squeeze.

Adora shot back a big, soft smile. “I’d like that.”

Mid-morning haze bathed Catra’s room in greenish yellow. Scorpia was sitting at the edge of Catra’s
bed, leaning against the metal footboard. She was occupying herself by reading reports on a portable
monitor. Catra was on the bed, blanket pulled over her midsection, snoring loudly.

After a couple minutes one of Catra’s legs wormed its way out of the covers and kicked Scorpia in
the side. “Oh! Hey there Kitty, watch out,” Scorpia chuckled.

“Mmmm,” Catra murmured from under the sheets. “Hmmm?” A couple more softer, exploratory,
kicks patted against Scorpia’s side. Catra sat up, eyes still mostly lidded, hair at maximum poofiness.
“Scorpia?” Catra let out a giant yawn, fully exposing her sharp canines. She scratched her face a
couple times before her eyes suddenly popped open. “Scorpia?! What the hell?!” Catra shouted,
almost panicked.

Scorpia threw a claw up to wave. “Morning Kitty! I was going to wake you, but you looked too
peaceful. You don’t seem to get much sleep nowadays so I didn’t want to interrupt the one time you
were.” Scorpia pointed toward the front of Catra’s bed. “Oh, is it because you got a new pillow?
Red, bold choice for pillow color, I like it!”

Catra twisted around. She grabbed the balled up mound of red fabric her head had been laying on
and hurriedly shoved it under the blanket. “It’s nothing! I was just tired is all. Been a long couple of
days, ya know?”

“That makes sense,” Scorpia nodded.

“So, um, why ya lurking in my room?” Catra asked. She sounded annoyed, but a smile suggested
otherwise.

“R-right,” Scorpia stuttered. She seemed pensive. Catra placed her hand on Scorpia’s shoulder,
causing her to snap back to reality with a jolt.

“Hey, are you okay?” Catra asked, her voice was low, calm.

Scorpia made a few taps on her monitor and handed it to Catra, who scooted to sit at the edge of the
bed next to Scorpia. “There’s been reports of unrest in the town of Nitch. I know it’s not something
that would normally warrant sending a Force Captain for, but I was hoping that maybe you could
assign me to it.”

There wasn’t an immediate response from Catra. She spent some time reading over the file then
began typing on the monitor. After a moment she handed the monitor back to Scorpia. Catra stood
up and stretched her joints.

The report was updated on Scorpia’s monitor. Under the report title and main information was a new
line that read “Assignment Lead: Scorpia, FC. Lead Assistants: Catra, FG; Lonnie, RS; Rogelio,
RS.” Seeing it made Scorpia jump to her feet.

“You’re going to come with me?” Scorpia asked. The enthusiasm in her voice was palpable.

Big stretch of her arms. “It seems important to you. So it’s important to me,” Catra answered.

“I didn’t even tell you why yet,” Scorpia chuckled.

“Eh, you can tell me on the way,” Catra responded while stretching out her legs. Without warning
Scorpia scooped Catra up into a giant bearhug. “Scorpia!”

“You don’t know how much this means to me, Kitty!” Scorpia professed.

“That’s… Great! Please stop… Crushing me!” Catra huffed.

After another minute Scorpia set Catra down. “Sorry Kitty! I may have gotten a little carried away.”

“No more than usual,” Catra mumbled under her breath. “Why don’t you go let Lonnie and Rogelio
know and I’ll meet you down in the skiff bay after I get cleaned up a bit.”

Scorpia gave a Catra a quick salute and rushed out of the room. Catra waited a moment. There was
always a chance of Scorpia returning, having forgotten to mention something important. When it
seemed unlikely that Scorpia would return, Catra turned attention to her bed, where she fished the
mound of red fabric from under her blankets. She gave it a quick sniff, which brought a smile to her
face. Then she neatly folded the red jacket and stuffed it between her mattress and box spring.

Skydancer Kingdom was known for the majestic mountain range that shot up high into the sky and
cut through the center of the kingdom. If one followed the mountains south it would eventually lead
to the frosted tips of the Kingdom of Snows. Follow them west and they’d lead one to Mount
Candila, a long dormant volcano that sat at the border of Skydancer Kingdom and the Kingdom of
Midnight Sands.

Riding Swift Wind allowed the Best Friend Squad to arrive at Skydancer Castle early. Glimmer felt
it would be make a good impression. The castle, nestled at the top of the mountains, was a pristine
white, with gold accents and an apparent love of spires and towers. Bright hallways were lined with
grey marble floors.

A Skydancer guard escorted the Best Friend Squad into the main meeting hall, a round room high
atop the center tower of the castle. There was a giant circular stone table in the center, with glowing
gold chandeliers lighting the room. Multiple glass doors were placed around the room that led out to
a balcony that curved around the entire tower.

“Gotta say, I’m pretty impressed,” Bow mused as they made their way to the table. There was a chair
at the end of the table that was bigger, more ornate. Glimmer took a seat right next to it. Adora then
Bow took the next chairs.

Glimmer shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Does sitting this close seem too desperate?” All three exchanged
looks, and in unison shifted down one chair.

“Heeeeey,” Mermista waved as she entered the room. She took a seat across from Adora. “Could
you, like, do me a favor Bow?”

“What’s up?”

“I definitely told Sea Hawk that this was for Princesses only. If you could not tell him you were here
that’d be greeeeeat.”

“Oh, uh, sure thing! Does that mean he’s not here?” Bow asked, slight frown on his face.

“UGH no he’s downstairs. Somewhere,” Mermista groaned. She was slumped in her chair, leaning it
back as one arm draped over the back of it. It took all of Glimmer’s control not to ask her to sit up.

“Greetings everyone,” Perfuma announced. She had seemingly appeared standing just behind Bow
before taking a seat next to him. “Hello Bow. Adora. Glimmer. Mermista.”

Everyone greeted Perfuma. It took Adora a few seconds to realize that she was staring at Perfuma,
and quickly averted her gaze. The flower princess had on her cheery demeanor, a trademark for her.
Adora had been searching for any sign. This was the first time she’d seen Perfuma since breaking the
news about Entrapta to her and everyone else. Adora felt particularly bad about it. Thus far though,
Perfuma had shown very little sign that it was truly affecting her.

Frosta, Spinnerella, and Netossa all showed up around the same time. Everyone chatted idly while
they waited. After about 10 minutes, a royal servant entered. Everyone instinctively stood up. Except
Adora, who was tugged to her feet by Glimmer.

“May I present to you, their royal highness, Princess Embra,” the servant stated. Everyone was
staring at the doorway that the servant was standing in front of. So focused was everyone that when
there was a loud bang it made them all jump. Adora jumped so hard she knocked her seat over. It
came from the large, ornate chair at the table. The bang erupted into a small explosion of fire and
smoke. The smoke dissipated to reveal Embra standing on the chair, hands planted confidently on
their hips, huge grin on their face.

“HAH! Wow, I really wasn’t sure you’d fall for that!” Embra said as they hopped down from the
chair. They were we wearing a mustard yellow sleeveless top with crimson trim and black accent
panels. Their pants were black with more crimson trim. One of Embra’s most prominent features was
their golden iris eyes, which appeared striking against their dark skin. Their jet black hair with gold
highlights was collected into a tight ponytail, save for a few strands that framed their face.

The entire room bowed to Embra, who seemed more uncomfortable by the gesture than anything
else.
“Princess Embra, it’s an honor,” Glimmer said, coming out of her bow. She extended to a hand out.

Embra took Glimmer’s hand and kissed it. “A pleasure. You must be Glimmer! I’ve loved getting to
know you through our letter correspondence. It’s so great to finally meet you!” Embra took a look
around the room. “All of you in fact!” Embra as positively beaming. “This is so exciting! Come, let’s
have a seat and get to work.”

The entire room took Embra’s advice. Once everyone was comfortable at the table, Glimmer, who
had taken a minute to recover from Embra’s gesture, clearly wanted to drive the meeting. “Thank
you for finally agreeing to see us, your majesty.”

“Please, just Embra!” they said, waving. “So before we get started, I feel like I kind of know
Glimmer, but I don’t know most of you. I know, our fault. So let’s change that right now.”

One by one, they went around the table introducing themselves. Embra seemed a little perplexed at
meeting Adora, the legendary She-Ra. Gray pants, plain white long sleeve shirt and a tight ponytail
wasn’t exactly living up to the “legendary” part. Mermista kept her intro short, which was very on-
brand for her. Perfuma, still as cheery as ever, also kept hers short, which seemed a little more odd.
Embra took their time getting to know each princess. They opened up much more to Adora once she
had informed them that this wasn’t her She-Ra form.

“I must ask,” Glimmer interjected after the introductory round table, “Embra, Skydancer been
reclusive and insistent on not getting involved in the war for years. What’s changed?”

Embra clasped their hands together and contemplated the question. “Well, the emergence of She-Ra
was compelling. Truth be told though, it all has to do that new Force General that took over the
Horde last year. What’s her name? Kit? Cata? Catter?”

“Catra!” Adora squeaked. It came out too fast. Too obvious. Adora was terrified that it had sounded
way too defensive. Unseen by most, both Bow and Glimmer gave Adora gentle pats on her knees as
she tried to slump in her chair.

“Yeah, her,” Embra said, seemingly indifferent or unaware of Adora’s Etheria shattering
embarrassment. “The only things that insulate us from the Horde are the Kingdom of Midnight Sands
to the west, and the vast wildlands south of us. Since she took over, the Horde have made a peace
treaty with Midnight Sands and they’ve pushed their borders miles into the wildlands. I fear for my
kingdom. I also fear that with their treaty with Midnight Sands, Mount Candila has become
vulnerable.”

“The volcano to the north?” Frosta asked. “What on Etheria would the Horde want with a volcano
that hasn’t gone off for centuries?”

“Power,” Embra responded. “Their previous Force General, Shadow Weaver, tried many times to
get to Mount Candila. We’ve always been able to stop their attempts. But now, they’re closer than
ever. I don’t know how much longer we can keep them at bay.”

Embra stood up. They held both hands up. After a couple seconds their hands were engulfed in
flames that danced around their forearms. “As possessors of the Flame Brand runestone, my family
has been charged with protecting Mount Candila and the power that is housed there. Namely, the
Radiant Core runestone.”

“The what core?” Perfuma asked.

“Ugh, it SOUNDS annoying,” Mermista added.

The words perked Adora up. She wasn’t sure why. It sounded familiar. She was sure that she had
never heard it before though.

“The Radiant Core,” Embra continued. “The most powerful runestone, most powerful anything, on
all of Etheria. Legends says,” Embra turned to stare directly at Adora, “that only She-Ra can wield it,
but only when they need it the most.”

Adora nervously laughed. “Need it the most? Well that’s vague.”

“Hey,” Embra shrugged, “I don’t make the legends, I just learn them.”

Glimmer got up to match Embra, who was still standing. “You need our help to ensure the Radiant
Core is protected.”

Embra frowned. “I’m sorry. I know it’s selfish. You’ve been fighting and sticking your necks out for
Etheria while we sat up here, cloistered from the world.”

“Hey,” it’s alright,” Glimmer said, placing her hand on Embra’s shoulder. “You were doing what
you thought was best for your people.”

“But now I’m ready to fight alongside you, if you’ll have me,” Embra said. They regarded
Glimmer’s hand on their shoulder and smiled.

Still sitting at the table, Bow leaned over slightly and whispered into Adora’s ear. “Heh, you see
what’s happening here?”

“Yeah,” Adora answered back. “Glimmer’s closing another deal. She’s a super-pro at it.”

Bow snorted. “Yeah, that’s definitely what’s happening.”

Adora gave a longer, more meaningful stare. “Ooooh,” she mouthed. They both giggled.

“What does everyone say?” Glimmer asked the table.

Frosta stood and walked up to Embra. She gave the fire princess a look over. There was a silent
pause for a moment while everyone regarded the idea. Finally Frosta shot a hand out. “Welcome to
the Alliance,” she said.

Mostly everyone gathered around Embra to shake their hand or pat them on the back. “Thanks
everyone!” Embra said. “But okay, okay, I need to see it!” Everyone looked confused until Embra
pointed directly at Adora, who had been lingering behind everyone else. “I need to see She-Ra!”

“Oh, um, sure,” Adora said. She picked the sword up from the floor next to where she had been
sitting and backed up to a more empty part of the room. Embra’s face couldn’t contain their
excitement. Even after all this time, Glimmer couldn’t hold in her excitement either.

Adora raised the sword, making sure not to poke any of the chandeliers that were hanging about.
“FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!” Adora became engulfed in brilliant light. Swirls of color
spun around her before the light vanished in a cloud of sparkles. She-Ra emerged, smiling, sword
slung over her shoulder.

Embra squealed. “Oh my goddesses! You look amazing!”

“Er, thank you,” She-Ra said, slightly blushing.

“So, are you like, really super strong? Can I see it?” Embra asked.
She-Ra looked around then focused on the table. She walked up to it and put her hand on Perfuma’s
shoulder. Perfuma had remained seated the entire time, electing to lay back from the festivities.
“Hey,” She-Ra said to her in a low, calm tone, “you’re probably going to want to move ‘Fuma.”
She-Ra looked back at Embra, “is the table valuable?”

“Not really, it is solid stone though. It weighs well over a thousand pou-OH MY GODDESSES!”
Embra lost track of their sentence at the sight of She-Ra one handing the table over their head.

“Pretty great huh!” Glimmer said while elbowing Embra in the arm.

“I’m so glad I’m on your side,” Embra whispered, staring intently at She-Ra. “I can’t wait until you
get your hands on that catgirl!” Embra called out.

The statement almost made She-Ra drop the table as she had a choking coughing fit. “What?!”

“You know, to teach her a lesson!”

“Yes! Right! That, that makes sense.” She-Ra carefully put the table down and transformed back to
Adora. “Yeah, teach her a lesson,” Adora mumbled.

Over the following hour the Princess Alliance meeting had devolved more into a social gathering,
with everyone wanting to get to know Embra, and also catch up with each other.

There was a part of Adora that loved spending time with the Alliance. It gave her a sense of family
comparable to her old squad in the Horde. Adora was quite fond of Embra, although not as fond of
them as Glimmer seemed to be. Adora was not feeling overly social today. Twenty four hours ago
she was standing in a field, trying to rebuild some sort of relationship with Catra, and failing
miserably.

While everyone had been busy chatting, Adora slipped out of the room and onto the balcony that
wrapped around the tower. Benches and potted plants were placed strategically. Adora made her
way around to face the northern part of the kingdom, that fed into the ocean. She leaned against the
stone barrier and watched as birds played off in the distance. It was so peaceful up here, she could
see why they were reluctant to be drug into the war.

“Oh, hello Adora,” Perfuma said as she came around the bend. Adora jumped up and greeted her
back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were out here. I can leave you alone,” Perfuma sighed. She
turned around to head back.

“No, wait,” Adora called out. She made her way to the closest bench and plopped down. “Let’s
hang out,” Adora said patting the bench next to her.

Perfuma contemplated it long and hard before finally coming over to sit next to Adora.

The two sat there in an awkward silence for a couple minutes. Adora tried to act casually, which
looked utterly awkward and stiff.

“Not feeling very social either?” Adora ventured.

“I wished to take in the view from up here. It’s very pretty,” Perfuma answered. She was staring off
into the distance, seemingly determined to not look at Adora.

“How are you doing?” Adora finally worked up the nerve to ask.

“I am well, thank you for asking,” Perfuma mumbled. She finally turned to Adora at the touch of
Adora’s hand on her shoulder. Adora’s smile was warm, inviting.

“For real though, how are you doing Perfuma?” Adora asked a second time. From Adora’s tone,
mannerisms, there was a deeper question being conveyed.

From the way Perfuma scrunched up her face, forced her eyes closed, let out a gentle sigh, she
understood what Adora was asking. She stared down at her knees for a moment. Adora let go of her
shoulder, but shuffled a little closer.

“I’m supposed to hate her now, correct?” Perfuma murmured.

“What?”

Perfuma drew in a deep breath. “It’s… nothing.”

“No, no, it’s not. You’re talking about Entrapta, right?”

“We’re the good side, the Horde is bad. I do not understand why she would want to stay,” Perfuma
said.

Adora took a couple seconds to collect her thoughts. “I’ve begun to realize that nothing is ever that
black and white.”

“But the Horde is evil,” Perfuma protested.

“Yes, ‘the Horde’ is evil, but most people aren’t. Most people are just that, people, constantly dealing
and adjusting to the situations life puts them in. I know the people that are around her. If you get on
her good side, Catra can be quite charming. And despite how fierce she looks, I don’t think there’s
an actual unfriendly bone in Scorpia’s body. She’s surrounded by people who care about her. AND
computers and robots and all kinds of machinery. Honestly I’m not surprised she’s thriving in the
Fright Zone.”

“There are people here who…” Perfuma started. She trailed off before laughing. “I am so stupid. I
barely got to know her. The last time I saw her she was so infuriatingly… HER.”

Adora chuckled. “You kind of want to strangle her and hug her at the same time, right?”

“Yes actually,” Perfuma laughed. As quickly as the laugh came it died as her face dipped back into a
big frown.

“Am I a traitor?”

“What?!” Adora gasped. “No, of course you aren’t!”

“She made her choice. I know I should just let her go. I shouldn’t think of her as anything but an
enemy now.” Perfuma looked up at Adora, tears were welling up under her eyes. “But I can’t. I can’t
stop thinking about her.”

“It’s okay.” Adora scooted closer and wrapped her arm around Perfuma’s shoulders. “As someone
who made a choice to leave everything they knew behind, I can promise you, she’s thought about
you too.”
The simple statement made Perfuma grab the hand on her shoulder and give it an appreciative
squeeze. “I forget sometimes that you grew up in the Horde.”

“It gives me a unique perspective. I understand your conflict Perfuma, but I promise you, that doesn’t
make you a traitor. Anymore than I am. You’re not alone in this.”

Perfuma turned to Adora, a look of confusion on her face. Adora gulped. “Can I tell you a secret?”
Perfuma nodded. “So, I didn’t just know Catra when I was still in the Horde. I met her when I was
like 6 years old. And from then on until the day I defected we were inseparable.”

“She was your best friend?”

“She was. She was my whole world,” Adora paused as it became visible that lots of blood was
rushing to her face. “More than that though. From even before I truly understood what love was, I
understood that I felt that way about her.”

There was a small gasp from Perfuma as she patted Adora’s knee. “You were in love with her?!”

“That’s just it, it’s not that I was in love with her, I am in love with her.” Adora sat up straight and
took a deep breath. “Wow, that’s, I think that’s actually the first time I’ve ever told that to another
living person.”

“Think?”

“Yeah, well, when you grow up with an evil sorceress that likes to wipe minds you tend to question
parts of your memories.”

Adore pushed herself off the bench and went to lean over the barrier again. She stared off into the
distance. “We’re not traitors ‘Fuma.”

Perfuma made her way over to Adora. She looked a little melancholy. “You love her, and it still
wasn’t enough for her to follow you?”

“Hah,” Adora chuckled. “I never told Catra how I really felt about her. I was just so happy that she
was my friend. You’re the only person that knows.” Adora thought about it for a moment and
smiled. “Well, actually… It’s kind of poetic really. You and Entrapta are the only people that know.”

Hearing Entrapta’s name made Perfuma blush. “How does she know?”

“When I ran into her at the Crystal Castle. It’s a long story.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Perfuma wrapped her arms around Adora, drawing her
into a tight hug. “You have no idea what it means to me, knowing that there’s someone I can confide
in,” Perfuma whispered.

The hug lasted for a good minute before separating. “I wish I could be more helpful, but I can be a
sympathetic ear.”

“That’s helpful enough,” Perfuma chuckled.

“Maybe,” Adora responded. “Not like I have much good advice to give.”

“I’m sure that is not true. How have you been dealing with it? That would probably be very helpful
to know.”

“That’s just it, I’m barely dealing with it,” Adora admitted. “Light Hope told me that I need to let go.
And I’ve been trying my hardest just to put her out of my mind completely, but it’s been so hard.”

Perfuma stroked her chin. “Light Hope, told you to just forget about her?” Perfuma asked. Adora
nodded. “Have you thought about, maybe, doing the complete opposite?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, far be it from me to question a custodian of ancient knowledge and wisdom, but that does not
seem like the healthiest way to deal with one’s feelings. True, you can’t control how Catra feels
about you, but that doesn’t mean you can just not feel the way you feel. You’ve spent all this energy
on trying to shove your feelings into a box, as if that’s going to solve anything.”

“I can’t even keep them in that box,” Adora admitted.

“Of course not.” Perfuma held Adora by her arms. “Adora, the only way you’re going to be able to
process your feelings, is to let yourself feel them,” Perfuma said with a soft smile. She flicked her
wrist. A pink flower bloomed in Adora’s hair. “If you love her-”

“-then I need to let myself actually be in love with her.”

“Yes, precisely,” Perfuma giggled.

Adora shrugged, but Perfuma maintained her grip. “What does that even look like?” Adora
wondered.

“How do you want it to look?”

It took Adora a moment of hard thinking, but soon she settled on, “I need her to know that she’s
important to me. Show her that I understand how great she is. I failed her, growing up. I made her
feel inferior, which was never my intention.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Perfuma said.

“What about you?”

“I… I just wish to see her again,” Perfuma answered. “Maybe it was all in my head and there’s
nothing there. I need to know if what I’m holding onto is real, or just something I created after the
fact.”

“That seems pretty doable,” Adora assured her.

“You really think so?”

“Definitely.”

“There you two are!” Glimmer interrupted. Adora and Perfuma turned to see Glimmer standing a
few yards away. “I’ve been looking all over for you! Embra wants to give us a tour of their
kingdom.” Glimmer made her way over to them and grabbed their arms. “Let’s go. Beats just
moping around here all day, that’s for sure!”

Nitch was about 90 minutes to the southwest of the Fright Zone. It was a robust town of over a
thousand people. There were extensive farmlands surrounding the town, but it was also known for its
it’s blacksmithing and carpentry. Many of the melee weapons that were in Horde rotation had come
from Nitch.

The skiff slid to a stop just at the edge of town. Even at the outskirts of Nitch a loud commotion
could be heard wafting through the streets.

Catra, who was driving the skiff, went through the landing procedures then turned around
confidently. Sitting behind her on the long bench against the back wall was Scorpia, with Rogelio
and Lonnie on either side of her. All three were buckled in. Lonnie and Rogelio were both tightly
hugging Scorpia. There were grimaces on everyone’s face but Catra’s.

“What?” Catra asked, noticing the pained looks.

Scorpia held up her mini-monitor then looked at Catra. “Kitty, Nitch is supposed to be a 90 minute
trek.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s been 74 minutes!” Scorpia cried.

“What can I say, I’m efficient!” Catra scoffed. “If skiffs weren’t meant to go that fast they wouldn’t
make them able to!”

“Yo that’s not how driving works!” Lonnie yelled as she unbuckled herself.

The four of them climbed down and huddled.

“Okay,” Scorpia said. “As you may know, Nitch has been the Horde’s primary supplier of bladed
weapons for, well yeesh, decades. But recently order requests have dropped sharply.”

Both Catra and Lonnie snickered. It took Scorpia, who hadn’t intended the pun, a minute to figure
out what they were laughing at before joining in herself.

“That makes sense,” Catra stated as she pulled herself together. “The recent acquisition of the town
of Rosewood probably cut into it,” Catra snickered at her own joke. “But seriously, Rosewood was a
good get for us. They make good swords, and now they make good swords for US and not the
Rebellion.”

Scorpia nodded in agreement. “Yep. But that leaves a town whose economy has always depended
on producing weapons suddenly tossed into turmoil. There’s been daily protests outside the town’s
Horde outpost by workers who suddenly don’t have any work. And what’s more, the town’s mayor,
a man named Mattis, is fully supporting the protesters and refusing to let the local law enforcement
step in, leaving the outpost guards on their own.”

Lonnie pulled her stun baton out and powered it on. “Which is why we’re here! To go bash some
skulls and break up that protest line.”

“No no!” Scorpia hurriedly assured them. Lonnie and Rogelio seemed very confused. Catra raised
an eyebrow but simply stood there with her arms folded. With a perplexed, but attentive audience,
Scorpia pressed on. “I know it’s not our usual tactic, but instead of just outright quelling the protests,
we’re going to go talk to the Mayor first. See if we can come to some sort of peaceful resolution.”

“What?!” Lonnie looked exasperated. “Scorp, what the hell kind of PRINCESS shit is that?”
“Um, I am a princess you know.”

“Yeah, but you’re usually like, a ‘cool’ princess, not a ‘princess’ princess,” Lonnie balked.

“Well, I’m in charge of this mission, and I’m saying that we’re going to try to negotiate a peaceful
resolution.”

Lonnie spun around to stare Catra. “Boss, are we seriously gonna do this?”

Catra glanced at Scorpia, then back at Lonnie and shrugged. “What? This is Scorpia’s mission, we
do what she says.”

Nitch Town Hall was a proper sounding name for the building, but not a very accurate one. Nitch
Town Shack would have been much more apt. A completely wooden structure with painted white
walls that were chipped in some places and stained with years of mold in other places. The inside
wasn’t that any more impressive. Grimy linoleum tile floor and brown lacquered wooden walls in
every room but the mayor’s office; a dingy little box with hardwood floors.

Scorpia’s squad was waiting for said mayor. Lonnie was agitatedly pacing along a tight path.
Rogelio was plopped down in a sticky cushioned chair that was butted up against the wall. Every
once in a while he’d say something to Lonnie to get her to calm down, which only earned him more
glares. Catra was leaning against the wall with her arms folded. Her face was cool, expressionless,
and intently staring at Scorpia, who was standing just in front of the mayor’s desk. Scorpia’s arms
were folded over her chest and she kept tapping her own chin with a claw. Periodically she’d
mumbled something so low that not even Catra could hear.

“Sorry to keep you all wai…” Mayor Mattis said, standing in the doorway. Mattis was a tall, slender
man with a build that suggested he was no stranger to manual labor. He had short, scruffy black hair
and lightly tanned skin to go with a face that was pleasant to look at. His sentence trailed off at the
sight of the squad. “...Scorpie?”

The pet name made Catra’s ears perk up. Scorpia cleared her throat and straightened up her posture.
“Hey Mattis.”

Mattis looked over Scorpia for a second before his shoulders drooped. “You’re the Horde
representative aren’t you,” Mattis put together. Scorpia nodded. Mattis looked around the room and
jumped slightly at the sight of Catra. “And the Force General? Oh boy, this is going to be bad, isn’t
it?”

“With any luck no, actually,” Scorpia said. “I was hoping we could find a solution that got everyone
back to work. Without violence.” Scorpia took a seat in front of the desk. Mattis closed the door
behind him and made his way to his desk.

“Does the Force General of the Horde always come to negotiate small town business?” Mattis
tittered.

Catra pushed herself off the wall. She gave both Scorpia and Mattis long, hard stares before making
her way over and draping herself across the chair next to Scorpia. “Well, ya know, we’re trying
something new, and I’m just here to show that you can trust Scorpia here,” Catra said. Scorpia shot
her an appreciative glance.
“Of course I trust Scorpia,” Mattis smiled.

“What do you say we get to work then!” Scorpia beamed.

The lengthy tour of Skydancer Kingdom lasted over four hours. From the majestic halls of
Skydancer Castle to the Skydepths, a massive and impressive network of mines that yielded all the
ore Skydancer could ever need and then some, Embra had been eager to show their new friends all
the sights their kingdom had to offer.

Last stop on the tour was the Market Square, a massive market and trading area in the lower ward of
Skydancer Castle. Embra left their companions to explore the market, everyone having agreed to
meet back at the castle proper for a dinner feast. Everyone began scattering. Sea Hawk, having
joined the group for the tour, convinced Bow to get in a quick visit to the northern shore before the
feast. Perfuma, noticeably peppier, convinced Mermista and Frosta to go with her to the gardens at
the edge of the market.

Adora, Glimmer, Netossa and Spinnerella took in the market together. They enjoyed visiting a
number of jewelry and craft stalls where Netossa and Spinnerella purchased matching earrings. After
some time wandering around Adora’s eye caught a shop off in a corner. She made her way over to it
and went in.

“Why are we here?” Glimmer asked. It startled Adora, who had assumed no one else would be
interested in the shop. To her surprise, Glimmer, Netossa, and Spinnerella were all there in the shop
with her.

“This place is cute,” Spinnerella remarked as she glanced over a table stacked with pre-bound blank
books. She picked up one of the blank books and held it up to Netossa and giggled.

Netossa ran a finger along the length of Spinnerella’s chin. “We could start a love journal,” Netossa
asserted.

“Darling, there’s over 50 pages in this, I don’t know how many times I can write your name before I
run out of writing styles,” Spinnerella fired back.

Adora and Glimmer left the couple to quip over love journals.

“You know, if you want a journal we have royal makers that can just make you one,” Glimmer
argued.

“Thanks Glim, but I think I’d rather just pick one out here than commission something from the royal
staff. This feels more, intimate,” Adora mused.

Glimmer gave her a sly grin, “Looking for something more intimate huh? Are you starting a diary? Is
it all going to be about Zayn?” Glimmer was enthusiastically prodding Adora with her shoulder.

“What? Oh, no!” Adora responded, blushing profusely. “It’s going to be more of a journal for…
Making notes about Etherian history! Yes. That.”

There was a big sigh from Glimmer. “History again?!”

“There’s so much I didn’t learn growing up. So much about Etheria that I still don’t know. How can
I be the hero of Etheria if I don’t really understand it?”

“I guess that makes sense,” Glimmer begrudgingly conceded. She began perusing through the tables
of blank journals, decorative writing paper, pens, quills, and many other items.

Finally alone, Adora began looking through the journals herself. Narrowing the choices down to
three, she continued looking around while trying to decide.

“Oh wow!” Adora gasped as she got to a table near the back. The item that caught her eye was a
sketchbook set that included a high quality sketchbook as well as a full assortment of colored pencils
and graphite pencils. All the pencils were collected neatly in a pouch that clipped to sketchbook.
Adora picked it up and gave it a thorough examination. “This is great,” Adora mused to herself
before tucking the bundle under her arm with the journals.

Throughout the day Catra had felt compelled to allow Scorpia a long leash. Scorpia deciding they
should stay for this was the first time Catra had a tinge of regret about it. It was just after dusk. This
far away from the Fright Zone meant that the sky was actually mostly dark, save for the light glow
from the town center of Nitch.

What Scorpia had decided they should stay for was an impromptu bonfire and celebration in the
town square. Afternoon negotiations had led to late afternoon success, which paved the way to this
dusk celebration of said success. The protests had ended, and the workers of Nitch would be
returning to work tomorrow, with new commitments and new revenue streams besides just weapon
crafting.

As a symbolic gesture, a bonfire was built so that some of the workers used to burn their protests
signs. People with musical instruments showed up, seemingly summoned by a fireside gathering, and
soon food and drinks were involved. Scorpia was spending time with Mattis, talking to him and
mingling with the townsfolk. Even Lonnie and Rogelio, although disappointed initially by not
getting a chance to use their stun batons at all, seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially when
food started arriving.

For the first time since, she lost track of since when, Catra hadn’t been the center of Scorpia’s
universe, and Catra didn’t know how to feel about it. Catra didn’t know how to feel about a lot of
what the day, and now night, had brought.

Catra couldn’t help but watch the people dancing in the street around a makeshift fire to music being
played by unplanned jam bands and think of just how surreal, how “princessy” it all seemed. Catra
was hanging back leaning against a cart across the square from the celebration, lazily sipping at some
sort of fizzy drink that she had been handed by a stranger.

“Kitty!” Scorpia called out as she suddenly appeared in the side of Catra’s vision. Before Catra could
react she was in a hug, and fighting desperately to keep from spilling her drink. Scorpia eventually let
Catra out of the hug. They both leaned against the cart. “Why aren’t you celebrating?”

At first Catra simply responded with a low hum. She was staring intently at the celebration. “I…
don’t know how,” Catra confessed. “I’ve never seen anything like this in the Fright Zone. I didn’t
know this could exist in the Horde.”
“Haha, what, celebrations?”

“Joy,” Catra whispered.

“Joy can exist anywhere, Kitty. You just have to know where to look for it,” Scorpia assured her.
“You bring me joy every day.”

Scorpia hadn’t been fishing for it, but Catra knew a statement like that deserved a kind gesture in
return. “You, dull my anger more than anyone else by far.”

It was enough. Scorpia gave her a big smile. “Thank you Kitty. Coming from you that means the
world to me.” Scorpia paused as she looked back at the celebration. “Even if I don’t believe that it’s
true.”

Catra sneered at her, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Haha, nothing, Kitty.”

The conversation died for a moment as they enjoyed the sound of music that had wafted over to
them, followed by the scent of fire and food.

For a bit Scorpia seemed lost in thought. Ones that were bringing a smile to her face. “Thank you,
Kitty,” Scorpia said after another moment.

“For what?”

“For today. For letting me do this my way. For supporting me, even when I know you were
skeptical, when I was going completely against the grain of what we usually do.”

“You’ve earned the chance. I trust you Scorp.”

“Well, I owe you one.”

Catra turned to face Scorpia, a mischievous grin on her face. “Well you can pay that back right
now.”

“Oh?”

“Mattis didn’t just look at you and guess your name, a nickname no less. Spill.”

Scorpia let out a hearty chuckle. “I was wondering when that would come up.” Scorpia cleared her
throat. “When I was young, Mattis’ mother was my mother’s Lady-In-Waiting. That mansion was so
big! And I’m an only child, you know? He was my best friend, we did everything together!”

There was a pregnant pause while Scorpia’s smile twisted into a sad smirk.

“I don’t know what happened, but something did. My parents banished his family from the Fright
Zone. My best friend, gone just like that.”

There wasn’t anything spoken, but there was a quiet agreement. They both understood that feeling
quite well. Catra shuffled closer. She began lazily stroking Scorpia’s claw.

Scorpia cleared her throat. “Never did find out what happened to them. Until I saw Mattis’ name on
the report. Wasn’t even sure if it was my Matty, but you don’t find too many Mattises around these
parts.So I took a chance.”
Catra playfully slapped Scorpia on the arm. “Looks like your gamble paid off!” Catra chortled. “The
two of you seem to be getting along pretty good now. I’m glad.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s never too late to reconnect with someone,” Scorpia said, with emphasis.

The statement made Catra cough. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Okay, I’m really starting to think
you’re trying to get at something Scorp.”

“I’m glad you finally got a good night’s sleep, Kitty. New pillows can make a world of difference.”
Scorpia contemplated for a few seconds. A devious smile worked its way onto Scorpia’s face.
“Never seen pillow with such prominent shoulder pads though.”

That elicited another slap on the arm from Catra. Still playful, but a lot more forceful too. “You’re on
thin ice there, ‘Scorpie’,” she smirked.

A loud crash cut their conversation. They both turned to see an elderly woman staring intensely at
them. At Catra specifically. At the woman’s feet was a shattered drinking glass.

“Ma’am, are you alright?” Scorpia asked, rushing to the old woman. Catra leisurely followed. When
Scorpia got to her the old woman tried brushing her aside and craned her neck around to keep eye
contact with Catra. The woman’s eyes were huge, her mouth fallen completely open.

It made Catra uneasy.

As soon as Catra reached her the old woman snatched her by the wrist. “Um, can I help you?!” Catra
hissed.

“Mira?! Mira’Dea?!” The old woman croaked. “But… But how?! Where have you been?!” She
tightened her grip on Catra’s wrist even as Catra was trying to pull away. The woman had a decent
grip. Catra was also worried about hurting her.

“I think you have me confused, lady!” Catra exclaimed, hand squirming.

The old woman was so excited she was starting to hyperventilate. “Mira, how did you make it? All
the magicats, they were…” she trailed off.

Catra stopped fighting. “What did you call me?”

The woman was struggling to catch her breath. She collapsed, but Catra caught her in her arms.
“Wait, lady, what did you say?!” Catra shot Scorpia a desperate look. “What’s a magicat?!”

Scorpia shrugged in confusion. The scorpion woman knelt down and scooped up the elderly woman
into her arms.

“Is everything alright?” Mattis asked, approaching the trio. “Gram?!” he yelped at the sight of the
woman.

They brought Mattis’ Gram over to a nearby bench. Scorpia rushed away to get a damp cloth and a
new cup of liquid. Mattis remained, kneeling by his Gram’s head. Catra stood just behind him.

After a moment she began stirring. Another moment after that Scorpia returned. Mattis helped his
Gram to sit up and gently patted her forehead with the damp cloth.

“Mattis, dear? What’s, what’s happening?” the old woman muttered.

“It’s okay Gram, you had one of your episodes,” Mattis assured her. Gram looked up as Catra
handed her a cup of water.

Catra knelt in front of Gram. “Do you remember me?” The old woman shook her head and took a
tentative sip. “Not at all? What about ‘magicats’?” The woman shook her head again. Catra stood up
and turned to Scorpia.

“You heard it too right?” Catra asked.

“Heard it, Kitty. No idea what it means.”

Mattis gave his Gram a soft pat on the shoulder before standing up. “I guess I need to thank you
again,” Mattis chuckled as he turned to face Scorpia and Catra.

“It’s no problem!” Scorpia beamed.

“She called me a magicat,” Catra stated. “Any idea what she was talking about?”

“No, sorry,” Mattis responded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Gram isn’t always ‘here’ so to speak.
She’ll get these flashbacks, mostly back to her war days.”

“Wow, your Gram was a Horde soldier?! I never knew!” Scorpia said.

Mattis sucked in air. “Actually…” he began.

“Oh. I mean, that was a long time ago anyway,” Scorpia responded. She pulled Catra into a side
hug. “We actually have friends in the Rebellion. War’s weird like that.”

Catra gave Scorpia a perplexed look. “We do?”

Scorpia responded with an awkward toothy smile.

“Oh,” Catra snickered. “Right. He’s a charming boy. Kind of annoyingly nice.”

Moonlight streamed into the large round window of Adora’s bedroom alcove. That and a single
lantern suspended above her provided all the light she needed. She was propped up in the reading
nook against the wall, stack of books directly on the floor next to her, loose paper scattered about on
the cushioned bench. A history book sat propped open on the windowsill. Her legs were curled up
so that she could rest a clipboard against them as she rapidly scribbled notes.

It was late, judging by the moon placement, after midnight. Adora had been working since they got
back from Skydancer over five hours ago. Her conversation with Perfuma had given her a renewed
sense of purpose, a new clarity. Only exhaustion from a busy few days could cloud that new clarity.
Adora set the clipboard and pencil down and rubbed her bleary eyes.

“Hey, Adora.”

Adora opened her eyes. Catra was sitting between her legs, wearing nothing but a sheer purple
babydoll nightgown. Adora smiled. “Hi.”

Catra looked down at herself and sighed. “Really Adora? What the hell am I wearing?”
“My dream, my rules, Kitten,” Adora grinned.

“Guess so,” Catra said with a shrug. She curled up in Adora’s lap, resting her head against Adora’s
chest. Adora wrapped her arms and legs around the catgirl. “Is it okay if we just cuddle?” Catra
asked.

“That would be great,” Adora murmured. Her hand shot immediately to Catra’s ear, hitting just the
right spot to start up the purrs. “I know what I need to do,” Adora whispered.

“What’s that?” Catra asked, her tail slinking itself around Adora’s thigh.

“I need to convince you that I appreciate you. I need to make you understand that I always
appreciated you, and that I never thought you were second best.”

Catra shuffled around in Adora’s arms, tightening her grip around Adora’s waist. “Why does it
matter?”

“Because, I need you to get over being obsessed with hating me. With any luck I can get you to a
nice healthy apathy towards me.”

“And that’s going to accomplish what exactly?”

Adora took in a deep breath through her nose. “Everything it needs to. Catra…” Adora paused for a
moment as she gently combed her fingers through Catra’s hair.

“... I did just about everything wrong. But someday. Someday someone’s going to come along. Who
knows, maybe they already have, not like that’s something you’d bother telling me at this point. But
someday someone’s going to come along and do everything right. And they’re going to make you
feel, well, just how you make me feel.

“And I don’t know if I could live with myself if you missed out on them because you were too
obsessed with hating me.” Adora said, closing her eyes.

Catra sat up. She leaned in and kissed Adora on the forehead. “You do realize what that hatred is
though, right?”

Adora opened her eyes again. She was alone, and awake. She felt the spot where “Catra” had just
been. Cold.

A few errant tears rolled down her cheeks as a faint smile grew. Adora knew. “Your hate is the only
thing keeping you in my life,” Adora whispered. “When you get over me, I’ll probably lose you
forever.”

The book that had been propped open was called “Cultures of Etheria”. Adora picked it up and
stared at it.

She took a moment.

Then Adora picked up the clipboard and returned to her vigorous note taking. “I’m going to have to
make every chance I have count then.”
 It was one of the least glamorous aspects, but one thing the Horde did well was bureaucracy. Which
meant that inevitably there was a dusty room somewhere in Fright Spire full of filing cabinets that
were filled with paper copies of old records.

As a point of due diligence, Force General Catra knew where those rooms were. Sequestered down
on the third sub-basement level, away from anywhere anybody wanted to go. On the old wooden
door was a plastic plaque that simply read “Records”. The room itself was basked in sickly halogen
light, with all the dust in the air giving everything a fuzzy look. Chest-high filing cabinets were
neatly lined up in rows, creating long aisles. Faded paper taped to each one explained each drawer’s
contents.

All the sub-basements had a chill about them, especially in the middle of the night, which 1 am
definitely counted as. Catra knew it would be cool, which was 100% the only reason she had
decided to wear her new red jacket.

Catra spent an hour pulling folder after folder and reading their contents. So far, she had only found
one instance of the word “magicat,” on a master list of races of Etheria. The list seemed old, very
likely older than Catra herself. There were a number of “half leads” and “maybe look intos” that
Catra was jotting down onto a notepad.

Another drawer was shoved closed. Catra let out a long yawn. She gently scratched at the tip of her
jacket collar.

“Heh, you wouldn’t believe it, me, doing research. And voluntarily no less!” Catra chuckled.

Upon examination, It felt like the rows of cabinets stretched on forever. “You’d be so much better at
tackling this mess. There’d probably be some sort of plan. I can see you now, mapping this stupid
place out. ‘Catra, you take this quadrant, I’ll take this other one’,” Catra couldn’t help but giggle.

“... Just for the record though, I do not wish you were here.”

Catra sighed and slumped onto the filing cabinet. “Great Catra, now you’re lying to yourself.”

Chapter End Notes

Writing all the princesses is hard! I think I did okay with Mermista (channeling annoyed
angst is super easy). I'll continue working on getting everyone else's voices down. And
hey, new princess! If you were wondering, yes, Embra continually gets referred to as
"they" and "their" because they are a gender nonbinary character.

Okay, so early in the chapter there's a part where you read a note Catra makes to the
incident report where she assigns Scorpia and the squad to the job. After all the names
there's what may seem like random letters. Those are rank signifiers. I should have
found a way to explain them in the text, but I couldn't naturally fit it in, so here goes:
FC means Force Captain, FG - Force General, RS (what Rogelio and Lonnie are listed
as) is for Rank Soldier. Here's how the Horde ranks work in the world of "Jackets":
Commander Supreme - Hordak
Force General - Catra
Force Captain - Scorpia, Octavia, etc
Senior Soldier
Rank Soldier - Lonnie, Rogelio, etc
Field Soldier - Kyle, etc
Cadet Soldier

Okay, now for the bad news. No update next week. Why? BECAUSE SEASON 2
COMES OUT THIS WEEKEND!!! I'm excited! I'm sure you're excited! I figure it'll
probably be for the best to just take the week of, let us all enjoy season 2, and then I'll
pick back up the following Sunday. So next update is May 5th!

Next Time:
"Who knew dark magic could smell so bad!”
 Return to Dryl
Chapter Notes

And we're back! Hope everyone had a great weekend off last weekend! Hope everyone
enjoyed whatever combination of She-Ra, Avengers: Endgame, and Game of Thrones
that made them the happiest. For me it was binging all of season 2 first thing Friday then
seeing Endgame twice over the weekend.

So, speaking of season 2. I LOVED it! It was SOOOO good! BUT sadly, almost
entirely incompatible with "Jackets"! So, I will fold some minor concepts from season 2
that I can/want to. As it stands though, "Jackets" will continue to be post-season 1 only
story.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Something that Adora could never figure out was why Light Hope was so tall. She was one of the
few creatures that Adora still had to look up at even while in She-Ra form. Did she want to be
imposing? Was she trying to go for weird and scary? Did Light Hope genuinely think that was what
someone ‘nurturing’ and ‘approachable’ was supposed to look like? The handful of times Adora had
broached the subject had resulted in Light Hope trying out new forms that were even more haunting.

At the moment Light Hope was, “connecting with the sword” as she put it, which seemed to amount
to Light Hope being able to run a diagnostic on the sword’s recent use. She-Ra found that her
thoughts often drifted during these times, while her sword hovered in front of Light Hope, whose
eyes were glowing and pupilless.

When She-Ra’s mind drifted, it always tended to head one way, as if it was a river confined by the
land around it, flowing the only way it was allowed. In the past She-Ra had tried her best to not let
herself dwell on Catra too much while in the Crystal Castle and in proximity of Light Hope.
Considering her last visit though, when Light Hope laid out Adora’s feelings for Catra in no
uncertain terms, she now let herself just drift wherever she wanted to.

“Do you think she’s going to mind that you fell asleep?” Catra asked.

She-Ra was sitting, propped up against one of the pillars. Catra was sprawled out on her lap,
thoroughly enjoying the tummy rubs she was receiving.

“It’s been an hour, I don’t know what else she was expecting,” She-Ra said with a laugh.

“This place really needs a radio or something,” Catra remarked through purrs.

“Ahem,” Light Hope interjected. She-Ra and Catra looked up. Light Hope was towering over the
over the both of them, digital brow slightly furrowed. “It is time for you to exit, Force General. I
need to speak with She-Ra.”

She-Ra’s eyes blinked open. With the help of the pillar she climbed to her feet. “That was creepy
Light Hope, even for you. Remember that talk we had about staying out of my head unless I give
you permission?”
Light Hope regarded She-Ra a moment before speaking. “Yet the Force General was welcome. I
thought you said that you were dealing with that.”

“I’ve decided to try something different,” She-Ra answered. “Can we please not get into that fight
again? Please?”

“Very well,” Light Hope answered.

They walked over to where the sword was still hanging in mid-air. “It appears you did indeed access
your healing magic,” Light Hope stated.

“Yes, but how? I don’t even remember it. I’m not even sure how conscious I was! I’ve tried doing it
again, but I haven’t had any success.”

“Questions I am afraid I cannot answer. I do not know how you were able to use your magic. In
such an incapacitated state no less.” Light Hope pressed her hand against the sword. “Your inability
to reliable call upon your healing abilities is because you have not yet become synchronized with the
power of She-Ra.”

“I’m working on it! Every day I feel more in sync with my powers.”

“Much like you are working on your feelings for the Force General.”

She-Ra gritted her teeth. “I come here because you told me that you could help me become a better
hero for Etheria, not to be mocked!”

Light Hope nodded. “We will not dwell on it any longer. Instead of healing, let us focus on
something else.” Light Hope gave the sword what seemed like a gentle push. It floated all the way
across the room.

“She-Ra and the Sword of Protection share a bond,” Light Hope said. “If you call to the sword, it
will find its way back to you.”

“You mean I can make the sword come to me?!”

“Precisely. Go ahead, give it a try. Simply focus on wanting the sword in your hand.”

She-Ra regarded her hand then stared at the sword.

Right, just want the sword in my hand. Oh, is that all?

Nothing seemed to be happening. She-Ra held her hand out, which didn’t seem to help either. She
slammed her eyes shut, and tried concentrating on thinking about the sword in her hand.

“Hey, Adora.”

“Catra? What?! I’m not asleep! I can’t be! I-AAAH!” She-Ra shrieked as she opened her eyes. In
front of her was Catra, appearing normal until she briefly flickered.

“LIGHT HOPE!” She-Ra yelled at the sight of the hologram version of Catra. “What is this?!”

“It seems that I also could use a new approach in regards to how you relate to the Force General. I
thought her presence might be able to help you concentrate.”

“Hear that Adora, Light Bright here things you need my help,” Catra smirked.
“I just need to focus on this,” She-Ra huffed. She turned back to the sword. Small grunting noises
came out of She-Ra as she strained to focus on the sword.

Sharp nails pressed themselves against the nape of She-Ra’s neck. The touch made She-Ra flutter.
“What are you doing?” She-Ra breathed.

The nails were drug down softly across She-Ra’s skin until they bumped into her collar. “Helping
you relax, duh.”

Catra’s nails gently kneaded against She-Ra’s neck. “Yeah, but that’s not helping me focus,” She-Ra
said.

“That’s the point. You’re thinking too hard about it,” Catra said. “Just let it happen.”

The more Catra kneaded She-Ra’s neck, the more thoughts in her head began to slip away. She
shook her arm to loosen it, then held it back up. There was a “fwoom” sound as the sword zipped
across the room, slamming it’s handle firmly into She-Ra grip.

“I did it!” She-Ra cheered. In one motion she turned and hoisted Catra into the air with a big hug.
Catra giggled at the embrace, then simply wasn’t there anymore. She-Ra stumbled forward as she
found herself suddenly squeezing nothing.

Light Hope appeared behind her. “Well done, She-Ra.”

She-Ra snorted, all the while refusing to look at Light Hope. “Don’t do that again,” She-Ra said.

“As you wish!”

Lonnie and Rogelio were standing at attention. The expression on Lonnie’s face was one of
annoyance. Catra paced a few feet in front of them, reading a mini-monitor. Off to the side Entrapta
was stalking along her workstations, rummaging through piles of stuff and mumbling to herself.
Scorpia was assisting Kyle solder sheets of metal together, as per Entrapta’s request.

Catra clicked off the monitor and handed it to Lonnie. “Good work you two. But keep patrols up
around Glenmar until you know for sure that you’ve caught the last of the bandits.”

“What are we gonna do if we arrest anymore? Tickle them?” Lonnie quipped.

“Oh Hordak, are you still on about this?” Catra groaned. “That was two weeks ago, let it go
already!”

“I’m just saying, I didn’t realize coddling was an option.”

Over at her workstations, Entrapta was frantically ransacking cabinets.

“Nitch wasn’t coddled.” Catra began stroking the bridge of her nose. “They ended their protests,
didn’t they? They’re complying aren’t they?”

“Yeah, because we asked just so nicely.” Lonnie glanced over at the workstations. Scorpia and Kyle
had stopped working and were giving their attention to Entrapta, who was emptying out more
cabinets. Lonnie returned her gaze to Catra.
“I think you been hanging around too many princesses, Cat,” Lonnie scoffed.

At this moment Entrapta let out a loud scream in frustration. She slammed the wrench-like tool that
she had been holding down onto the table. It hit just right and went hurtling across the room. Catra
threw her hand up at the last second and caught the wrench mid-spin.

“Oh yeah, they’re pushovers,” Catra sneered. She turned her attention towards the workstations.
“Hey, can we be careful about the flying tools?!” Catra yelled out.

Entrapta was tugging at the base of her pigtails. “UGH! SORRY!” she scowled.

Catra squinted and gave the situation over by Entrapta’s workstations a good, hard look. After a few
seconds she turned back to Lonnie. “You have your orders,” Catra stated flatly. “Go do them. And
hey. Take Kyle with you today.”

As Lonnie and her squad filed out, Catra made her way over to the workstation area. She leaned
against one of the shelving units with her arms folded.

In the center of the area Entrapta was still standing, hands digging into the base of her hair, as her
pigtails rifled through various items on the ground. “No. No. No. No. No.” she kept repeating as she
tossed the items on the ground aside.

For a moment Catra decided to just observe. Scorpia shuffled over. “She’s looking for a… A….
Heck… Hexy…”

“Hexadot Subspacial Inverted Riveter,” Entrapta said, sparing Scorpia.

“Oookay,” Catra said, biting her lip. “Let’s not worry about what that is for the moment. Can’t we
just…” Catra looked at Scorpia. They shared an awkward glance. “...Get more? Build a new one?”
Catra said with hope. Scorpia gave her a give unconfident smile and shrugged.

“No,” Entrapta answered. She began rubbing her temples. “The Hexadot Subspacial Inverted
Riveter was an invention of my own, one that took years to develop. I was sure that it was on the list
of items I needed when we sent the couriers to collect my things.”

“Maybe they just forgot it,” Scorpia tried to add.

“My instructions were very detailed,” Entrapta responded. She had knelt down, and was still
rummaging through all the junk now on the floor. “If they didn’t retrieve it….” Entrapta trailed off
and hung her head. “... That means it’s most likely still in my old lab. Which only I know how to get
to. Without it this project won’t work. Weeks of work and a trip to the Temple of Shifting Plains will
have been for nothing. There won’t even be any data to collect.

“And it was going to be a great project,” Entrapta sighed.

Hearing the temple’s name perked Catra up. “Oh no. No way that temple trip’s going to be for
nothing!” she balked. Catra knelt down and put her hand on Entrapta’s shoulder. “You need that…
riveter thing? Then let’s go get it.”

Entrapta looked Catra in the eyes. She seemed worried. “Go back? To Dryl?”

“Why not? It’s still YOUR kingdom ‘Trapta,” Catra assured her.

“Y-yes, that is correct,” Entrapta said. She took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s go back to Dryl.”
The balcony doors in Adora’s room tended to be left open. Partially because weather in Bright Moon
was usually lovely. It was also partially to allow Swift Wind ease of access. The majestic winged
unicorn touched down gracefully and sauntered into the room. Adora climbed down.

“You know, in the end I thought training went pretty well today,” Swift Wind remarked.

“She really needs to get that ‘human inspiration’ protocol ironed out,” Adora muttered.

“Are you saying that because of the Catra thing?” Swift Wind asked with a bright smile.

Adora glared at him. “What do you think?” Just as Adora was unstrapping the sword from her back
there was a knocking at her door. “Come in.”

Zayn swung the door open and hurriedly made her way in. “Adora! Oh, Flying Unicorn.”

Swift Wind bowed to her. “Swift Wind, madam.”

“Hi Zayn!” Adora grinned. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

The compliment momentarily threw Zayn off course, stumbling over the words she was about to say.
A good throat clearing recentered her. “It’s good to see you too, Adora. I’m afraid I bring bad news
though. Scouts spotted a Horde skiff. It was heading for Dryl.”

“What?!” Adora gasped. She took a moment to get lost in thought. Dryl. She hadn’t been to Dryl for
almost a year now. The last time wasn’t long after they lost Entrapta. But Entrapta wasn’t lost. Not
really. She was in the Fright Zone, happy. Was she heading back to her kingdom for some reason?
Was she alone? Was she with…

“I should definitely investigate,” Adora decided. “Have Glimmer and Bow left for their meeting in
Skydancer yet?”

“A couple hours ago,” Zayn responded. “I… Could come with you if you needed back up.”

Something about that statement made Adora turn beat red. “Oh! No, Zayn, I couldn’t ask you to do
that. Besides, I’m sure you still have guard duties to attend to. I’d hate for you to get in trouble.”
Adora restrapped the sword onto her back. “She-Ra can handle this,” she said with a smile.

“If you’re sure,” Zayn mumbled.

Adora rubbed Zayn’s shoulder. “I’ll be fine.” She pulled Zayn into a hug.”Thanks for worrying
though.”

“Of course,” Zayn responded as the hug ended.

“Want to get something to eat when I get back?” Adora asked.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Zayn smiled back. Her and Adora had another short hug before she left.

Adora took a minute to watch her go before returning to the task at hand. She began frantically
rummaging through the various stacks of paper and books on her desk. After a bit she fished out
something rectangular in shape. It was clumsily wrapped in plain brown paper which was being held
closed by twine. Finding it brought a giant grin to Adora’s face.

“What’s that?” Swift Wind asked.

“Just in case,” she responded.

Swift Wind narrowed his eyes and whinnied. “Quite the triangle you have going. What’s your goal
with all this?”

“No goal,” Adora answered. She was making a satchel for the present out of a cloak from her
wardrobe. “And there’s no ‘triangle’. Zayn’s just a friend. And Catra… Catra hates me. See, no
triangle.”

“Just friends huh?” Swift Wind stared at the door for a moment. “You do realize…” Swift Wind
stopped when Adora placed a finger over his mouth. She then moved to pet his mane.

“Yes,” Adora said softly. “It wouldn’t be fair to ask any more of her. I’m still working through my
feelings for Catra. Zayn knows that. I’ve tried to be as upfront with her as possible.” Adora climbed
onto Swift Wind’s back. “Up for a little afternoon adventure?”

“Always!” Swift Wind said, all his enthusiasm returning.

Entrapta slowly wandered down the dark purple hallways of Dryl. Everything was clean,
immaculate. The courtyards. The hallways. The plethora of rooms in the castle. All thanks to
Entrapta’s army of worker robots. Which didn’t make sense. The likelihood of them having
continued to work without any sort of maintenance required during the last 13 months was, as
Entrapta had put it, “astronomically low”. Yet there they were, zipping by Entrapta, Catra, and
Scorpia, working just as efficiently as they day she left.

To Entrapta, it was a perplexing problem. Catra came down on the “creepy as hell” side.

They had spent a good hour searching, but it appeared that Entrapta’s old help staff were long gone.
It was just the robots.

“Maybe they’ve learned how to maintain themselves?” Scorpia wondered aloud.

“THAT’S even creepier!” Catra said.

There wasn’t an immediate response from Entrapta. She had stopped, and was staring at a side table
in the hallway. A vase of blue flowers sat on it. They, like the castle itself, were perplexingly well
kept and alive. Even weirder, Entrapta didn’t remember having vases of flowers in her castle.

“That would be a discovery of astounding proportions,” Entrapta finally responded, still staring at the
flowers. “That does not seem to be the case though.” Entrapta didn’t wait for either girls to respond
before she slinked off. As opposed to most of the time, she was walking with her legs, while her
massive pigtails dragged along the floor. She had wrapped herself in her arms.

Once Catra and Scorpia realized Entrapta was gone they followed the most likely direction she
would have went. After a few minutes they found the door to the lab. A heavy metal thing with a
keypad lock. It was already open. They found Entrapta in the middle of the lab, simply staring at the
massive array of computer terminals and monitors in front of her. This was the part of the castle that
the worker robots hadn’t been able to reach. A thick layer of dust covered everything, accompanied
by plenty of cobwebs. Half finished experiments and machines in mid-tinker were strewn about. A
life left behind. Except for the dust, the lab looked exactly the same as it did that day when Perfuma
and Mermista showed up and convinced her that their friends needed their help. It could have been
yesterday. Except it wasn’t.

Catra made no effort to be stealthy. She wasn’t trying to be sneaky. So when she put her hand on
Entrapta’s shoulder and it made the princess nearly jump out of her skin, it was a bit of a surprise.

“Sorry!” Catra said immediately. As Entrapta recollected herself, Catra decided to try the whole
“hand on the shoulder” thing again. “Are you okay?” There was a softness to Catra’s words that
Entrapta seemed to respond to.

“Unsure,” Entrapta admitted. “I-I thought this would be easy. I’m happy in the Fright Zone.”
Entrapta stopped and glanced around the room. “This was my home though.”

The grip on Entrapta’s shoulder tightened. “This IS your home too,” Catra assured her. “Entrapta,
I’m glad that you want to stay with us, but this is still your kingdom too. You don’t have to choose
one over the other. I wouldn’t make you do that.”

The princess seemed to perk up a little. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, when you finish your big project maybe we can come do a weekend trip. You can show us
around proper,” Scorpia said.

“Is it that simple though?” Entrapta asked, her optimism receding once again.

“Sure,” Catra said. “What, just because we’re in the middle of Rebellion territory? This is your
kingdom ‘Trapta, they can’t tell you what to do.”

“Will Hordak be okay with it?”

Catra waved her off. “I’ll deal with Lord Hordak. It’s going to be fine!”

It was what Entrapta apparently needed to hear. For the first time since arriving, Entrapta rose up
onto her pigtails. She strode over to one of the many piles of machinery and began digging through
it. After a minute or two she pulled out an object. It almost looked like a toaster with spikes on one
end, a couple antennas on top, and a long, almost rifle-like buttstock at the end with a trigger. “Ta-
da!” Entrapta beamed.

“Is that the Heckler… Rabbit… The thing?” Catra asked. Her head was slightly cocked to the side as
she stared at the contraption in Entrapta’s hands.

“Hexadot Subspacial Inverted Riveter. And yes!” Entrapta exclaimed. She glanced around the room.
“Now that I’m here, I see more things that I could use,” she said, stroking her chin with a few strands
of hair.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Scorpia answered. “Skiff’s got plenty of room!”

“Hey, what’s this?” Catra asked. She had begun wandering around the room and had come upon
one of the desks. Sitting on a pedestal was a red triangular object that seemed to be covered in First
Ones markings.

In no time Entrapta had bounded across the room and scooped the First Ones shard up with her
pigtails. “Be careful with this!” Entrapta bellowed. Catra jumped back. Entrapta scooped up a small
sack on the desk and put the shard in it.

“Sorry,” Entrapta said. “I never got a chance to finish studying this. It’s fascinating! But potentially
very dangerous! I know that it can ‘corrupt’ First Ones technology and artifacts. Anything or anyone
connected to First Ones tech is at risk. Maybe other things too, there’s a lot about it that I still don’t
understand, but I will!” Entrapta said as she tightened a string around the sack.

“We’re not First Ones tech!” Catra quipped.

“Correct. But it can also affect those connected to First Ones tech. Such as runestones. We’ve all
been around the Black Garnet for so long. We still don’t know what kind of effects that’s had on on
us.” Entrapta handed the closed sack to Catra. “Better to be overly safe.” Catra nodded as she
regarded the sack in her hands.

Like the castle itself, the courtyards of Dryl were immaculately clean and lined neatly with well kept
foliage. The skiff was parked at the far end of the main courtyard in front of the castle entrance.

While Entrapta was busy packing up all the stuff she wanted to bring, Scorpia and Catra decided
they’d be most useful by getting a headstart on loading the skiff. Scorpia was pushing a trolley full of
crates. Catra followed just behind her, carrying an open box full of various small items. The First
Ones shard was carefully sitting on top.

“The skiff’s gonna be able to hold all this stuff right?” Catra asked as they arrived at the skiff.

Scorpia took a long look at the packed trolley. “Hopefully? She seemed to be packing a lot, huh.”

Catra chuckled. “At this rate we might as well be taking the entire lab.”

At that moment Catra felt the ground shake slightly. Suddenly a giant green vine erupted out of the
cobblestone underneath her and wrapped itself around the box Catra was holding. Catra jumped
back as the vine tore the box from her grasp and slithered along the ground back towards the castle.

“How dare you.”

Catra and Scorpia turned at the sound of the voice. About twenty yards behind them Perfuma stood.
The box was hovering in the air, held up by vines. She was haphazardly rummaging through it, eye
contact never breaking from Catra.

“Heeey, flower princess!” Catra said. She gave her chin a stroke. “Petal? Plumb?”

“That’s Perfuma,” Scorpia whispered. Catra looked over her shoulder back at Scorpia and glared.

Perfuma had a stern look on her face. “It’s not enough that you stole her away from us, now you’re
pillaging her kingdom?!” she sneered.

“You have it all wrong!” Catra barked, shooting her hands up in a gesture of peace.

“What is all this then?!” Perfuma yelled. She took the bag out of the box and pulled the red shard out
of it.
“No wait!” Catra yelled as Perfuma looked down at the shard.

At first all that happened was that Perfuma appeared to be highly interested in the ancient object.
Maybe Entrapta had overstated her concerns. Then Perfuma’s eyes flickered and turned red. Crimson
veins began pulsating on both her arms. She looked up at Catra and Scorpia, and grinned.

It took all of Catra’s superior reflexes and heightened senses to dodge the massive vine that exploded
out of the ground. Scorpia wasn’t as lucky and was slammed back into the skiff. Catra’s razor sharp
nails tore at the vine, freeing her friend. The duo charged at Perfuma, and were met with a series of
vines as thick as branches Shooting at them from every which way.

“We don’t want to fight!” Catra yelled. A vine shot right at her. Catra leapt and landed on the vine
and bounced off immediately. Another vine swatted her out of the sky mid-leap.

Perfuma cackled as the catgirl crashed down onto the cobblestone.

“I don’t think ‘Perfuma’ is home,” Scorpia said, trying to help Catra to her feet. Just as Catra got her
legs under her Scorpia was ripped away. The scorpion woman was lifted into the air, thick vines
wrapping themselves around her neck. She tried ripping them with her claws but more vines tightly
spun themselves around her body.

Catra jumped towards the vines attacking Scorpia, only to be caught herself in midair. She swiped
and clawed frantically at the vines as long as she could. There were too many though. Cutting one
vine caused two to wrap around her body. Slicing another one made three more tighten around her
neck. Catra squirmed futilly as she became more and more constricted. The vines were raising her
and Scorpia higher and higher into the air.

All Catra could do was look on in terror as the vines strangled Scorpia, whose face was beginning to
turn blue.

Out of nowhere a spinning sword zoomed through the air, cleanly cutting the vines holding Scorpia
and Catra. They fell to the ground, Catra landing into a roll while Scorpia landed a bit less gracefully.
Catra looked up to see the sword rounding back around. She watched as the Sword of Protection
crashed into She-Ra’s hand.

“Oh my goddess I can’t believe that worked!” She-Ra smiled. “Catra! Did you see that?!” she yelled
across the courtyard.

Upon seeing She-Ra, Catra unwilling did the last thing she ever wanted She-Ra to see her do. She
smiled.

She-Ra sprinted over to where Catra and Scorpia were. “You two alright?” she asked.

Catra was helping Scorpia to her feet. The large scorpion was still trying to regain her breath.
“Timing could have been slightly better,” Catra joked.

“My invite must have gotten lost,” She-Ra cracked back. She stood between them and Perfuma,
whose face was twisting even more maniacally at the sight of She-Ra.

She-Ra held out her free hand towards Perfuma. “Hey, ‘Fuma, can you hear me? It’s She-Ra, your
friend. We don’t want to hurt you.”

“Of course,” Perfuma hissed. Her voice was shrill, and cracked with every word. “Of COURSE
you’d show up in time to protect her !”
“Okay, that’s just unnecessary,” She-Ra fumed. “And it’s totally unfair that you’re still able to talk
while under that thing’s influence.”

Catra grabbed She-Ra’s forearm. “Wait, did you get exposed to that?

“Was it awesome?”

“Not for anyone in my way,” She-Ra answered.

Their conversation was broken up by another onslaught of vines shooting at them. Some of these
vines had thorns the size of grapefruits. She-Ra cut through large swaths with her sword. Catra and
Scorpia were tearing through them with their claws. Even with She-Ra’s extra strength, they were
having a tough time keeping up with Perfuma’s constant barrage.

The trio did a good job of preoccupying her though. Perfuma didn’t notice the hairy purple tentacle
until it was tightly wrapped around her wrist. The tentacle squeezed until Perfuma was forced to let
go of the shard. It fell into a cupped strand of purple hair.

Entrapta tossed the shard onto the ground, and slammed down a giant mallet onto it a few times, until
the shard was shattered into dozens of pieced.

“I probably should have secured this in something safer than a bag,” Entrapta mused while wiping
her brow. She gave the remnants of the shard a nod before turning towards everyone. They were all
staring at her. The attention made Entrapta blush.

Perfuma stared at Entrapta as her eyes faded from red back to black. She seemed transfixed on the
purple haired princess, a look of abject horror on her face. Entrapta gave her a sheepish wave. Which
made Perfuma flee. She ran as fast as she could out of the main courtyard, heading into the side
gardens, which were more like elaborate mazes, that led away from the castle.

“No, wait!” Entrapta called out. Perfuma was already out of sight. Entrapta bounded after her,
pigtails scurrying so fast it almost looked like they were spinning.

She-Ra and Catra watched as Entrapta vanished into the labyrinths of Dryl. They turned to face each
other and exchanged awkward smiles.

“So, what effect exactly did that thing do to you?” Catra asked.

“Well...” She-Ra began.

“...Uh…. Hey,” Scorpia cut her off. They both turned to see Scorpia, leaning against the skiff, giant
thorn jammed into her stomach.

Catra rushed over to her. “Shit! Scorp!” Catra tugged the thorn out, which only increased the
bleeding. She-Ra began fumbling around with her sword. “Heal her!” Catra barked.

She-Ra held up the sword at Scorpia.

Nothing happened.

“Come oooon,” She-Ra mumbled to herself. “Come on She-Ra, you can do this.”

“Well?!” Catra yelled.

“That’s not helping!” She-Ra yelled back. Still nothing was happening.
Catra scurried over to She-Ra. “What are you waiting for?!”

“I’m trying! I’ve only ever did this that one time! And I don’t even remember what I did!”

“Put your hand on the runestone. I think you were doing that,” Catra suggested.

Having no better idea She-Ra did as Catra suggested. Still nothing was happening. Scorpia began
slumping over. “It’s not working! What else did I do?!”

“Nothing! Maybe you’re doing it wrong!” Catra growled.

“I’m putting my hand on the runestone! How am I doing that wrong?!”

“I don’t feel so good,” Scorpia muttered.

“Here,” Catra grabbed She-Ra’s wrist. She took She-Ra’s hand into hers and pressed them both
down onto the runestone. “Like this!”

Suddenly the entire sword began to glow a cyan blue color. Catra started to let go but She-Ra caught
her hand by the thumb. “No, stay here,” She-Ra demanded. Catra listened. They both stood, hands
on the sword’s runestone, as a cyan glow shot out of the sword and engulfed Scorpia.

It lasted about a minute before the glow dissipated. She-Ra released Catra’s hand and she
immediately ran over to Scorpia.

“I’m alright!” the stocky woman said as Catra helped her to her feet.

She-Ra was thoughtfully examining her sword. Then she stared at Catra, head cocked slightly to the
side. “Say, Catra, remind me again what happened when I healed myself on Mount Snows?”

“What? You got hurt, so I gave you the sword, it healed you. Then you turned into She-Ra,” Catra
answered. She still had Scorpia’s impressive arm slung over her shoulders as the stocky woman
regained her balance.

“Hmm,” She-Ra hummed. She squinted at her sword. “Is that what you said last time?” She-Ra
wondered aloud.

“Shit Adora, I don’t remember,” Catra scoffed. “That was weeks ago! I have more important things
to remember than that.”

“I suppose you’re right,” She-Ra said, deciding not to press it any further. She replaced the sword in
its sheath and transformed back into Adora. She took a second to scratch at an itch on her right
forearm before returning her attention to Catra and Scorpia. “So, what are you up to?” Adora asked,
smiling innocently.

Catra rolled her eyes. “Oh, is that why you’re here? Looking to kick us out too?”

“No!” Adora cried. “I mean, I did come to see why a skiff was heading to Dryl. But this is Entrapta’s
domain, you have just as much right to be here as me.” Adora stopped to collect her thoughts and
brush a few loose strands of hair off her face. “I just wanted to say ‘hi’.”

“Well, hi,” Catra quipped back. She squinted at Adora. “What, did you just think that you’d ride in
here and once again play the hero…”

“... You DID need my help, by the way. You’re welcome,” Adora said, cutting Catra off.
“Thank you for the assistance, Adora!” Scorpia piped up.

All the butting in made Catra growl. “What were you thinking? That’d we hang out or something?”

“Oh,” Adora sighed. Her body language noticeably dropped. “No, I wasn’t really thinking that,” she
admitted.

“Even if we wanted to,” Catra started as she patted a crate on the trolley. “We’re kind of busy. So,
you know, crisis averted. You can go home now, She-Ra.” Catra moved her attention to Scorpia.
“Start loading this? I’m going to go load up another trolley.”

“Sure thing, Kitty!” Scorpia smiled. She looked off in the distance. “Should we go after them?”

Adora laughed. “No. They need this,” she said.

“Guess it’s just you and me Scorp,” Catra sighed. She took a few steps towards the castle before
glancing over her shoulders, “later, Adora.” Catra tried to make it a point not to stare when Adora’s
smile wilted.

Catra got a dozen yards before she heard Adora’s voice. “Here, you stay up there,” she heard Adora
say. Catra turned around. Scorpia was standing on the skiff while Adora handed her boxes off the
trolley. She watched the two work for a moment. They seemed an efficient team. The thought made
Catra smirk.

The garden mazes of Dryl were deceptive. They didn’t look complicated or hard to navigate through.
At least not until one of the many traps were set off. Anything from trap doors to electrified tiles to
attack drones.

Over the last year Perfuma had mentally mapped where most of the traps were. As such she was
tearing through the maze with impressive speed. It was an attempt to outrun her shame, and she was
going to make as valiant an effort as she could. She was barreling through so fast that she barely had
time to notice that she was careening into an area she didn’t know very well. Perfuma got two steps
into this segment of maze before she heard a click under her foot. Eleven foot high walls shot up all
around her, creating a metal box.

Perfuma stumbled to a stop. She leaned her hand against the wall as she took a moment to catch her
breath. After sucking in enough air Perfuma’s brow furrowed as she slammed her balled up fist into
the wall in front of her. Tears streamed down her face, that pain helping her ignore the current pain in
her fist.

“Dryl Inspection Log, entry 1,” Perfuma heard over her shoulder. The voice was just a few yards
away. It seemed to petrify Perfuma, who found herself unable to move. So she simply continued
staring at the metal wall in front of her.

“The security walls are working at an optimal level,” Entrapta continued into her recorder. She was
brushing her hand against the walls. “They have currently trapped the princess of Plumeria. A
temporary situation. Thanks to her powers she is able to get out and leave anytime she desires.

“... I hope she stays,” Entrapta added, clicking the recorder off.
At the click, Perfuma spun around. She caught a passing glance of Entrapta before diverting her gaze
to the ground. “I hurt your friends. I hurt our friends,” Perfuma meekly said.

“That was the First Ones shard, not you,” Entrapta countered. She perked up as a memory came to
her. “When it infected She-Ra, it was only Glimmer’s quick thinking that prevented She-Ra from
killing Glimmer and I!”

“That shard infected She-Ra?”

“Yes. It was highly fascinating, besides for the constant terror of our impending doom.”

The statement made Perfuma giggled. “There’s the scientist I remember.” Perfuma made her way
over to Entrapta, who was standing in the center of the enclosed space.

“I, am sorry that we left you,” Perfuma murmured.

Entrapta nodded. “I am sorry that I let you think I was dead.” Entrapta pulled out some sort of
remote. She pressed a button and the walls started to retract. “You have been looking after my
kingdom?” she asked, gesturing in the general direction of the castle.

“It was the least I could do to honor your memory,” Perfuma smiled.

“Was it also you that has been maintaining the worker robots?”

“Oh, no,” Perfuma conceded. “Bow has been helping with them. He’s a sweet boy. One of the few
people I feel comfortable confiding in.”

A thoughtful look came over Entrapta’s face. “Is it because you both chose to transition to new
genders other than your birth ones?”

Perfuma’s cheeks suddenly began glowing red. “You.. know? That is one thing me and him have in
common, yes.

“Does that bother you?” Perfuma skittishly asked.

“No, definitely not,” Entrapta replied. “I accept the you that you choose to present to the world.”

Entrapta began banging her forehead with one of her knuckles. “No, not ‘accept’! That’s not the
right word! It’s insufficient! An insufficient statement!” She was stopped by Perfuma taking ahold of
her wrist. She gave Entrapta a warm grin.

“It’s okay. And thank you,” the flower princess said.

“I am happy that you chose to stay,” Entrapta said, returning Perfuma’s smile with one of her own.

“As am I.”

Adora and Scorpia were busy unloading a fresh trolley. It was their third one. At this point they had
become a well oiled machine. A few times they had struck up small conversations while they
worked. It was an odd sensation for Adora to talk to someone who actually brought up Catra more
than she did.
“...So that was like the third time in a row that Lonnie accused me of cheating. But I’m not a
cheater,” Scorpia said while hoisting a large crate out of Adora’s arms. “I’m really worried that she
thinks I’m underhanded. I don’t even have hands!”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. If Lonnie keeps saying you’re cheating at something that just means she’s
frustrated. She’s super competitive.”

“It’s just cards.”

“With Lonnie, it’s never ‘just’ anything,” Adora quipped.

When they were finished with that trolley they sat on the edge of the skiff while they waited for
Catra to bring them their next load.

A peaceful silence was shared between them. Scorpia was looking off into the distance and smiling.
Adora couldn’t help but notice that she seemed to always be smiling. “Hey, Scorpia,” Adora
ventured after a moment. The scorpion woman brought her attention back to Adora. “I just wanted to
say, thank you.”

Scorpia’s smile widened. “You’re quite welcome Adora!

“... For, what exactly?”

Adora seemed intent on staring at her own lap. There was a melancholy expression on her face, with
a half-hearted smile at the center. “For being there for her. Taking care of her.” Adora rose her gaze
to stare at the castle. “For being her best friend. She deserves to have that at least once in her life.”

“I’m not her first ‘best friend’,” Scorpia retorted.

“I just meant that she deserves someone who’s not going to mess it up and let her down,” Adora
added. “I’m glad she has you.”

“...Adora…” Scorpia wasn’t sure what to say. Her heart dropped a little at the sight of the sad girl
next to her.

“Hey slackers!” Catra called out, grabbing both of their attention.

Immediately Adora’s expression morphed into a confident smile. “You mean ‘overachievers who are
waiting around on your lazy butt’!” Adora hopped down from the skiff as Scorpia climbed back onto
it.

Catra gently bumped the trolley into Adora and leaned against the handle. “You’re just lucky I didn’t
decide to take a nap and leave you waiting around for hours. I could have wasted your whole day,”
Catra quipped.

Adora shrugged. “I didn’t have anything better to do today,” she responded.

“Ooooh, nice comeback, dork!” Catra cracked. “Anyway, this is the last one unless Entrapta decides
to pack up more when she gets back.”

“That’s good, I think we’re almost at the skiff’s limit,” Scorpia mused. Her and Adora got back into
their routine while Catra returned the other empty trolley to the castle.

It took less than ten minutes to load the final trolley onto the skiff. Just as they were finishing up
Catra returned with a pitcher and three cups. She poured water for them and handed the cups out.
“Please tell me the Princess of Power still needs to hydrate herself,” Catra said as she shoved the cup
into Adora’s hand.

“Haha, yes Catra, I still need food and water,” Adora said.

“Oh thank Hordak. It’s almost like you’re still normal,” Catra shot back. “Scratch that, you were
never normal.”

“It took a lot of effort to keep up with your ‘weird’,” Adora fired back. They both started chuckling.

Scorpia forced herself to chuckle also, although she wasn’t sure why being mean to each other was
apparently so funny.

Entrapta and Perfuma appeared back in the main courtyard. They were walking casually next to each
other while holding hands.

“Welcome back!” Scorpia beamed.

Adora took a quick glance at how their fingers were interlocked, and smiled. She noticed that
Scorpia and Catra were both focused on the returning princesses. Perfect time for Adora to slip
away.

Perfuma closed her eyes and bowed slightly at Scorpia and Catra. “I am sorry that I hurt you both.”

A big claw plopped onto Perfuma’s shoulder. “It’s alright. Thankfully Adora was here help us out
with things,” Scorpia assured her. She looked around. “Wait, where is Adora?”

“Right here!” Adora yelled, popping out from behind the skiff. She had both her arms behind her
back. “Hey, Catra, can I talk to you for a second?” Catra nodded and followed Adora, who
disappeared back around the skiff.

When Catra rounded the skiff she found Adora standing there, her back to Catra. “Yo, what’s up?”
she asked.

Adora spun around and held out both her arms. Her face was completely flushed. In her hands was
the rectangular, brown paper wrapped package.

“Here,” Adora squeaked.

Catra slowly took the package. She kept turning it over, examining it. “What’s this?”

“It’s…” Adora pulled at her collar of her white shirt. “It’s a gift.”

The word “gift” made Catra raise an eyebrow. “Those are like, for occasions or whatever.”

“Yes! That’s it exactly,” Adora beamed.

“Sooooo, what’s the occasion?” Catra asked, still looking over the package.

“Oh,” Adora somehow turned redder. “No occasion actually. I saw it, and it made me think of you.
So I thought you might like it.” Catra turned the package over again. Adora giggled. “You have to
open it!”

“Right!” Catra exclaimed. “I knew that.” Catra made short work of the paper. “A sketchbook?”
Catra looked over the sketchbook. It had a little tie that could hold it closed, and a pouch that was
clipped to it. In the pouch was a robust array of graphite and colored pencils.
“You’re always doodling. On just about every surface you could find,” Adora chuckled.

“Yeah, and eventually I learned to doodle in places Shadow Weaver would never look,” Catra
laughed.

Adora squinted her eyes and grinned. “Yeah, like in the showers.”

They both bellowed with laughter. “Did she even know what a shower is?!” Catra shouted.

“Who knew dark magic could smell so bad!” Adora laughed.

It took a good minute before either of them could recompose themselves. Catra was the first to pull
herself back together. She stared at the sketchbook in her hands. “That was kids stuff, though.”

“What? It wasn’t that long ago that you were still doodling.”

“But I’m an adult now. I’m Hordak’s Second-In-Command. I don’t just sit around ‘doodling’. I have
real responsibilities,” Catra stated.

“Oh,” Adora’s shoulders drooped. “Drawing used to bring you so much joy. I had hoped that you
still… That is…” Adora sighed hard. “I’m sorry for assuming. I can get rid of it for you,” she said as
she reached out for the book.

Catra pulled the sketchbook into her chest. “But it’s mine though, right? You gave it to me.”

Adora immediately retracted her arm and smiled. “Yes, of course it is.”

“Ahem,” Scorpia cleared her throat just behind them. “Kitty, we’ve finished up out here. We’re
ready to go whenever you are.”

“Good, prep the skiff,” Catra ordered.

Scorpia shot Adora the best “I am SO sorry,” look she could and disappeared back around the skiff.
Adora and Catra silently followed her. As they rounded the corner, they got a chance to see Perfuma
helping Entrapta up onto the skiff, more a courtesy than a necessity. They continually waved at each
other even as Entrapta took her seat.

It gave Adora an idea, but before she could act Catra had already hopped up on the skiff herself. She
leaned against the side wall and glanced at the sketchbook in her arms, then down at Adora. “Hey,”
Catra called out.

“Hmm?”

“... Thanks,” Catra said, just as the skiff began pulling away. Adora simply waved and smiled. Catra
gave a small wave back before finding her seat.

Adora and Perfuma watched in silence as the skiff disappeared in the distance. Perfuma was brought
out of her trance by Adora, who was elbowing her in the arm.

“You got to see her,” Adora smiled.

“Yes,” Perfuma wistfully answered. “But what do I do next?”

“Take it one day at a time, I guess.” Adora threw her arm around Perfuma. “Hey, why don’t you
come back to Bright Moon this evening. Zayn and I were going to go out to dinner. We’d love to
have you along.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t. I don’t want to get in the way,” Perfuma assured her.

“No, it’ll be fine.” Adora gave her a squeeze. “I think it’s a good night to be around friends.”

Perfuma smiled at her. “Yes, I believe you are right.”

Thanks to the many improvements that Entrapta had made over the last year, Horde skiffs drove like
a dove gracefully gliding through the air. She had determined that skiffs should also have horns
installed on them, “for safety” she said. They made duck noises when one pressed the horn button.

Catra sat on the bench next to Entrapta as the skiff sped away from Dryl. The sketchbook was sitting
in her lap as she lazily slid her finger along its spine. She wasn’t sure what to make of it still. Why
would Adora bother giving her a present? There was no reason. And a sketchbook. Nothing fancy,
just a well made binding of blank paper and a collection of pencils. Such a utilitarian gift that she
really didn’t need anymore. Adora just gave her the gift version of herself. The idea made Catra
chuckle. It also felt off for some reason. Catra gave herself a good shake, clearing her head. She
looked around for the first time since boarding.

Scorpia was busy at the helm, and seemed to be intently controlling the steering stick. Just a couple
of feet next to Catra was Entrapta, who was sitting on the bench also. She was holding a pink flower,
and gently prodding at it’s petals.

“As princesses go, she didn’t seem to be too annoying,” Catra remarked. “You know, when she
wasn’t actually trying to kill me.”

Entrapta snapped her head up, seemingly surprised at Catra’s presence. “No, annoying is not how I
would describe her,” she said, a small smile growing on her face.

“I bet it isn’t,” Catra quipped. It didn’t seem that Entrapta was being overly chatty at the moment.
Truth be told, Catra wasn’t looking for a conversation, just a distraction. The science princess began
poking at the flower again, examining it as if seeing it for the very first time.

“Hey, ‘Trapta, can I ask you a question?” Catra worked up the courage to say after a couple more
silent minutes.

“That was a question,” Entrapta responded, still focused on the flower.

Catra sighed. “You know what I mean!”

There was a small chuckle from Entrapta. “Proceed.”

“How,” Catra began. She trailed off for a second and took a deep breath. “How were you able to get
past it? I know she didn’t mean to hurt you, but it doesn’t change the fact that she caused you pain.”

“She apologized,” Entrapta answered.

“Just words though. Was it really enough?”

The question finally made Entrapta stop playing with the flower. She gave it a meaningful look
before turning to face Catra directly. The smile that greeted Catra was from a mixture of emotions.
Happiness seemed to be the predominant one.
“It is true, while she never intended to, she did hurt me. I could have continued being hurt and angry.
Kept punishing her. Made sure she felt every ounce of despair and regret.”

Entrapta took a pause. One could visibly see on her face the effort she was putting into building her
sentences.

“That’s a bad equation. The numbers don’t work out to anything positive. The only thing I’d be
accomplishing would be punishing myself.

“I didn’t forgive her for her. I forgave her for me.” Entrapta looked back down at the flower and
stroked it’s petals.

“Why push her away when letting her in… Lets me feel like this?”

Catra stared at the purple haired princess for a moment, mouth agape. Slowly she recollected herself
and let out a snide laugh. “When did you get so emotionally mature?”

“It’s something I’ve struggled with all my life,” Entrapta chuckled. She looked up and stared ahead,
as Scorpia diligently attending to the steering. “We’ve had a good teacher though.”

Maybe it was feeling two pairs of eyes staring at her, but at that moment Scorpia looked back, and
shot them a weary smile. “How’s everyone doing?”

“Doing great Scorp,” Catra responded.

“Um, that’s good. Very good.” Scorpia’s weary smile gave way to a look of fear. “I have bad news!
I think we’re in big trouble!”

Both Entrapta and Catra jumped to their feet, quickly depositing the sketchbook and flower onto the
bench behind them. “What is it?!” Catra barked.

“I think the skiff is broken!” Scorpia yelled. “I’ve been trying my hardest, but I can’t get control of
it!”

There was silence for a second. Then, Entrapta began laughing. It started as a chuckled, but grew
into a bellowing fit of laughter. She had to use Catra’s shoulder to hold herself up. Scorpia and Catra
tried to join in with uncertain giggles.

“I installed an autopilot, it’s driving itself!” Entrapta said through tears. That news made Catra
guffaw herself.

“Oh,” Scorpia replied, scratching the back of her head with her meaty claw. “Sorry about that!”

Catra made her way over and patted Scorpia’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Teach.”

Off the side of his throne room was Hordak’s “Sanctum”, a personal lab where he conducted
experiments that the rest of the Horde didn’t need to worry themselves with. It was mostly dark, lit
only by the green glow of computer monitors and the light of various buttons and knobs. This was a
conscious choice. Those that did enter his sanctum would be at a disadvantage, as Hordak didn’t
need external light to see.
Hordak stood over one of his work tables. He was tinkering with some small gadget. In truth, he was
simply trying to pass the time as he waited. The sound of the heavy throne room door sliding open
echoed in the room. He cracked a thin smile at the sound of boots stomping up the steps. Six Horde
guards appeared in the doorway, flanking a shackled prisoner. Two of the guards grabbed the
prisoner by the arms and shoved them to the ground.

“Leave us,” Hordak commanded, not bothering to look back.

The guards nodded and filed out. The door to the Sanctum closed behind them.

“Get up,” Hordak ordered as he continued to tinker at the gadget in his hand.

“No thank you,” the prisoner scoffed. “I am quite comfortable down here.”

Hordak snapped the open panel shut on the gadget he was working on. He pressed a button on it. A
metal tentacle popped out of the ground behind the prisoner. It arced over them and wound its way
around the prisoner’s neck. The tentacle lifted the prisoner up to their feet.

“Shadow Weaver, I SAID get up!” Hordak barked, spinning around to face Shadow Weaver for the
first time. Her hands were bound together with metal cuffs. Shadow Weaver was still wearing the
same trademark outfit that she was known for, only now it was stained, fraying at some of the seams.
Instead of flowing unnaturally, her black hair hung limp, matted and tangled. She still wore her
mask, which now had massive cracks in it originating from the setting where her Black Garnet shard
used to reside.

Once she was on her feet, the tentacle slackened it’s grip. Hordak marched over to her and glared.
“Pathetic,” he mocked.

“It is good to see you too, Lord Hordak,” Shadow Weaver said with a strained chuckle.

“How could you let this happen to you?”

“I’ve been through worse,” Weaver murmured. “I underestimated her. Catra’s far surpassed anything
I ever expected from her.”

Hordak sneered. “You sound almost proud of the woman who defeated you and took the garnet
from you.”

“Yes, it is true. But I also know that you are not one for sentiment my lord, and I cannot help but
notice that I’m NOT currently stranded on Beast Island.”

“The Force General insists that you can still be of value,” Hordak jeered. He strolled around Shadow
Weaver, his arms behind his back. A disturbing grin grew on his face. “She’s correct, obviously.

“But she doesn’t know the right questions to ask,” Hordak whispered, just inches from Shadow
Weaver’s ear.

Shadow Weaver turned her head as much as she could with the tentacle still around her neck. “I am
sorry to disappoint you Lord Hordak. I’m not feeling talkative today.”

Hordak actually chuckled. “No, I didn’t think you would be.” He held up the gadget and pushed
another button. Electricity pulsated through the the tentacle and into Shadow Weaver. She growled
in pain. The tentacle re-tightened, holding her upright against her will. After a minute the growls and
yells began to become interspersed with laughter. Hordak powered down the tentacle. It retracted
into the ground, allowing Shadow Weaver to fall to her hands and knees. He walked around and
 stared down at Shadow Weaver, whose chest was heaving in an attempt to catch her breath.

As she got some air into her lungs, Shadow Weaver once again chuckled. “An impressive
machine… Lord Hordak… But it can’t compare… To the pain I feel… Every day. You can’t
imagine the agony that I’ve suffered through.”

“Yes, I thought you might say that too,” Hordak grinned. Shadow Weaver felt the poking of
Hordak’s sharp nails nestle under her chin. He forced her to look up at him. In Hordak’s other hand
was a small vial of glowing red powder. Shadow Weaver’s white, pupiless eyes widened.
“Shavings, from the Black Garnet. Not enough to give you any power, but enough to take that edge
off.”

She couldn’t help herself, Shadow Weaver reached up, desperation in her eyes. Hordak shoved her
back down and gave the vial a shake. “Answer my questions.”

“... What do you want to know, my lord?” Shadow Weaver said. For added measure she bowed.

“I long allowed you to hold onto your secrets, Weaver. It seemed an equitable tradeoff for your
loyalty and power. But here you sit, powerless, in shackles, defeated by one of your own projects.
So now I need to know those secrets.”

Hordak knelt down in front of her. “Let’s begin with the one most pertinent. You had your reasons,
and it wasn’t because Adora was fond of her.

“WHY, exactly, was Catra so important to you?”

Chapter End Notes

You know what I love? Technobabble! Hexadot Subspacial Inverted Riveter, what a
nonsense series of letters!

I feel like I probably mentioned this before, but "Jackets" is influenced a lot by the
SPOP fandom at large, mainly because I'M influenced by it. Which is to say, Bow and
Perfuma being trans isn't something I thought up all on my own, but it's something I've
accepted into my headcanon since pretty early on.

Alright, back to the regular update schedule. At least until season 3, or season 2-2, or
however they're referring to that next chunk of episodes, rolls around. Chapter 10 is next
Sunday night!

Next Time:
"... I'm sorry."
 By Royal Invite
Chapter Notes

Sorry it's a few hours late! This thing was a beast to edit. But I think the extra morning
of hammering it out was for the best.

I am so excited for you all to read this chapter. It's one of those chapters that I had in my
mind from very early in the development process of Jackets. I've been so excited to
write it... And write I did!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Despite her initial reservations, returning to Dryl had proven to be a net positive for Entrapta. In the
week since their visit, Entrapta had spent day and night in her lab. Sounds of churning machinery
and maniacal laughing could be heard at all hours.

It was late morning. Reports had been reviewed, assignments handed out, overnight fires put out. So
Catra and her squad once again found themselves in Entrapta’s lab. Entrapta had sequestered herself
into a seperate room off to the side of the lab where she usually did some of her more dangerous
work. Kyle and Rogelio were over at the baking station, working on Kyle’s latest mini-muffin recipe
together. Rogelio wasn’t a natural chef, but Kyle was happy that they were working together. Lonnie
and Scorpia were gathered around the small table off to the side of the room, currently engaged in an
intense game of checkers. Catra was sitting crossed legged in a chair a few feet away from the table.

About fifteen feet in front of Catra was Emily, standing very still and holding the cord to a red
balloon. Catra wasn’t sure where Entrapta got a balloon from, but Entrapta insisted that this was a
good pose. She’d look up and study Emily for a few seconds then start scratching a lime green
colored pencil on the sketchbook in her lap.

Everyone continued on this way for another 40 minutes or so. Without warning, all the lights went
off in the lab. It was pitch black for a second before the emergency lights came on.

“What the hell?!” Catra yelled, collecting her pencils into the pouch as fast as she could.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Entrapta shouted back as she emerged from the side room and ran over to the lab’s
wall mounted power station. She threw a few switches and the lights returned to normal. “Precisely
why I made sure to install a seperate breaker just for the lab.”

Catra and everyone strolled toward her. Despite the momentary power struggles, Entrapta seemed to
be utterly gleeful.

“You okay?” Catra asked.

“Okay?! I’m better than okay!” Entrapta blurted out. She waved her hands in front of her in a grand,
sweeping motion. “He’s done!” she exclaimed then quickly stalked back into the side room.

“Did she say ‘he’?” Kyle asked.

A loud “whirring” noise came from the room as well as the sound of metal moving and grinding
together. Entrapta strutted back out of the side room on her pigtails, triumphant grin on her face. She
stood in front of the group and motioned her arm out as if to introduce someone.

“May I present to you, the newest addition to our family, Clack!”

Everyone was staring where Entrapta was motioning, but nothing was happening.

“...Ooooooh… Heeeeey… Nice to meet you, Clack,” Scorpia nervously said, just trying to fill the
silence.

Lonnie was less interested in being accommodating. “Yo, there’s nothing there!” she sneered.

Entrapta didn’t argue. Instead she just gave them a sly grin and clapped her hands. The air next to
Entrapta began to wobble. Suddenly a Horde bot, much like Emily, only slightly smaller and with
blue lights instead of red, appeared just next to Entrapta. “This is Clack!” Entrapta said as she threw
her arms around the giant green sphere. The robot’s sudden appearance drew gasps from everyone.
Clack did a little bow.

Catra cautiously approached the bot and touched it’s very real, very metal surface. “H-How?” she
mumbled.

“Easy!” Entrapta exclaimed. “The tech from the Temple of Shifting Plains. The First Ones created
that technology to displace matter but I thought if one can displace matter than surely displacing light,
which is just electromagnetic radiation after all, can’t be that difficult if…”

“Stop!” Catra barked as she was rubbing her temples. Entrapta ended her sentence immediately.
Catra took a deep breath. “You know what? I’m not going to yell. That one’s on me. I DID ask the
question. I see where I went wrong here.”

“Headache aside though, this is incredible!” Catra said, giving Clack a pat. “So, he can turn invisible
at will?” Entrapta nodded. “And he can stay invisible for as long as he needs to?”

“Unsure. In theory yes, Clack’s energy core should be able to accommodate it. I haven’t been able to
do enough testing yet though.”

Clack was a sight to behold. Catra took a step back to get a better look at the robot. She almost
bumped into Scorpia, who was just inches behind her. It was obvious to everyone, especially Catra.
Robots that could turn invisible. Move without detection. They could go anywhere, and no one
would notice. Catra’s eyes grew wide.

“This could change everything,” Catra said under her breath. She heard Scorpia sigh after she said it.
Catra gave a glance at her large scorpion friend, who was looking apprehensive.

“... Poor Bow,” Scorpia muttered.

“Hey, who’s side are you on?” Catra ribbed.

Scorpia smiled at her short cat friend. “Yours Kitty, always.”

“Entrapta, this is amazing!” Kyle beamed.

“Thanks Assistant Kyle! You helped!”

Kyle’s face twisted. “Wait, I did?”

“You collected the First Ones samples and did that soldering that I asked you,” Entrapta said while
giving Kyle two big thumbs up. Kyle was beaming. One of Entrapta’s pigtails pulled out a recorder
and clicked it on.

“Lab Assistant Evaluation, log 47. Assistant Kyle continues to respond well to any praise, even
when he must know that it is objectively untrue.” Entrapta clicked the recorder off and it disappeared
back into her mass of hair. Kyle sighed and deflated, but was brought back up a little when Rogelio
wrapped his thick arms around him.

“Okay, so, testing,” Catra stated, attempting to get back on track.

“Yes! Clack still needs testing. I have sent him out for trial runs around the Spire, but that’s
inadequate to really see if he can properly maintain his cover.”

“Wait,you’ve been testing him around the Fright Spire? I didn’t hear anything about this,” Catra
stated.

Entrapta looked at Catra, then at Clack, then back at Catra. “That’s because he turns invisible,”
Entrapta said. She looked back at Clack again. “You, do know what ‘invisible’ means, yes?”

Catra rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Yes ‘Trapta I KNOW what ‘invisible’ means! I’m just saying
that if you’re gonna conduct tests in the Fright Spire, I should probably at least be aware of them.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Entrapta meekishly said.

“Yes, and it’s a great surprise,” Catra remarked. “So, Clack needs longer range tests.”

“Before we use him for anything that could be dangerous.”

“Well alright then. Set it up as soon as you can. How far were you thinking?” Catra asked.

It was a simple question. Catra was very confused why it made Entrapta blush.

“Well.. Um.. That is…” Entrapta stammered. She was amazingly getting even more red.

Catra spun around to face Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. “Hey, give us the lab for a bit.”

“What? We’re her friends too!” Lonnie scoffed.

“Just get out!” Catra barked. Her and Lonnie traded glares as the three stomped out of the room.
“Jeez,” Catra huffed after they left. She turned back around. Scorpia was caressing Entrapta’s
shoulders. The science princess had seemingly shrunk since she last looked, mostly due to the way
she was slumping. Catra walked up to Entrapta and gently ran her claws through Entrapta’s hair.
“It’s just us, what’s wrong?”

“They ARE my friends. Too. I just. I’m not trying to betray anybody,” Entrapta stuttered.

“Heeey! Calm down. Nobody’s accusing anyone of betrayal. Right?” Catra asked as she shot
Scorpia a confused look. Scorpia shrugged.

“Scorp,” Catra was jerking her head in the direction of the makeshift kitchen area. Scorpia nodded
and scurried away. Catra took Entrapta’s hands and guided them both down into cross legged sitting
positions. Scorpia returned after a minute and sat down on the floor with them. She handed each a
fizzy water. Catra and Scorpia sipped theirs. Entrapta downed the whole glass in two gulps. At the
end she made a satisfying ‘aaaahhhh’ sound.

“How you feeling?” Scorpia asked.

Entrapta nodded with her eyes closed. “Better. Thank you.”

“Wanna tell us why the idea of long range testing made you flustered?” Catra asked.

“Have, you heard of the Midsummer Ball?” Entrapta mumbled.

Catra’s ears flattened. “Midsummer Ball?”

“Yes. A dance, this year hosted by the Kingdom of Midnight Sands, that happens every summer
during the third moon cycle. I received my invite yesterday. Every princess is invited, but I’ve never
gone,” Entrapta admitted.

“Me neither!” Scorpia added. She gave Entrapta’s knee a soft pat.

“Yes, well, this year, I was thinking, maybe I should go, finally.”

“Sure, why not?” Catra mused. “You’ve been working your little butt of, you deserve to have a fun
night!”

“What, exactly does that have to field testing Clack?” Catra inquired.

“Well, that is, you know. Usually, usually, I think, I am fairly sure, when you go to a ball, usually,
you, you know, you take someone. That is, someone goes with you. Because they want to,” Entrapta
said, continually floundering around her point.

Having already put it together, Catra decided she should spare Entrapta from further strain. “Oh, I
see!” Catra reached up and grabbed a mini monitor that was sitting on one of the workstation tables.
She hummed for a minute while she looked something up on the monitor. “Says here that Plumeria is
over 200 miles away. Would that be enough of a field test?” Catra asked, sly grin on her face.

It made Entrapta blush all over again. “212.2 miles. To her door. To be exact. And yes. That would
be sufficient.” Entrapta couldn’t seem to look at Catra for more than a second of two at a time. Catra
chuckled and scooted over to be closer to Entrapta. She snaked her arm around the giant pigtails and
placed her hand on Entrapta’s back.

“You should definitely ask her to go with you,” Catra smiled.

Suddenly Catra found herself being tightly squeezed by pigtails, arms, and after a few seconds, giant
red claw arms. Part of her still wanted to fight it, fight the hug, fight the intimacy. There was a part of
her though that couldn’t help but notice how warm it felt there, at the center of the pile. So she gave
it a good minute before she started trying to squirm her way out of it.

“That’s really good to hear, ‘Trapta. Mattis and I were talking about going. Thought it might be a
good excuse to hang out again. Would probably be safer if we all showed up together,” Scorpia
offered as the hug pile untangled.

“Yes, that would be acceptable. And also logical,” Entrapta answered.

“Wait, safer?” Catra asked as she dusted herself off. “We have a peace pact with Midnight Sands.
The King himself assured me that our people would be treated respectfully when there. You should
be just fine there.”

“We know,” Scorpia said. “Problem is the Prince, the one who’s officially hosting this ball. He’s
much less agreeable to us than his dad. We’ll be tolerated, but accepted?”
“That’s bullshit,” Catra growled. Catra paced around the room for a moment, tapping her chin
rhythmically. Soon she came to a stop and snapped her fingers. “I can just go with you, and just be
on hand to make sure nobody tries anything.”

“LIke a chaperone!” Scorpia beamed.

Catra sighed. “Yeah, something like that.”

“That’d be swell to have you there. One problem though, Kitty. You have to be invited to attend.”

“Who said anything about ‘attending’?” Catra said, sinister grin on her face.

In the three weeks since they had received their invitations to the Midsummer Ball, Glimmer and
Bow had been focused on little else. This ball, compared to the Princess Prom, was much less
formal, Adora had memorized all the necessary greeting procedures in the first day. There was
always the chance to try to use the ball as an excuse to attempt to convince the prince to get his father
to reconsider their treaty with the Horde. That task, however, was being covered by Princess Embra,
who had accepted the prince’s invitation to be his date for the ball. It seemed a better plan than the
one they had used to try to get Frosta to join their cause. Something that Frosta still liked to poke fun
of them about. It was a good plan, even though whenever Glimmer talked about it her teeth would
grind for some reason.

That left just one thing for Adora to do at the ball. It was the one thing that she had never really
learned how to do well, or really at all.

“Stop squirming!” Glimmer huffed as she put the finishing touches on Adora’s hair. Adora had
insisted that her hair still be up, but Glimmer had managed to convince her to go with an elegant
braided updo instead of ponytail.

“Sorry Glim, just nervous about tonight,” Adora conceded.

“Adora, there’s nothing to be nervous about. I promise, you only have one job tonight.”

“Yes, I know, ‘enjoy myself and have a good time’.”

Glimmer giggled. “You’re probably the only person who’d view that as the toughest job.” A few
more bobby pins, and then… “There! All done,” Glimmer proclaimed. “Go on, take a look,” she
added, pointing to the mirror.

Adora rose to her feet and swished her way over to it. She was wearing a sleeveless, open back
gown. The straps tied around the neck. There was a black lace panel above the chest. The dress itself
was a navy blue, with a lace tulle outer skirt that matched the panel lace.

Something about the tulle skirt made Adora do a few spins to examine herself from all angles. She
had to admit, she cleaned up pretty well. Her main concern, well her only concern, was the backless
part. Her scars peaked out pretty significantly. Bow and Glimmer had insisted from the very start that
she’d look stunning in the dress, regardless of the scars. Adora was less certain.

“Wow.”
At some point Zayn had appeared in the doorway to Adora’s room, and was currently standing there,
watching Adora twirl in front of the mirror. Zayn was wearing a black, sleeveless, A line dress with
navy blue accents that complimented Adora’s gown.

Adora froze mid-twirl and turned beat red. “Zayn!” She stumbled back into a normal, non-dancing-
in-front-of-the-mirror position.

“I can finish up my makeup on my own, I should be going, byyyye!” Glimmer excitedly said all at
once then blinked away.

“You look very pretty tonight,” Adora meekishly proclaimed. “I mean, you always look pretty! You
just like, mega-pretty tonight!”

Zayn chuckled as she took Adora’s arms into her own. “It’s okay ‘Dora. I know what you meant.
Here, let me get a look at you!” Zayn held one of Adora’s hands up and twirled her around. Her big
smile briefly faltered. ‘Oh!”

“What? What is it?” Adora asked. Zayn turned Adora, and ran a thumb along Adora’s back.

“Scars from the Battle of Bright Moon,” Adora automatically commented.

“I’m… So sorry,” Zayn replied. “You didn’t want to cover them up?”

“Oh, why, do you think I need to?” Panic was noticeably growing in Adora’s face.

“No, I just thought you’d-, That is, you… Nevermind. You still look great, they’re not even that
noticeable.”

Deep down Adora wanted to believe Zayn. Truth though was that Zayn did notice them, almost
immediately. Enough that they were worth commenting on. Maybe Bow and Glimmer were wrong
about going backless. Maybe she could put together something entirely different in the 43 minutes
before they had to leave. Maybe Bow and Glimmer and all her other friends and the gorgeous
woman in front of her wouldn’t mind it if she just didn’t go at all.

Just then Zayn pulled her in close, snapping Adora’s train of thought. They stood in Adora’s room,
inches apart. Zayn was resting her right hand on Adora’s waist. They smiled at each other for a
moment.

Then Zayn leaned in and kissed Adora.

Adora could feel the softness of Zayn’s lips against her. This close, she could smell the fresh citrus
scented perfume Zayn was wearing. Adora’s hand shot up to grab Zayn’s shoulder. If she focused
Adora thought she could feel one of those butterflies that are supposed to form in your stomach at
times like these.

It was nice.

“Wow, yourself,” Adora breathed as their lips slowly parted. They shot each other warm smiles.

“Let’s go have a fun night,” Zayn said with a nod.

The Kingdom of Midnight Sands sat far to the north of Bright Moon. Horde territory butted up to its
western borders, with Mount Candila sitting at its eastern side. The sizeable kingdom was peppered
with robust towns and villages. At its center was the Midnight Sands desert, a massive desert that
covered almost 50,000 square miles. The desert, and kingdom, got its name from the dark gray sand
that covered it. During the day it sparkled like a starfield in the daylight, and became an enchanting
sea of night after dark. Near the eastern edge of the desert, where the terrain became rocky and hilly
was a low mesa upon which the Midnight Palace sat. The exterior of the extensive palace was a
charcoal gray with teal and gold detailing. Wrapping itself around the mesa was a river that came
from the shoreline farther north and headed towards the wildlands to the southeast.

The Horde skiff barreled through the desert, kicking up dark clouds in its wake. It only began
slowing when it was about 50 yards from the palace courtyard where all the horses and carriages and
many people were gathered. It was aimed for a open space to park and slammed to a stop.

Catra threw the stick into the “park” position and slapped her hands together in triumph. She turned
to see a bench full of bewildered faces.

“Safe and sound and 20 minutes faster than they said it would take,” Catra boasted.

Perfuma was the first one to stand up, albeit a little wobbly at first. “H-how EXHILARATING that
was! I didn’t realize that these skiffs could go that fast,” she said, trying to fix her hair as much as
possible.

“They’re not supposed to,” Scorpia responded. She had gotten to her feet and was helping Mattis to
his.

“Hey, if it can go fast, I’m gonna make it go fast!” Catra was strapping on a backpack. She wasn’t
dressed up, or even in uniform. Her mass of mane was pulled back into a big puffy ponytail. She had
on a black tank top and dark red leggings, and a puffy shouldered red jacket; unzipped because she
felt it suited her style better.

Scorpia rubbed her temple with her claw. “Kitty that’s really not how that works! How do you not
know that?”

“Let me guess, it was in Force Captain Orientation!” Catra huffed.

“No of course not,” Scorpia assured her. “It was in Driver’s Ed! How did you even pass that?”

Catra squinted at Scorpia and raised an eyebrow. “Driver’s what now?” Scorpia groaned in
exasperation. Mattis patted her on the shoulder.

“Hey, we’re here safely, right? Thank you Force General,” Mattis said.

“Not a problem!” Catra beamed. She shot Perfuma a quick awkward glance. “And tonight, it’s just
Catra.” She hopped down from the skiff first. “And remember, if anyone asks, I’m not here.”

“We were going to meet up with some of my friends,” Perfuma exclaimed. “Did you want to say ‘hi’
first? I am sure some of them would be happy to see you.”

“That would go against the whole ‘not here’ part of the plan!” Catra yelled as she disappeared into
the crowd.

Scorpia appeared just behind Perfuma and smiled. “Good effort,” she simply said.

Perfuma turned back to Scorpia. “Does she really not know how Adora feels about her?”
“If it was only that simple,” Scorpia mumbled as she watched the sea of people funnel into the
palace.

Zayn was slumped against the side of carriage. She was staring out the window, watching as the
forest was thinning out into more rocky terrain. She let out a happy little hum when she felt Adora’s
fingers caressing and interlocking with her own. Adora and Zayn were sharing the carriage bench
seat against the back of the carriage. On the bench across from them was Bow, Glimmer, and Frosta.
There was a little table between the two benches. On the table was five glasses of berry juice in
various states of empty, and a mostly devoured bowl of chelumbs, Frosta’s favorite fruit.

“Thanks again for picking us up Frosta,” Glimmer said in the middle of chewing a cherlumb.

“It’s no problem!” Frosta beamed back. “Besides, I really appreciate you letting me tag along. I
didn’t really have anyone to go with.”

“You can always come with us,” Glimmer said.

Bow held out his hand. “Yeah! Best Friend Hanging Out at the Ball Squad High Five!”

The three of them did a three way high five. The entire cabin laughed.

“Wanna know what the best part of this Ball is going to be?” Frosta asked. Everyone gave her their
inquisitive attention. “Doesn’t matter who Adora gets into a fight with, I won’t have to be the one to
worry about it!” This elicited a laugh from everyone but Adora, who was turning red and squirming
in her seat.

“I’m not going to get into a fight! This time,” Adora tried defending herself.

Zayn gave her hand a squeeze. “Did you get into one at the last dance you went to?” she asked with
a chuckle.

“All the same to you, I’d rather not think about that tonight. Besides, she won’t even be here to get
my riled up this time,” Adora grumbled. When Perfuma had told Adora about Entrapta’s invitation,
Catra’s status was the first thing Adora asked about. According to Entrapta though, Catra had no
plans or interest in the Midsummer Ball. Despite her initial disappointment, Adora recognized that it
was probably for the best.

“Sorry,” Zayn said. She lifted Adora’s hand up and gave it a kiss. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad
memories.”

“Yeah, me too,” Frosta said, slumping a little on the bench. “I forgot how that ended for all of you.”

Glimmer patted Frosta own the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it! We’re going to have fun tonight!”

The five of them made small chat for a little bit. Pretty soon they were pulling into the courtyard of
the Midnight Palace. The carriage slowed as it made its way around the crowd towards the drop off
zone.

“Hey!” Frosta was looking out the window. “There’s Perfuma!”

“Aw, she looks so pretty!” Glimmer noted. “And wow, Entrapta’s looking very dapper tonight.”
“See, she makes a cummerbund look good. They’re just not for me,” Bow quipped. He studied the
crowd a little more. “Wait. Who’s that with Scorpia?”

Glimmer sighed. “I don’t know Bow. I’m not up on all of our Horde friends’ circle of friends. Why
don’t you ask .”

“Be nice Glimmer,” Adora interjected. “Remember, Midnight Sands is neutral territory. They’re just
as welcome here as we are… Frosta please stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” Frosta asked, big smirk on her face.

The carriage came to a stop. Adora was the last to climb out. She stood for a moment at the top of the
carriage steps, scanning the crowd. Maybe Perfuma was mistaken. Maybe Catra had just changed
her mind. No such luck. She took a deep breath.

Enjoy myself and have a good time. I can do this. It’ll be fine. I’m here with Zayn. I’m happy to be
here with Zayn. We’re… I have no idea. I liked her kissing me. It was… Good? It was my first kiss.
They’ll probably get even better as I get better at them.

Adora was pulled from her head by the feeling of Zayn taking her hand and helping down the steps.

Bow and Glimmer enveloped Entrapta in a hug, the first one Bow had been able to give her in over a
year. Entrapta seemed unsure how to react. Frosta took the chance to greet and chat with Perfuma.
Adora greeted Scorpia, and the two exchanged introductions between Zayn and Mattis. Zayn mostly
elected to hang back as Adora chatted. Without warning Bow was at Adora’s side, jovial as ever.

“Hey there!” Bow grinned. His view shot immediately to Mattis. Bow’s face turned slightly more
serious as he extended a hand. “Hi, I’m Bow. Don’t think we’ve met before.”

Mattis gave Bow a firm, pleasant handshake. “Hey, name’s Mattis.”

Scorpia seemed quite excited to show Mattis off. “We were the best of friends when we were little.
He was like my Glimmer,” Scorpia said.

“Yeah, Scorpie looked me up out of the blue recently. It’s so nice to have her back in my life,”
Mattis added. “Been great getting to know each other all over.”

There was the briefest of flickers on Bow’s face before it turned even more jovial. “That’s great you
guys!”

Adora looked around. “Bow, where’s Glimmer and Frosta?”

“Oh, they went inside already,” Bow replied. He then nudged Adora in the arm. “I think she wanted
to see if Embra’s already here.”

“OOOH MY GAWDDESS, Entrapta!” a voice called out a few feet away. Suddenly Mermista
slammed into Entrapta’s back and threw her arms around her.

“H-hi Mermista!” Entrapta squeaked. She had just gotten free from Bow and Glimmer’s hug.

Mermista looked up at Perfuma, who smiled and gave her a pleasant wave. “Girl, ‘Fuma, looking
great! ”

“Princess Entrapta!” another voice called out. Mermista furiously rolled her eyes. They both turned
to see Sea Hawk posing a few feet away.
“NOOO. STOP!” Mermista barked.

“Princess Entrapta! I was so relieved to hear that you were alive!” Sea Hawk said. “Surely this is call
for a… SONG… In Celebration! One of my famous chanties!”

“Okay!” Entrapta seemed enthusiastic about the idea.

“NO.” Mermista huffed as she reached Sea Hawk. “You are NOT!”

“Oh er, yes Mermista dear! However, Princess Entrapta did say she wanted to hear one.”

Scorpia, Mattis, Adora, Bow, and Zayn had made their way back over to the group.

“What’s a… chantey?” Scorpia asked.

Bow turned to Scorpia, sorrowful look on his face. “What’s a chantey?!” He spun around to Sea
Hawk. They intently stared at each other for a second before Bow started clapping his hands in
rhythm. After a few seconds Sea Hawk began stomping his foot in the same rhythm. Adora, Scorpia,
Perfuma, and Entrapta all started clapping to the rhythm. Meanwhile Mermista was burying her face
in her hands.

Sea Hawk jumped up on a garden wall that was just a couple feet away. “WHAT is a sea chantey?

“You don’t know?

“Well that’s just silly

“What’s a sea chantey?

“It’s simple really

“You just sing your heart

“And rhyme some parts

“That’s a Sea Shant Tee!”

To Sea Hawk’s pleasant surprise Bow jumped up next to him on the garden wall.

Bow took a turn at a verse. “Tales of ghosts,

“That would scare off most

“But NOT a pirate of the seas!

“So just make some boasts

“They’re like better toasts.”

Sea Hawk wrapped one arm around Bow and together they sang “That’s a Sea Shant Tee!”

“UUUUGH,” Mermista groaned. Entrapta and Perfuma stopped clapping to pay attention to her.
“OMG I am dying. Do you see me? I am literally dying. ‘Fuma, do you have any of your healing
herbs because I am literally dying.”

Perfuma giggled. “Afraid not. But,” she took a look at Sea Hawk and flicked her wrist. A sizable
blue flower formed in front of his mouth.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry Sea Hawk, that was meant for your hair!” Perfuma giggled. This brought the
song to an end.

“It’s quite alright Princess Perfuma! It’s a lovely flower I shall cherish it!” Sea Hawk called out. Bow
helped him affix the flower into his hair.

Both Entrapta and Mermista were suppressing fits of giggling, and losing that battle.

“Ugh ‘Fuma that, was amazing,” Mermista delighted. She shot a grin at Entrapta. “You better watch
out ‘Trapta, she keeps doing stuff like that and I might steal this one.”

Entrapta blushed. At first her only instinct was to wrap one of her pigtails around Perfuma’s arm.

Mermista slapped her on the shoulder and bellowed. “Girl I’m kiiiidddding! You two are tooooo
cute!” Mermista interlocked her arm with Entrapta’s “Come on, let’s go tear this place up!” she
yelled. Perfuma interlocked her arm with Entrapta’s free one and the three of them frolicked into the
palace. Sea Hawk scampered after them.

Bow returned to remaining people still outside: Scorpia, Mattis, Adora, and Zayn.

“That was amazing Bow!” Scorpia proclaimed as she excitedly clapped her claws together.

“THAT, is how you do a sea chantey,” Bow smiled. He then shot a glance over to Mattis. “Ever
done one of those?” he asked with a sly grin.

“No, no never anything like that,” Mattis said. There was a look of satisfaction on Bow’s face. “I am
a classically trained pianist though,” he added in.

“Oh!” Bow shouted, trying not to seem surprised. “That’s great. Really cool.

“Sooo great.”

A week before the ball Catra had made a trip to Midnight Sands. Officially it was to meet with the
king to discuss new trade options. Unofficially Catra was there scoping out the ballroom the dance
would take place in. It was a large round open room that was three stories high. Most of the third
story space was taken up by a variety of scaffolding, pipes, support beams, and wires.

Catra was currently carefully shuffling across one of the support beams. Down below the party
seemed to be starting. The music had died down and she could hear the prince giving his welcoming
speech.

Propped up on a couple of beams were about 20 plank boards that together formed a nice platform
area. Catra wasn’t sure why they were up there, but she was grateful. As soon as she reached the
platform she plopped down into a sitting position, with her legs dangling freely.

It was a perfect view. From here she could keep an eye on her friends to make sure they remained
safe. An evening hanging out above a party that Catra had no interest in actually attending was a
small price to pay for her friends’ comfort.

Besides, Catra brought plenty to keep her busy. She slid the backpack off and took off the jacket and
folded it carefully before stuffing it into the backpack. She pulled out her sketchbook and flipped a
few pages to a blank one. After a quick scan to make sure Scorpia and Entrapta were okay, she
began doodling.

At some point over the following twenty minutes Catra had made herself more comfortably by laying
facedown on the platform. She continued doodling and was trying to not check in on the dance too
often. Catra barely noticed the music change, but did notice all the laughter that could be heard. Out
of pure curiosity Catra looked down, and saw Adora. Along with Bow, Glimmer, Mermista, Sea
Hawk, and about a dozen others, Adora was doing a synchronized dance that people seemed to
enjoy doing intentionally wrong more than doing correctly.

Adora looked like a fool, Catra thought. Big goofy, dimpled smile. A few locks of hair swished in
front of her face as she danced. Perfect subtle red lipstick that complimented her skin. The way she
filled out that dark blue dress. The song made Adora bob up and down like a goofball. Catra
couldn’t help but notice the way it made Adora’s chest jiggle.

Okay, it was time to stop watching. She had serious doodling to do, among other things.

Catra propped her head up with her arm and watched Adora as she danced through the rest of the
song, which turned out to be a pretty long number.

When the song finally ended Adora and her friends shared a good laugh as they made their way off
the dancefloor. Catra’s vision followed them as they met up with their other friends who were
hanging off to the side of the dancefloor and enjoying drinks. Catra was heartened to see that for the
most part Entrapta, Mattis, and Scorpia were being included. Everyone seemed to okay with their
presence, with the obvious exception of Glimmer, which Catra 100% expected, and another indigo
haired girl that Catra didn’t recognize but definitely seemed to be a part of the group as she kept
standing next to Adora for some reason. Catra watched with mild interest for a moment, until the
indigo haired girl interlocked her arm with Adora’s.

A guttural, involuntary hiss came out of Catra. It shocked even herself. She threw her hands over her
mouth. Where did that come from? Catra continued glaring at the indigo haired girl as she pulled
Adora onto the dancefloor so they could dance together.

In the middle of all the glaring, and not understanding why her hair kept standing on end, Catra saw
them. From where Catra was, they were faint, but unmistakable. “What?” Catra pushed herself up so
that she was sitting on her knees.

Battlefields weren’t a place to be unsure of yourself. In the midst of a fight, all one could do is
execute your best plan and see where it went. Act. React. No compromise. No apologies. What
happens, happens. Catra held out her hands out and fixated on them. Her claws flexed in and out a
few times. She looked back down at Adora. Her back was partially covered by the indigo woman’s
hand, but Catra could still see the scars clearly. Catra’s eyes fell closed as she took a deep breath.

“Dammit.”

Adora and Zayn were the first splinter off from the group, but not the last. Mermista, Perfuma,
Frosta, and Entrapta were wandering away with Sea Hawk entow. They were following Entrapta,
whose eye had been caught by the high tech DJ setup. Mattis had excused himself for a moment,
leaving Bow, Scorpia, and Glimmer, who she herself was slowly wandering away.
“This is 100% better than the last dance I was at,” Scorpia said, trying to keep her volume above the
music.

“Right?! I’m having a great time tonight!” Bow exclaimed.

Scorpia leaned in to talk directly into Bow’s ear. “Hey, I’m really sorry about last time.” Bow pulled
back. He looked confused. Scorpia looked a little melancholy. “You know, at the Princess Prom.”

Bow shrugged. “Don’t worry about it Scorpie Girl. I know, this has been kind of weird. Horde and
Rebellion being friends? Crazy idea.”

“But I love our friendship!” Scorpia blurted out.

“I love it too!” Bow answered immediately.

They both chuckled nervously. “Sorry!” Scorpia said. “That sounded pretty defensive.”

“How are you two doing?” Mattis asked, returning.

“Doing great!” Bow said, a little too quickly.

Mattis held out his hand. “Want to dance, Scorpie?”

“Sure,” Scorpia answered. She turned back to Bow. “See you in a little bit Buddy Bow?”

Bow nodded and the two whisked themselves away onto the dancefloor. It was only then that Bow
realized he was alone. He found Glimmer pretty quickly, who was only about ten feet away at one of
the buffet tables. Glimmer seemed to be more interested in the food on the table than Bow when he
walked up to her.

“Everything okay, Glim?”

Glimmer glared at her friend. “What do you think Bow? You’re spending your time talking to a
Horde Force Captain! And all our other friends just seem to be ignoring that Entrapta’s a HORDE
SCIENTIST!. Like, I get it, she’s our friend, I miss her too, but she’s also the one building half the
things that we end up always fighting.”

“I know it’s complicated Glim. We’re all just trying to get along and make this the best dance we
can.”

The mini-outburst seemed to be all that Glimmer had, as it deflated her. “I’m trying Bow. It’s just…”
Bow placed his hand on Glimmer’s shoulder. The contact made her lift her gaze, which had been
drooping. She was greeted with a thumbs up and a wink.

“Come on. Let’s go see what Mermista and Frosta are up to,” Bow said with a smile.

“Probably up to no good,” Glimmer responded.

Embra suddenly appeared next to Bow. “There you guys are!” they exclaimed. “Party’s pretty
banging right?” Glimmer and Bow both nodded in agreement. Embra was wearing a shimmery gold
sleeveless button down blouse, with a ribbon tied into a bow around their neck. Fitted black slacks
completed the look.

“Hey, I’m going to go say hi to Mermista and Frosta,” Bow said before quickly making his exit.

Both Glimmer and Embra watched Bow scurry off. Embra turned back to Glimmer. “Does Bow not
like me?”

“What? Bow likes you! I’m pretty sure Bow likes everyone,” Glimmer cracked. “Why do you think
he doesn’t?”

“It’s just, he seems to run off every time I show up,” Embra responded. Glimmer didn’t have a good
answer, so she just shrugged. “Anyway,” Embra continued. “Enjoying the Midsummer Ball?”

“Going okay so far,” Glimmer said. “How’s it going with Prince Akur?”

Embra sighed. “He’s… Fine. Soooo formal though. I’ve tried subtly dropping hints about the Horde,
but nooooo. All he wants to talk about is the party. He’s been asking me for help with his closing
speech ALL night!”

Glimmer couldn’t help but chuckle. “This is Midnight Sands’ first time hosting. He’s probably just
nervous.”

“Yeah,” Embra sighed again. “It… Looks like my first Princess Alliance mission is a bust.”

“Oh! Hey!” Glimmer threw herself into a hug at the sight of Embra sulking. “There’ll be more
missions! Don’t think that we’d just kick you out just because this one thing didn’t work out.”

“Promise?”

“Promise,” Glimmer beamed.

The music was in the midst of changing to something slower. Embra gave Glimmer a little smile.
“Hey, Akur had to go attend to some stuff for a while. Did you wanna dance?” they asked. The
lights in the ballroom were low and pulsating different colors and effects. All of which helped mask
how flushed Glimmer’s face became when asked that question. She nodded and Embra led them
onto the dancefloor. On their way out they passed and waved at Perfuma and Entrapta, who were
also making their way onto the floor.

Perfuma and Entrapta found a good spot on the dancefloor. After fumbling around with hand
placement they began slowly rocking back and forth. At first their movement was really stiff.
Gradually they began to smooth out into one fluid unit, gliding together across the floor. Entrapta
was audibly counting to keep rhythm with the dance. It made Perfuma giggle.

“Aaah, sorry!” Entrapta screeched when Perfuma’s giggling momentarily overcame her.

“No, it’s okay,” Perfuma assured her. “It’s cute… You’re cute.”

Entrapta was so thrown she messed up the beat for a second, before recovering. “Thank-thank you.
You are too. No. Pretty. You’re very pretty. I should have said pretty. I-”

Before Entrapta could continue, Perfuma pulled her head in, cradling it against her chest. “It’s okay.
Thank you,” she smiled. They continued dancing for another couple minutes without saying
anything, just enjoying each other’s presence.

“I’m, very happy,” Entrapta eventually whispered.

“Me too,” Perfuma smiled back.

“I was worried that I would mess this part up.”

“You’re actually a very good dancer,” Perfuma said. She could feel Entrapta’s cheeks getting hotter
against her chest. It made her giggle again.

“Catra showed me how, actually.”

“Well I’ll have to thank her, whenever I am able to see her next. Which is definitely not tonight.”

“Correct, definitely not tonight,” Entrapta chuckled.

Not far from Perfuma and Entrapta, Adora and Zayn were comfortably dancing as the slow song
was starting to come towards its end. Zayn happened to see over Adora’s shoulder Mermista, Frosta,
Bow, and Sea Hawk, off to the side of the dancefloor. Mermista and Frosta were creating ice pops
out of the punch, which seemed to be hilarious to them. The sight made Zayn laugh.

“Your friends are silly,” Zayn snickered. She spun them around so Adora could see what they were
doing. Adora let out a soft chuckle.

“It’s good to see, actually,” Adora responded.

“Oh, no sorry, I wasn’t trying to be critical.”

Adora smiled. “I know. It is good to see though. When Glimmer first told me about dances, I
couldn’t quite figure out what the point was. I get it now.”

Zayn smiled. “I’m pretty sure the point is to have an excuse for you to wear that dress. You look
great by the way, I don’t think I’ve told you that enough. Your back is barely even noticeable.”

It made Adora and blush. The song same to an end. A faster, poppier number was starting up. “Hey,
I have to go visit the little princess’ room, I’ll be back in a bit,” Adora said. Zayn nodded. Adora
began the process of maneuvering her way off the dancefloor.

Catra had re-settled into her makeshift nest. She was quite proud to see Entrapta nailing the dance. If
only her old dance instructor, Essteare was there so she could throw it in his dumb face.

Despite all her efforts, Catra kept finding herself staring at Adora. At the moment she was down
there, dancing with that girl . Catra was working on her third doodle of the night, a picture that was
taking a considerable amount of her peach, yellow, and a blue colored pencils to make.

All in all, Catra had been perfectly content. Her friends seemed happy. For once all she COULD do
was relax. She was settled into hanging out up there for the next few hours of the dance. There were
even snacks in her backpack.

Wait, where’s Adora going?

Catra had noticed that at the end of the last song, Adora began heading off somewhere all by herself.

Who cares. My friends are here. I need to keep watch over them. Right now everything seems to be
going so well. I need to stay here and make sure their night keeps going smoothly. Why should I care
what Adora’s doing?
A number of minutes later, Adora found herself in a side atrium. Wash rooms were off to the right,
hallway back to the ballroom on the left. In the center of the atrium was a large water fountain with a
statue of a mermaid in the middle of it.

Adora had already done what she needed to, but found herself reluctant to return to the ball. She was
having fun. She was happy to see all her friends for once being able to pretend that the weight of so
much wasn’t piled on their shoulders.

Here though. Alone here in this overly fancy foyer, Adora felt a peace. Quiet. No one staring at her.
No worrying about what all those looks meant. Were they excited to meet “the She-Ra”? Maybe
waiting for her to pick another fight? Was that becoming a thing she was known for? Did they think
her scars were ugly? She knew Zayn didn’t know how self conscious her scars were making her
feel. That was Adora’s fault, something else she was doing poor job of communicating. Speaking of
which…

“Hi Zayn,” Adora said as she felt fingers, two to be exact, press against her back. For a second
Adora didn’t think anything of it, but the fingers slowly started dragging themselves down, tracing
the scars. “Yes, I know, going backless wasn’t a good idea. Too late to do anything about it though.”
Adora was surprised that Zayn still hadn’t said anything. She was starting to get nervous about it.
“Zayn?” Adora inquired as she spun around.

Catra’s hand recoiled, as if suddenly realized that she had been touching an open flame the whole
time.

“Catra?!” Adora yelped, taking a step back. “Catra what are you doing here?!”

It took a bit before Catra said anything. Her ears were flattened against her head, and she was biting
her lip. She seemed to be forcing herself to not break eye contact with Adora.

“How did you even get here?” Adora asked, hoping this question might get a response.

“She-Ra doesn’t scar,” Catra whispered, seemingly disinterested in Adora’s questions.

“The one and only time,” Adora shrugged. Seeing Catra’s face was making Adora blush. “It’s okay.
They don’t hurt.”

“They probably did though.”

“That’s life. That’s war,” Adora answered. She tried to pick the mood back up. “So, whatcha up to?”
she asked with the chipperest tone she could.

“Just hanging around to make sure no one gives Scorpia and Entrapta a hard time,” Catra said. Her
ears perked back up. One of her trademark grins returned to her face. “You look, amazing, by the
way.”

Adora turned into a glowing red beacon. “Th-thank you!”

“Yeah I don’t know what idiot told you backless was a mistake but no. It was… It was… A good
decision,” Catra said, scrounging around for the right words.

“That idiot , that you called her, is Zayn. She’s actually very nice,” Adora quipped.

“Well if she doesn’t see how good this looks, then I’m standing by my statement,” Catra responded,
sticking her tongue out for good measure.

Zayn. Good. It was good to have a name to file all that unexplainable rage under.

Catra’s ears twitched. She let out a sigh. “And here comes the idiot now. Which is my cue to not be
here anymore. Later, Adora.” Catra turned, but Adora grabbed her by the arm.

“You don’t have to leave.”

“I’m not officially ‘here’. As in, not on the guest list. So yeah I kind of do.”

Adora let her go. They stood, staring at each other a moment. “It was nice seeing you,” Adora airily
said. Catra nodded. She hopped onto a statue against the far wall, scrambled up it and into the air
vent. Adora watched her go. Once Catra was gone Adora turned attention to the main hallway. She
squinted and nodded confidently.

It didn’t take long for Catra to get back to her nest. One of the perks of catlike reflexes. She plopped
back down onto the boards and let out a long, groaning sigh. Catra ran her hand over the sketchbook
and closed it. It went back into the backpack, replaced by a small monitor-like device that had
buttons on each side of its face. Right now something a little more distracting than doodling was
necessary.

Catra still wasn’t sure why she needed to go see Adora, to touch her. No matter how much physical
work she was doing, or how how grimey she got, Adora’s skin was always amazingly soft. Except
now for those eight lines on her back that Catra had left. Those were hard to the touch. A queasiness
washed over Catra. Even the hard parts were pleasant to touch. And her smell. It was her normal
odor, spun together with lavender. Catra could still smell it. In fact, it seemed to be getting strong.

Wait.

“You know, I’m really glad I didn’t let Glimmer talk me into the heels,” Adora said. Catra looked up
and found the blonde princess carefully making her way across one of the support beams. She
reached the platform of boards and sat next to Catra, giving a respectable six inches of space between
them. Catra greeted her with a look of astonishment.

“ What are you doing?” Catra stammered out.

“I don’t know, what are you doing?” Adora smiled back.

“I’m not lonely up here if that’s what you’re thinking,” Catra said, regaining her composure back.

“Never said you were.”

“Adora I’m fine, you can go back down to your little party. I’m sure Zayn is missing you.”

“If, if you really want me to go, I will,” Adora said. She gave Catra a hopeful smile. “But I’m
perfectly happy up here right now.”

Catra stared at Adora for a moment, their gaze seemingly locked together. She finally broke her stare
and picked up the device next to her.
“Look what I brought,” Catra said with an amused smile.

“A Playkid!” Adora squealed as Catra handed the device to her.

“You haven’t played one since you left, have you?” Catra asked.

“No! They don’t have them in Bright Moon.”

“Well that’s just tragic. Give it a go. It’s already got our fav loaded up,” Catra said.

Adora made a small little gasp and booted up the gaming device. “Thunder Strike!” she screamed as
the title flashed on screen. “You’re so much better at this game than I am,” Adora admitted. Catra
was leaning over her shoulder and watching Adora play the game. They both had on big grins.
Adora kept dying at the same obstacle. Catra kept poking fun at her for it each time.

“See, the problem is that you’re thinking too much,” Catra stated. “You just gotta react.” Adora died
a another couple of times.

“Not sure if I can react fast enough to clear that jump,” Adora conceded.

“Sure you can, your timing’s just slightly off. Here, do the level again,” Catra ordered. She reached
her arm around Adora, and was loosely holding Adora’s hand as she controlled the game. It took a
lot of effort for Adora to push past the fact that most of Catra’s body was pressed against her. The
way the fur of her arm brushed against Adora’s back alone was making it hard to concentrate. She
had to force herself not to think about it too much and just stay in the moment. Just as Adora reached
her problem jump, Catra shoved Adora’s hand, moving the thumbstick.

“AH! I made it over!” Adora exclaimed. She couldn’t stop giggling as she finished the rest of the
level with ease.

“There you go!” Catra chuckled.

“I GOT A HIGH SCORE ON THE LEVEL!”

“You got the #5 spot, congratulations,” Catra cracked.

“Just because you have the first four,” Adora quipped. They shot each other goofy smiles.

Suddenly Catra’s smile vanished. She scanned the crowd until she found her friends. They were
currently off to the side of the room, talking to Prince Akur, a couple of Midnight Sands guards,
Princesses Perfuma, Embra and Glimmer, Bow and Zayn.

“Something’s going on,” Catra said. Her ears were twitching rapidly. “Can’t hear everything they’re
saying… Shit.” Catra hopped up to her feet.

“What is it?”

“It seems that the Princess of Power’s gone missing, and guess who’s getting the blame?” Catra
scoffed.

Adora careful got to her feet. She had a pained expression on her face. “Oh no. I have to get back
down there!”

“I’ll meet you there!” Catra said. She turned the opposite way. Thanks to her feline prowess Catra
had more direct options down. With any luck she could keep things calm until Adora could get back
down.
“We have no idea what you’re talking about, we swear!” Scorpia pleaded.

“Then where’d she go Scorpia? She-Ra doesn’t just vanish!” Glimmer barked back.

“Please, I’m sure there’s been a misunderstanding,” Perfuma chimed in, arms still intertwined with
Entrapta. “There’s no way they would have done anything. They’ve been with us the entire night.”

“Yeah,” Bow added. “We’ve all been hanging out, Glim, when could they have slipped out to do
something like kidnap Adora?”

“I don’t know Bow! But last time they managed to rig bombs to an entire castle without us noticing!”
Glimmer huffed.

“Ya gotta admit Bow, it is pretty suspicious,” Embra chimed in.

“I don’t want to just accuse you of wrongdoing,” Prince Akur stated. “Given your track record
though, you have to understand why you’d be the most obvious suspects.”

“I just want Adora back! I don’t even care about why they would have done it,” Zayn begged.

“But, we didn’t…” Scorpa squeaked. Her frown was growing.

“Look, as someone who was their kidnappee, I’m willing to vouch for them now,” Bow said. He
shot Scorpia a quick wink. “I just don’t think they’d do something like this.”

“Then where’s our friend, Bow?!” Glimmer demanded.

“Who knows, why don’t you ask around instead of just accusing people right off the bat?”

The group turned as Catra made her way into the conversation.

“ YOU !” Glimmer hissed. “Of course. Still gonna try to act innocent now?”

“Because they are!” Catra growled.

“Then what are you doing here?” Glimmer sneered.

“I’ve been hanging around specifically for this reason. In case somebody tried to start something with
my friends.”

“Are we really supposed to believe that?” Embra chimed in. “You’re just, chilling here, just in case.
Because you care.”

Catra furrowed her brow. “Is that so hard to believe?”

The arguments ground to sudden halt when Adora strolled up between Glimmer and Zayn. “Hi
everyone. What’s going on?” She said, trying to play innocent.

“Adora!” Glimmer and Zayn both shouted in unison. They both smashed her into a hug. Catra glared
at them.

“We thought something happened to you!” Zayn exclaimed as her and Glimmer slowly released
Adora.

“I’m okay,” Adora assured them. “I just needed to get some air.” Adora shot a quick glance at Catra,
“and also get some jumping practice in,” she chortled. Just about everyone looked at Adora with
confusion. Except Catra, who let out a snicker despite all her efforts to suppress it.

Okay, good. This is good. Adora’s back and everyone’s calming the hell down. Maybe the night will
be fine after all.”

“Don’t suppose anyone’s going to apologize?” Catra put out there. She got glares from Zayn,
Glimmer, and Embra.

Scorpia put her claw on Catra’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Kitty,” she said, wearing her trademark
optimistic smile. Catra looked up and patted Scorpia’s claw.

It’s not, really. But everyone seems to be willing to let it go. That’s good enough I guess. But really,
it’s n-

“I’m sorry,” Adora said. “I shouldn’t have just run off like that. It was irresponsible.” Adora stared
intently at Catra, giving her a morose smile the whole time. Catra tilted her head slightly. She was
about to open her mouth, but got cut off before she could.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Zayn protested.

“Scorpia and Entrapta are just trying to have a pleasant evening, like the rest of us,” Adora fired
back.

“Yes,and they are free to stay, as no wrong doing actually happened,” Prince Akur decreed. “Miss
Catra, on the other hand, you were not on the guest list. I am a patient man. I’m willing to overlook
all of this if you agree to leave immediately. Do not worry, your friends will be taken care of.”

“How do I know this isn’t going to happen to my friends again?” Catra inquired, arms folded.

Bow playfully slapped Catra on the shoulder “Don’t worry, they’ll be with us.”

Catra nodded. “Thanks Bow.”

“We’ll take care of them,” Adora added. Adora had that look she always got when she was
determined. It was a look Catra believed. She gave an approving smile to Adora.

“Feel free to go home, cat,” Zayn glared. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Catra the entire time. Catra
returned the glare.

You know what idiot? You’re lucky that I’m in a fairly decent mood and am willing to that slide.

Finally breaking her glaring contest with Catra, Zayn turned her attention to Adora, who was looking
very nervous about the whole situation. Zayn put her arm around Adora’s waist and pulled her in
close. It was such a fast action that Adora let out a little yelp. She giggled as she slammed into
Zayn’s side.

Catra continued staring at Adora and Zayn.

Everything’s fine. This is fine. My friends are gonna be taken care of. I can go home. This is good.
The prince gave his word. Bow’s gonna keep any eye out for me. And Perfuma will be here to watch
over them too. I don’t need to be here. This is fine. Everything’s-
“No. You know what,” Catra began, grabbing Akur’s arm, “that’s not good enough.”

“Pardon me?!” the prince responded, seemingly taken aback by the brashness of Catra pulling at
him.

“I don’t trust you, Princey! Something happened and the very first thing you did is try to pin it on my
people!” Everyone had looks ranging from shock to anger over Catra’s sudden outburst.

“Catra!” Adora gasped, a look of horror on her face. Catra had no interest in acknowledging her.
Instead she kept pressing the Prince.

“And I don’t trust most of these princesses here! They’re just dying to throw us out!”

“Kitty, calm down, it’s okay!” Scorpia pleaded. It seemed to fall on deaf ears.

“How dare you!” Glimmer screamed.

“Oh shut up Glacier!”

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!” Glimmer’s hands started forming a glow around them.

Catra pointed at Glimmer. “You are so full of shit, you know that?” Her finger slid to Embra. “And
so are you, hiding in your stupid little mountain.” Catra’s finger moved to Zayn. “And you are super
full of shit! You couldn’t wait to try to get my friends tossed out!” Her finger finally landed on Prince
Akur, whose chest she was jamming it into. “And you especially are full of shit, you whiney, spoiled
brat!”

Akur slapped Catra’s hand away. “Okay, you’re going now, cat.” Akur snapped his fingers and the
guards began descending on Catra. She started pushing back.

“I’ll go when I want to go!” Catra cried, knocking a guard back.

Scorpia stepped in, shoving guards backwards. “Hands off her! Come on! It doesn’t have to come to
this! Let’s just all calm down!”

“That’s no longer an option!” Akur yelled. He pushed into the mob, encouraging his guards on. The
guards started getting rougher so Catra began doing the same. One of the guards raised a baton into
the air.

It all seemed to play out in slow motion, but still no one was able to stop it. The guard had raised his
baton at Catra. On instinct, Scorpia swung her claw. It wasn’t a planned attack, or coordinated strike.
The guard she aimed for moved out of the way, which left Scorpia’s claw hurtling through the air
until it slammed into the prince’s face. He flew back a good ten yards. The entire room screeched to
a halt. Scorpia immediately knew what she had done. Her eyes went huge as she jaw dropped.
Everyone watched with stunned faces as the prince slammed onto the ground.

For a moment, everything stopped. Everything was focused on the prince, now crumpled on the
ground. Catra felt around and tapped Scorpia on the arm, all the while staring at the prince.

“We gotta go,” Catra yelped.

“Yep!” Scorpia ageed.

Then everything sprung back into action. Scorpia and Catra turned, and with a quick, knowing
glance, communicated everything. Mattis and Entrapta turned and the four bolted for the door.
Perfuma ran after them.

Embra was the first princess to regain their senses. They slapped the nearest guard on the arm.
“Don’t just stand there, apprehend them!” Their command seemed to spread through the guards like
wildfire. They all began chasing.

The Horde group burst into a main hallway with a long staircase leading down to the main doors.
There were a good dozen guards in the room, all of whom trained their attention to the group.

“Shit,” Catra muttered. “My stuff.”

“What?” Scorpia asked, having not been entirely listening to Catra.

“I have to go get my stuff. Scorp, can you pick me up on the roof?”

“Yeah Kitty.” Scorpia examined the room as the guards began closing in on them. “May take a few
minutes.”

“Okay, meet you there!” Catra yelled then turned back. She slammed through the doors back into the
ballroom just in time to run into the guards. Catra barreled through them, easily outmaneuvering them
and taking a few down on the way. She sprinted through the ballroom. Most were too confused to
even try to stop her.

What was left of the princess circle had been attending to Akur when Catra zipped by. Glimmer
growled and grumbled to the guards around her to follow Catra.They got up and began pursuing.

Adora was watching Catra run, and then the guards follow. There had been something in the pit of
her stomach that had started aching as soon as the whole conversation began going south. Now it
was throbbing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and it was suddenly clear. Adora started
to move, only to be quickly yanked back, having only just remembered that her hand was firmly in
Zayn’s grasp. They stood, length of both of their arms between them, hands still clasped together,
staring at each other.

“What are you doing?” Zayn asked.

“I have to,” Adora answered. Her voice was tinged with melancholy , but full of conviction.

“Please, don’t do this,” Zayn begged, eyes starting to look glassy, wet.

Adora looked at Zayn, then back towards where Catra was running, then at their hands, held
together. Finally she looked back at Zayn, sadness in her eyes. “... I’m sorry,” Adora whispered, and
yanked her hand out of Zayn’s. She turned and began sprinting with all her energy.

Both Glimmer and Zayn screamed out Adora’s name at the same time.

The guards were at the edge of the ballroom when they heard something yelling behind them. They
turned to see Adora plowing a collapsable table into them.

Catra burst into the atrium and almost flew right into the fountain. She caught herself on the ledge of
it, where she figured to take a momentary rest. At least until her next obstacle arrived. There was one
set of footsteps behind her. Soon Catra could hear their huffing from running. Which sounded just
like…

“Adora?” Catra mused out loud just as Adora flew through the atrium doors. She spun around and
slammed the doors shut. Catra watched in awe as Adora, still in her normal Adora form, twisted the
metal handles together, effectively tying the metal things into a knot.

“That should hold them off for a few minutes at least,” Adora huffed between attempts to catch her
breath. She turned and smiled at Catra.

“What are you doing ?!” Catra asked, shocked to see her.

“Um, wow Catra, did you get hit in the head at some point? I’m clearly helping you escape,” Adora
playfully mocked.

“But why?”

“I, feel bad. This is all my fault. Again. I ran off, and now everyone’s night is ruined. Because I
decided to act like an impulsive child.”

“This wasn’t your fault,” Catra said. She looked at the doors, firmly shut. “Thanks though.” she
turned to look Adora in the eyes. “I mean it, thank you.”

“You are welcome,” Adora smiled.

With a couple simple motions Catra was already at the top of the statue in the room and opening the
air vent grille. Behind her she could hear Adora struggling. Catra turned around to see Adora
halfway up the statue.

“Um, what are you doing?” Catra questioned.

“How many times are you going to ask me that tonight?” Adora quipped.

“No no, don’t follow me,” Catra told her.

“What? Why not?” Adora asked, her mood visibly dropping.

“You wanna help me escape? Then keep a lookout here. Good? Good.” Catra didn’t wait for Adora
to answer before slithering into the air duct. She crawled a few feet then stopped and lightly punched
her own head.

What was that, you stupid cat? Yeah they were being kind of shitty, but you lost it.

And she’s being soooo nice.

Ugh, why is everything weird and complicated?

Scorpia, Entrapta, and Mattis burst through the main palace doors, a few scratches, but otherwise
fairing well.

“Social Experiment 2 Log, entry 3,” Entrapta was dictating while her pigtails ran for her.
“Experiment started out better than I could have hoped. For much of the night it went very well.”
Hearing Entrapta dictate, even at a time like this, made Scorpia chuckled.

“Do all your nights end up this wild, Scorpie?” Mattis asked as they jogged.

“Heh, only the ones worth remembering,” she responded.

Behind them, the palace doors burst open again. Scorpia looked back, but was put at ease when she
saw Perfuma running down the stairs. The group didn’t let up until they made it back to the skiff.
Perfuma caught up right after that.

“Sorry Perfuma, you probably don’t want to hop a ride with us,” Scorpia apologized.

Perfuma shook her head. “I know.”

“The Social Experiment came to a close much sooner than planned,” Entrapta was continuing. “The
experiment ended far too early. It was not a satisfactory conclusion.” Entrapta clicked the recorder
back off, looking more sad then when she began.

Mattis and Scorpia had climbed up on the skiff already. Scorpia was directing Mattis on how to help
her prep it. “We’re going to have to get going,” Mattis told Entrapta and Perfuma, who were just
staring at each other. “We’re about to have friends,” he continued, pointing. Guards were starting to
file out of the palace.

A mischievous grin grew on Perfuma. She turned and held her arms up. A giant green wall of vines
exploded out of the ground, creating a barrier between the palace and the entire parking area.

“That should buy us a few minutes,” Perfuma giggled.

“I-I’m sorry I ran off without saying anything,” Entrapta stammered.

“It’s okay. I understand!” Perfuma smiled.

An idea popped in Perfuma’s head suddenly. She snatched the recorder out of the pigtail’s grasp.

“Social Experiment 2 Log, entry 4. Turns out, there was a satisfactory conclusion to the evening,”
Perfuma beamed. She clicked the recorder off and pushed it back into the pigtail. Entrapta gave her a
confused look for a second before Perfuma grabbed her by the collar and pulled her in for a kiss.
Their lips hit each other and Entrapta’s pigtails began twitching wildly. After a few stiff seconds
Entrapta began melting into Perfuma’s arms.

They finally separated with a gasp for air. Entrapta had a big stupid grin as she airily stared at
Perfuma, who was smiling immensely.

Suddenly Entrapta was lifted up into the skiff by a meaty red claw. Perfuma looked at Scorpia and
nodded. “Get her home safe.”

Scorpia smiled back at Perfuma, “Always do.”

At the top of the Midnight Palace was a roof garden. Gorgeous and well kept, it was a great place to
come to reflect, or to wait for a getaway skiff. Catra strolled along the walkway, bushes on either
side. She leaned over the low wall at the edge of the garden and idly stared of into the horizon.
“What was so important that you’d risk getting arrest for?” Adora asked.

The sudden sound of Adora’s voice nearly made Catra jump off the roof.

“Stalker!” Catra gasped.

“It’s nice being one of the few people who know how to sneak up on you,” Adora joked, leaning
against the wall next to Catra.

Catra grunted and smiled. “You know, I’m starting to doubt that we’re ever getting invited to another
dance ever again,” she chuckled.

“Haha, yeah, it’s looking pretty unlikely!”

“Know what? Who cares,” Catra said as she pushed herself off the wall. She looked Adora up and
down and grinned. It made Adora blush. She averted her gaze in embarrassment, but her attention
was brought back by the sight of Catra’s hand, extended out. Being offered. Adora stared intently at
it for a few seconds before placing her hand into Catra’s. “We’ll just start out our ball then!” Catra
chuckled as she spun them both.

Adora was giggling profusely. “First rule, no stupid greeting procedures!” They swayed and swished
and pulled and pushed and laughed and almost fell into the bushes at least three times.

“We’ll call it, the Essteare Memorial Ball!” Catra exclaimed.

“Wait, is Professor Essteare dead?!”

Catra slyly grinned. “He’s been dead to me for years.” Catra spun them again and dipped Adora low.
Even lower than intended. It took all the balance both of them could muster to stay on their feet.

Their faces were inches apart. Adora could feel Catra’s breath, gently cascading onto her cheeks.

She didn’t intend to, but Catra found herself gazing into Adora’s eyes and smiling. They didn’t get to
stay that way for long though. Catra’s ears began twitching. She pulled Adora back up into a
standing position.

“Someone’s coming,” Catra warned.

There was a sigh from Adora. “All the doors are jammed closed. I WONDER who could get around
locked doors.”

“Glinda’s getting on my last nerve,” Catra groaned.

Adora busted out laughing. “Glinda? Catra that’s just lazy.”

“Look, being this witty is hard work! And I wasn’t planning on having to use a bunch of her
nicknames tonight and I’m not going to waste the good ones when she’s not even around!” Catra
protested, which just made Adora laugh at her harder. Catra was able to chuckle at it too as she made
her way back over to the edge.

“Come on Scorpia, what’s taking you so long?” Catra mumbled under her breath.

“You didn’t answer me, by the way.” Adora was standing a few feet away, an inquisitive smirk on
her face. “About what you went back for. I mean sure, the Playkid, but that’s not that valuable.”

Catra sighed. “You’ not going to let it go are you.”

“Nope.”

“Fiiiiiine,” Catra moaned. She knelt down and opened the backpack. With one smooth motion the
jacket was yanked out and slid onto Catra. Adora gasped.

“My jacket!”

“No, my jacket,” Catra chortled.

Adora smiled wide. “Your jacket,” she agreed. “You kept it.”

Catra’s layer of fur only did so much to mask her blushing. “You gave it to me,” she mumbled. Catra
loudly cleared her throat. “I’m surprised you didn’t get yourself a new one.”

“Can’t, actually,” Adora sighed. “It was specially made by one of the Horde’s chief designers. I tried
finding someone in Bright Moon who could, but no luck. It’s the fabric, haven’t been able to find a
match outside of the Horde. Everything’s been, too soft.”

“This does have a very particular level of firmness,” Catra remarked. Adora approached her and
straightened the collar.

“It really does look great on you,” Adora reminded her. Catra grabbed one of Adora’s hands and
held it.

The Horde skiff raised into view at the edge of the garden.

“Wow. I really feel like a jerk here tonight. I keep ruining everyone’s moments,” Scorpia said.

Both Adora and Catra giggled.

“It’s alright, Scorpia,” Adora said.

Suddenly the door to the garden flung open. Glimmer and Bow were standing in it. Glimmer was
huffing, hands glowing, eyes wild. Bow stood behind her, a look of concern all over his face. Their
appearance prompted Catra to let Adora go. She snatched up her backpack and hopped onto the
skiff. Adora ran to the edge of the garden and leaned against the wall. Catra smiled at her and gave a
little wave as the skiff pulled away. Adora stood there, clutching the wall, watching as the skiff sped
off.

“Was she wearing your jacket?!” Glimmer stomped up the walkway towards Adora. “I thought you
said it was destroyed?!” Adora didn’t respond immediately. She seemed preoccupied with watching
the skiff.

“It’s been a long night, Glim,” Adora finally answered. “Can we discuss it tomorrow?” Adora asked,
still watching the skiff.

“I think we kind of need to know now, Adora!” Glimmer barked.

“Glimmer, it’s fine,” Bow assured her. “Maybe going home and getting a good night’s rest wouldn’t
be a bad idea.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t let this just slide Bow,” Glimmer scoffed. “Adora, what were you thinking ?
Running off? Attacking royal guards? Protecting that cat?? You owe us an explanation!”

Adora perked up. “I. Owe? You?” Adora didn’t seem to notice it, but Glimmer and Bow definitely
noticed as the solid stone edge wall crumbled under Adora’s tightening grip.
 “I OWE you?” Adora screamed as she turned to face them. Her brow was furrowed. Her eyes were
puffy. Her hands were balled into fists and were shaking.

“Oh please do tell me what I owe you Glimmer. I only left the home, as messed up as it was, that I
grew up in.”

“Adora…” Glimmer squeaked. Adora was slowly stalking toward them. Glimmer and Bow both had
faces of fear as they gave Adora more ground.

“I only abandoned the people that raised me. And now regularly fight the people who used to call me
their friend. The girl who taught me how to do eyeliner? Punched her so hard she flew out of her
armor. The guy who kept bandaging me up whenever I got a scrape or a bruise as a kid? Threw him
through a wall.

“I know your history with the Horde. I get it, Glimmer. But they were my family. For better and
worse. They’re half the reason I’m the person that I am. And you don’t even care !”

Adora took a beat to think. Bow and Glimmer were cowering together.

“And that cat ? I gave up my chance for a real relationship with her. For ANY relationship with her.
For what? Fealty to Bright Moon. Honor to Grayskull. I’m stuck in a blood feud with the woman I
LOVE. The woman I’ve ALWAYS loved. For you. For your mother. For that damn sword!

“And I OWE you?

“What more can I owe you?! I’ve already GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING!”

After she finished, Adora stood there, feet away, seething at Glimmer and Bow. They weren’t sure
what to do, so they just stood there, trying to look at their friend, who had become an exploding
volcano of rage and sadness and anger and regret.

“I’m going home,” Adora said, unnervingly calm. She walked past them, then stopped as Bow and
Glimmer turned to follow her. “Alone,” she said, then marched through the door leading back into
the palace.

Bow and Glimmer stood there, holding each other, tears rolling down their cheeks as they stared into
the empty doorway.

“...Bow,” Glimmer sniffled.

“I know, Glimmer, I know,” he whimpered.

Chapter End Notes

EDIT!: Oh yeah hey! Sorry there were more notes that I wanted to add but forgot
originally. So, Bow mentions Entrapta is wearing a cummerbund to the dance. I'm
implying that her Midsummer Ball outfit is basically the fanart Rae Geiger made:
https://twitter.com/raegeii/status/1093966509460733952 And please be clear, that wasn't
drawn for me or this fic, I'm just incorporating it in. Also, my assumption for everyone
else is that they're wearing similar outfits that they wore to the Princess Prom. Adora's
outfit style changed because she's still trying to find her style.

When I was young, I wanted to be a musician. Obviously that never worked out
because CLEARLY I'm not good at writing songs! I hoped that chantey turned out
okay enough.

Just so you don't think that I just write EVERYTHING that comes to mind, there's
actually a lot of outline that didn't make it. Including: a scene actually showing Catra
trying to teach Entrapta how to dance; at least one more Scorpiow moment at the dance;
two more Glembra scenes; Adora and Catra's scene together in her nest was originally
twice as long; Akur had a scene to establish him; I kept trying to find more for Sea
Hawk to do; and I could have probably made half a chapter just on the mischief that
Mermista, Frosta, Entrapta, and Perfuma were getting into. Needless to say, I really
enjoyed this chapter. I hope you did too!

Chapter 11 is next Sunday Night!

Next Time:
"Wait, is THAT where her name came from?!"
 Cards Laid Bare
Chapter Notes

Okay, didn't get as much editing done as I wanted to. So I will probably take another
pass or two at it. But if you spot anything, please feel free to point it out.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Anyone who could afford to be someone in the Horde lived in Crescent Valley. A deep gash cut in
the ground at the edge of the Fright Zone, Crescent Valley was a glittering metropolis as much built
into the sides of the valley as it was along the valley floor. Retired war heroes, dignitaries, those that
profited greatly from the business of war. On the surface, Crescent Valley was one of the nicest
places in the Horde. Dig a little deeper and one would also find one of the nastiest.

Catra made her way down one of Crescent Valley’s wide streets. The city was one of the only ones
in the Horde with paved roads and sidewalks. They looked weird to Catra. Then again, she grew up
in a tower of steel and wires, who was she to judge?

It was early in the morning, many of the shops that Catra passed were just opening. She wanted to
get an early start, in the hopes that there’d be less people who would recognize “the Force General”.
The plan was working great, thus far she’d only passed one other person, who didn’t seem at all
interested in her.

The early start was also a result of not having slept at all the night before. She hadn’t changed, or
even taken off her jacket. She had been a ball of energy as soon as they got back from the dance. So
she stayed up all night researching, which brought her to her current destination: a little, nondescript
shop in a sleepy corner of Crescent Valley. The sign said “Closed”, but Catra tried the door anyway.
It opened for her.

Inside the shop was lit with harsh yellow bulbs, that bounced off the hardwood floors to give the
room a hazy sunset glow. Across from the door was a counter, with hundreds of little drawers and
cubby holes behind it. A little bell had been connected to the door, alerting those within earshot of
Catra’s arrival.

“I’m sorry, we’re still cl-” a short, elderly man started as he came around the corner from a back
room. “-Oh, Force General. This is a surprise.”

“Hey Mr. Pointe,” Catra smirked. “You weren’t an easy man to find.”

Mr. Pointe chuckled. “That was intentional, lass.” He took a deep breath as he climbed up onto a
stool behind the bar. “Seems I didn’t make it hard enough though.”

“What can I say, I was motivated.

“I also had a certified genius who spent the night ‘high on love’ cranking out search algorithms on
maybe the most powerful computer setup on all of Etheria,” Catra grinned. “So, you know, don’t
blame yourself.”

An uncomfortable silence fell on the shop. Mr. Pointe sat there, cleaning his glasses with a cloth.
Catra simply watched him.

“This very thing is what I was trying to get away from,” Mr. Pointe said. “I did my time. I’m done
with ‘Horde’ work.”

“Yes, I understand Mr. Pointe. But you are the best at what you do. Please, I just need you to do one
more job.”

The old man rubbed the bridge of his nose before putting his glasses back on. “I suppose it’s not a
healthy choice for me to say ‘no’ to you.”

Catra jumped back and threw her hands up. “What? Oh, no! I’m not that kind of Force General.
Horde’s doing things differently now.”

“What, you displace old Hordak?” Mr. Pointe chuckled.

“No, of course not!” Catra was quick to correct.

“Heh, good luck with the whole ‘differently’ then.”

“Look,” Catra began, determined to get this back on track, “I’m actually trying to keep this off the
Horde radar, for now at least. I’m just coming here as myself, hoping for the help of a sweet old man,
one last time.”

A long, drawn out sigh came from Mr. Pointe. “Alright lass, what exactly did you need?”

“Here,” Catra pulled a folded up piece of paper out. There were a number of designs sketched out on
it. “I was hoping you could help me with this.”

As far as Adora was concerned there was not going to be anything more important to do than be in
bed all day. Buried deep underneath her covers, Adora’s head was swirling with the events of the
previous night. So many good moments. So many bad ones. Thinking about Bow and Glimmer and
Zayn just made Adora groan and roll over, attempting to wrap herself tighter in her blankets.

There was only one place Adora really wanted to go back to. That rooftop. Before the bad parts.
Back to the part where they danced. The part where she held Adora’s hand. The part where she was
wearing the jacket Adora gave her. The part where her hair smelled like cinnamon. The part where
she gazed into Adora’s eyes, and for the first time since Adora left the Horde, Adora thought she saw
happiness reflected back.

The room was suddenly filled with the sound of someone knocking at the door. Adora grumbled and
buried her head under her pillow. After a minute there the knocking resumed. “UUUUGGGH,”
Adora moaned out. “Just a minute!” she yelled right after. Adora flopped out of bed and quickly
scrounged around the floor for something approximating presentable clothing. A trail of low,
indistinct mumbling followed Adora as the stumbled to the door.

“Can I h-” Adora began as she opened the door, but stopped. “-Zayn,” Adora breathed.

Zayn was standing in the doorway, fully in uniform, and stone faced. “The Queen needs to see you,
immediately.” With that she spun around to walk away, but Adora grabbed her by the arm. Zayn
stared at Adora’s hand for a second, then yanked herself free.

“The Queen needs to see you, immediately .” Zayn didn’t give Adora any time to respond. In a few
long strides she was rounding the corner, out of sight.

Adora closed the door. She leaned against it, forehead first, and let out a long sigh. “Dammit.”

No matter how many times she was in it, Queen Angella’s throne room intimidated Adora. It was so
open, so cavernous, voices would echo and bounce back into you. The walls glistened with gold and
the floor shimmered as if you were walking on glass. Even after all this time, Adora still felt out of
place here.

At the far end of the room the Queen sat on her throne, extended out into the air past the opening in
the wall. She was bathed in daylight. Glowing. Zayn marched a few feet in front of Adora, each
footstep was deafening.

It all felt off. Usually guards were stationed along the walls, and there was almost always at least a
few royal dignitaries milling about. Today though, Angella, Zayn, and Adora were the only people
in the room.

“Psst. Hey, where is everyone?” Adora tried whispering to Zayn. She just continued marching,
paying no attention to Adora.

After another moment Zayn stopped and bowed. Adora was so preoccupied with trying to get Zayn
to talk to her she didn’t realize at first, but tried recovering as quick as possible and also bowed.

“Your Majesty, Princess Adora, as you requested,” Zayn stated before moving off to the side,
leaving Adora in the center of the room, alone.

“I’m not.. Really.. A.. You know what, that’s probably not important right now,” Adora stumbled.
She could feel the weight of Angella’s gaze bearing down on her. “Y-Your Majesty,” she said,
bowing even lower.

“Do you know why we are here this morning?” Angella questioned. Even without trying, her voice
boomed across the room.

Adora let out a massive puff of air in an attempt to buy time. “Yeeeee-noo? Oh, is this about Swift
Wind? Did he leave a mess in one of the hallways again? I can assure you, I’ve already talked to him
about that,” Adora said all at once.

Angella let out her own sigh. “Adora, it is okay to just say ‘no’ once in a while.” Adora blushed
from embarrassment. Angella sat up straight in her throne.

“We are here this morning because I have been informed of something troubling,” Angella said.
Adora picked her head up and looked at the queen in confusion. “Adora, you have been accused of
consorting with the Horde.”

“WHAT!” flew out of Adora’s mouth. Her eyes went wide, her mouth was hanging open as he
eyebrows furrowed. Angella held her hand out towards Zayn. Adora whipped around. Zayn was
glaring at her.
“You kept defending everyone in the Horde last night. You attacked Midnight Sands guards. You
helped the Horde’s Force General escape custody,” Zayn listed, for the first time showing any hint of
anger.

“How do you answer these charges?” Angella sternly asked.

Suddenly Adora was having trouble breathing. Her mouth kept opening, trying to form words,
instead she just gasped for air as she peered up at the Queen. “I’m not… It wasn’t like… I mean, I
did… But I’m not…” she kept stuttering.

“Why did you help Catra escape, Adora?” Zayn sneered behind her.

“No… It wasn’t like that… I’m not a traitor… Your Majesty, I’m not a traitor!”

In one effortless motion, Angella rose out of her chair. Her wings unfurled slightly, and twinkled in
the daylight. “Were you protective of the Horde contingent last night?”

She was trying to hold herself together, but it was getting harder and harder for Adora. Tiny pools of
tears were starting to form in the corner of her eyes. “Midnight Sands is neutral territory, I was just
trying to remind everybody of that. They just wanted to have a fun evening.” Adora sighed. “And
yes, I did attack those poor guards, which did help Catra escape. I-I didn’t do it for the Horde
though.” Adora slammed her eyes shut. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Angella, her hands hanging interlocked together in front of her, turned to Zayn. “Thank you guard.
Please leave us,” the Queen ordered. Zayn opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it as
soon as she made eye contact with Queen Angella. Instead, Zayn just bowed and made her way out
of the throne room. The Queen began making her way down the floatings steps, until she was
standing just in front of Adora.

“I… I’m still loyal… to Bright Moon, your Majesty… I swear,” Adora sniffled. She was doing her
best to hold back her tears, and just barely succeeding. Her only saving grace was a spot on the floor
that she had decided to fixate on on a method of distraction.

“I know,” Queen Angella plainly stated.

Adora’s head shot up. At some point the Queen’s expression had softened, with a sincere smile, and
forgiving eyes.

“You do?” Adora breathed. Her eyes were puffy as she used her sleeve to wipe her nose. Angella
rose her long, slender fingers to gently cup Adora’s chin.

“I see pain in this face, not betrayal,” Angella said. Her voice was ethereal, gentle like a soft breeze.
“For a long time I had concerns about your loyalty, Adora. I was worried that your connections to
the Horde would be a weakness, but in time I’ve come to realize that it is your greatest strength. You
understand, perhaps more than anyone, the humanity involved in war. You’d save them too, if they
let you.” Angella let out a little hum. “You saw them being mistreated, and you didn’t stand idly by,
even when it put you against your friends. That’s the She-Ra I want leading my army.”

It was too much. Too much to hold back any more. Tears began rolling down Adora’s face, one after
another after another and then a deluge. Queen Angella pulled Adora into a hug. Adora wrapped her
arms tightly around the angelic woman. Angella stroked Adora’s hair.

Their embrace went on for a few minutes. The Queen was in no rush. In the year and a half since she
came to Bright Moon, Adora had earned her place in the Rebellion. Her place in Bright Moon. Her
place in Angella’s family. The arrival of She-Ra had given the Queen the hero destined to save them;
it also gave her a second daughter.

Eventually Adora pulled herself away at least far enough to allow herself to wipe her messy nose.
Adora rose her bloodshot, glassy gaze up to the Queen. “I’m sorry for all this. I’m sorry I made a
scene last night. I’m really sorry for any trouble I may have caused with Midnight Sands. Definitely
wasn’t something I was trying to do. I was just…. I don’t have a good answer for any of it really.”

Angella examined Adora, staring into her eyes. Adora could feel the Queen piercing into her soul.
“The Force General, Catra was her name?” Angella inquired. Adora nodded. “You knew her when
you were still in the Horde?” Adora nodded again. “You love her.”

The words punched Adora in the gut, sending her into a minor coughing fit. “Did Glimmer tell
you?” she stammered. Angella smiled and wiped a tear off Adora’s cheek with her thumb.

“No, this told me all I needed. Does she love you back?”

“Hahaha. Ahem. I…” Adora began with a stutter. She took a pause.

“If you asked me that yesterday I would have told you with 100% certainty that she does not. But
now, I’m honestly not sure what she feels about me. Catra’s always been pretty good at hiding her
true feelings. She’s a master of mental walls.” Adora sighed, “I used to think I knew how to see past
most of them.” Adora sighed again. Deeper, more deflating this time. “If I had to guess, still probably
not.”

“Then there is no reason to despair,” Angella said. “I heard a lot of ‘probably’ and ‘unsure’, meaning
that there is still a chance that she does.”

Adora’s face contorted into a smirk. “Would that be okay? Me, having, something, with the second-
in-command of our enemy?”

“Dangerous, to say the least. I trust you Adora. I know where your loyalties lie. I trust that you will
be careful.”

This time the hug had more energy, more smiles, more giggling. “Thank you, your Highness.”

“Besides,” Angella whispered into Adora’s ear. “I’d be too much of a hypocrite it I told you not to
follow your heart just because it was dangerous.” Adora pulled away to look at the Queen, pure
confusion on her face. Angella let out a small chuckled. “Come, sit with me.”

They made their way over to the floating stairs. Adora sat on the bottom one, Angella took one a few
steps higher. “When I was about your age, Castaspella and I loved to visit Seaworthy. The beaches.
The parties. The sailors. I was the Princess of Bright Moon, everyone loved me. Or so I thought.
Pirates kidnapped me during one of our particularly wild visits. They thought I could be ransomed
off for a steep price.

“Unfortunately for them my powers were well developed, even for that age. By that evening I had
taken over the ship. Almost made the captain walk the plank. I spared him though.”

“Out of mercy?” Adora asked, hang on every word.

“Because he was cute,” Angella chortled. “The Dread Pirate Micah indeed.”

Adora gasped. “King Micah was a pirate?! I thought he was a sorcerer.”

“He was, eventually. He grew up being trained in Mystacor. But something happened, something he
refused to ever talk about. He ran from his power for years, until he met me.”

“You helped him find his way,” Adora smiled.

“Micah was a scarred, broken man for many years. I helped him, loved him, held his hand every step
of the way, but in the end Adora, he found his own way. He just needed someone to believe in him.

“Not that it was always easy. Most of my friends thought I was crazy. You should have seen my
mother when I brought a pirate home! ‘Untrustworthy’ she said! ‘Pirates only care about the sea and
their ship!’ I was warned repeatedly,” Angella chuckled. “And yes it’s true, he did love that ship of
his,” Angella grinned from ear to ear, “the Glimmering Cutlass.”

A giant gasp escaped Adora as she jumped to her feet. “Wait, is THAT where her name came
from?!”

“Our little secret,” Angella smiled.

“Glimmer doesn’t know?! Can I tell her?! Pleeeaaassssseee?!”

“Absolutely not.” Angella rose to her feet and made her way back to Adora. She set a gentle hand on
Adora’s shoulder. “A bratty princess and a broken pirate found love together, and created something
beautiful. That is to say, Adora, there’s no correct way to do this. There is no criteria for who you
should love, other than they be the person, that when you close your eyes and think about them, your
entire soul lights up and glows.”

At that moment, Adora felt lighter than she could remember in a long time. “Thank you, your
Majesty. I think I know that feeling. Back when we were growing up, sometimes Catra and I would
just hang out together on my bed. Doing homework or playing games. Something. When she’d get
really relaxed she’d start purring,” Adora stopped to let her thoughts drift for a moment. Queen
Angella squinted her eyes at Adora. “The way that vibration would run through my body, it felt like
I was on higher plane of existence.”

“Did you say, “purring”?” Angella questioned.

Adora blushed. “Oh, yeah. Catra’s something called a-”

“-Magicat?” Angella cut Adora off.

Hearing someone else say it was a shock to Adora. It took her a few seconds to realize that Angella
had said it as a question. Adora nodded. “How did you know? I’m actually trying to research
magicats right now. We never knew what she was growing up, and nobody else in the Horde
seemed to either.”

Angella spun around and wandered to the edge of throne room. She was staring out into the open air.
“No, I would think not… That’s… Impossible. Isn’t it?” Angella seemed to be talking to herself.
Which was good, because Adora had no idea how to answer the Queen’s questions. Angella flicked
her wrist out, and a door emerged out of the wall near her throne. Angella began walking toward it.
She grabbed Adora’s wrist as she passed her. “Follow me,” the queen stated.

The door opened into a shaft with seemingly no way down it. Angella grabbed Adora and pulled her
in. “Hold on,” Angella said and jumped down. The Queen’s translucent wings spread. They slowly
floated down the shaft, which didn’t take long. At the bottom was a sizable single room with
bookshelves against every wall and more shelves and a couple long tables in the center. Every
surface was overflowing with books.
“Whoa,” Adora gasped as they reached the bottom. There were no other openings in the room beside
the shaft they just descended down. Purple flames flicked on, bathing the room in a soft light.

“My private library,” Angella informed her. The Queen made her way over to one of the shelves and
began rummaging through it. Adora wandered into the room. The books seemed old, and bursting
with history. Some felt like they were literally crackling with magic. “Be mindful,” Angella called
out. She had disappeared behind more shelves. “Some of the things in here are quite delicate, and
others quite dangerous.”

It took a good five minutes for Angella to find what she was looking for. She reemerged in the center
of the room, smile on her face. “Feel privileged Adora, Glimmer’s never been allowed in here, even
though she’s tried.”

“I’ll try not to rub it into Cutlass’ face,” Adora quipped. Angella chuckled as she handed Adora two
books. “What are these?” Adora asked.

“The libraries of Bright Moon will contain plenty of knowledge and history on magicats, but I
thought these might help you get a better sense of what kind of people they actually were,” Angella
stated. She put her hand on the top book, a thick blue book with silver trimming. “The collected
works of Mai’Shup, most talented poet in magicat history. No one captured the heart and creativity
of their culture quite like her.

“And this,” Angella began, shuffling the books in Adora’s hands. The other book was now on top, it
was a little thinner, black with gold leaf on the front. “This is actually a collection of handwritten
letters,” Angella stopped. She took the book back and ran her fingers over it. She had suddenly
become melancholy. A sad little smile cracked on her face.

“I put this together afterwards. To remember. It’s a collection of letters between myself, and Empress
C’yra, the last ruler of Half Moon, kingdom of the magicats.”

“You knew the last ruler of the magicats?!” Adora gasped.

“More than knew. C’yra was my best friend. We grew up together. Did everything together. That
became much harder when we had to take over rule of our kingdoms, but we made it work. We
made sure to write each other every week. At least, until Half Moon fell.”

“What happened to them?” Adora breathed.

Angella’s eyes narrowed. There was a sudden bitterness in her tone, made all the more frightening
by how seldom it was heard. “The Horde. Half Moon was on the other side of the Horde as we are,
far to the west. For us to get to it we had to cross the ocean. For a long time they were safe. They
were strong. But the Horde kept pushing its borders west. We weren’t able to get help to them in
time. We tried,” Angella trailed off again. It was obvious that she was starting to be overcome with
emotion. Feeling Adora’s hand on her shoulder pulled her out of it. “The Horde viewed them as a
threat, and decimated Half Moon. Reports indicated that the Horde took no prisoners from the battle.
The complete genocide of the magicats.

“Except, apparently not. One still lives, and is ironically leading the Horde.”

“She doesn’t know,” Adora said, sounding a little defensive. “Catra was an orphan, same as me. The
Horde doesn’t want you knowing where you came from. Once you’re theirs, the Horde becomes all
that matters.”

Angella took a deep breath. “My apologies, I wasn’t trying to attack Catra’s character.
“The loss of Half Moon and C’yra was a crushing blow. The Rebellion never really recovered. At
least not until you came along.”

“Empress C’yra was important to the Rebellion?”

That got a laugh from Angella. “C’yra and Micah founded the original Rebellion. Those two were
magnificent friends in their own right. In a way, they were the original Adora and Glimmer. They
convinced me to form the first Princess Alliance.” Angella had a dreamy look on her face. “C’yra
and I had envisioned leading the Princess Alliance to glory, and then passing it onto our daughters. I
had hoped for the day when Glimmer and C’yra the 2nd would lead Etheria to liberation, together.
Only poor C’yra the 2nd met the same fate as her mothers.”

“Ahem,” Angella cleared her throat. “Look at me, reminiscing.” The Queen handed the book back.

Adora gave her a big hug. “Thank you, your Highness!” she smiled.

“I have a question though,” Adora said. “If they were the ‘Adora’ and ‘Glimmer’, what did that
make you?”

“I guess, I was their Bow,” Angella laughed.

Adora tightened the hug. “That’s the highest honor anyone could achieve.”

The doors to the throne room creaked open. Adora slipped out, her new books tucked under her
arms. She had hoped that maybe she could slip away without anyone noticing. Instead, as soon as
Adora pushed the door shut, she turned to see Zayn leaning against the wall opposite from her.
Adora sucked in a deep breath through her nose as she stared intently at Zayn, then turned to leave.

“I’m sorry,” Zayn called out after Adora. It was enough to get Adora to stop walking. She stood,
back still to Zayn. “What was I supposed to do Adora?” Zayn asked. “FIghting guards? Helping the
Force General of the Horde? What was I supposed to think?” Zayn pushed herself off the wall and
slowly inched towards Adora. “You ditched me! For that… that brat!”

Adora spun around. Her face was a mix of sadness and anger, and seemed to fluctuate back and
forth between the two from moment to moment. “She’s not a brat,” Adora said. It came out flat.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

Seemed anger was winning. Adora pushed herself forward. “What do you want me to say? You
accused me of treason! ”

“You left me no choice. I did what I had to do for Bright Moon,” Zayn defended herself.

“There’s always a choice Zayn, you could have talked to me,” Adora growled.

Zayn stared into Adora’s eyes. It seemed to cut the anger in both of them.

“I was scared of what your answers would be,” Zayn admitted. There was a silence as both of them
took a deep breath. “It’s her, isn’t it.”

“What?” Adora asked, terrified of what Zayn was asking her.

“Catra. She’s the one. The other girl you couldn’t get over.”

“... Yes,” Adora whispered as her head lowered.

Zayn grunted in acknowledgement. “Did I ever really have a chance?”

There wasn’t an answer.

Which was the answer.

“I’m so sorry,” Adora finally said. Zayn just grunted again to indicate she had heard Adora.

“Where will you go now?” Zayn asked.

“Oh, probably just back to my room for the day. Maybe try to work the nerve up to go find Bow and
Glimmer,” Adora mused. Zayn cocked her head in confusion. “What?”

“Have, you not been banished by the Queen?”

“What?! No, of course not!” Adora blurted out. “She did let me borrow some books though. You
really thought I would be banished?”

“Well I mean, kind of, yeah. You DID help the Force General escape.”

“Yes, but for love, not treason,” Adora reassured her.

Zayn closed her eyes and rubbed her temple.

Adora gave her a curious look. “Did, you want me to get banished?”

“What? No, of course not Adora. I’m just sort of amazed by our Queen’s grace sometimes.”

“Yeah, she really is something.” Adora placed her free hand on Zayn’s arm. “I really am sorry about
last night. If you want, we could talk about it over dinner,” Adora gave her a hopeful smile.

At first Zayn remained quiet, and just stared at the hand on her arm. She finally looked up to make
eye contact with the blonde woman in front of her. “I… Can’t tonight. Sorry.”

“Oh, of course. Well, just let me know if you do want to, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Zayn replied. She shuffled her feet a little. “I, should probably get back to work.”

“Right. Absolutely,” Adora agreed. “I’ll see you around, Zayn.” Adora spun back around and
scurried off.

Zayn watched intently as she left. After Adora was out of sight Zayn took a deep breath. “See you
around, Princess.”

“Explain yourself, Force General!” Hordak barked. He was perched in his throne, at full attention.
Catra stood a few yards away. The force of Hordak’s words seemed to push her back. “It was you
that convinced me that a peace treaty with Midnight Sands was a better immediate solution than an
outright attack. Despite my reservations I let you try. And now you’re telling me that you jeopardized
the entire thing in one night?!”

“Lord Hordak, my apologies! It was a misunderstanding,” Catra stammered.

“What were you doing that?” Hordak demanded.

“Er, I needed to follow up with the King, in regards to our last round of negotiating,” Catra said. “I
can fix this,” Catra promised.

“Yes, you will. I allowed the treaty because it was seen as a sign of benevolence. Now it looks like a
sign of weakness.”

“We are not weak, my Lord,” Catra assured him.

“I do not care what it requires. Ensure that Midnight Sands understands that .”

“What did Lord Hordak say?” Scorpia asked as Catra stormed back into the lab.

Catra didn’t immediately answer. Instead she examined the table that was sitting between Scorpia,
Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. They appeared in the middle of a card game. Catra could feel her chest
heaving harder and harder as she glared at the table. Then, with one smooth motion she flipped the
table into the air. It went spinning, missing Kyle by inches. Cards and chips flew about the room.
Everyone jumped up in astonishment.

“Kitty!” Scorpia yelled with indignation.

“Yeah, there’s our Catra!” Lonnie beamed, basking in the random act of violence.

“Catra that almost hit me!” Kyle cried.

In an instant Catra was on Kyle. She grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him high into the air. Her
arm was wrenched back, balled into a tight fist. “You want to know what a hit really feels like Kyle?
Is that what you?” Catra felt a tugging on her arm. She turned to see Rogelio grasping her pulled
back arm. “Let me go this instant!” she snarled. Rogelio didn’t listen. Catra tossed Kyle down and
gave her full attention to Rogelio. With Kyle out of the way Rogelio shoved Catra back. Her claws
flexed out, but before anything else happened, a giant purple pigtail shot between them.

“My lab is not for fighting!” Entrapta barked. “Unless, of course, it’s in the name of science. But this
is not.” Entrapta closed the distance with Catra. The princess’ eyes were wide. “ Is this for science?!”
Entrapta excitedly asked, a hint of hope in her voice.

It was most likely just Entrapta’s habit of sometimes completely misreading social cues, but there was
a small part of Catra that wondered if Entrapta understood how people worked a lot more than she let
on. The earnest question threw Catra just enough for her moment of anger to pass.

“No, not for science,” Catra groaned.

“Okay then,” Entrapta pulled up a mini-monitor and tapped at it. “There are many training rooms
throughout the Fright Spire. Here are the three closest,” she quipped and handed Catra the mini-
monitor. Entrapta gave her a beaming smile then bounced back off to her workstation.
Catra glanced around the room at the mess she made. The anger was passing, but the shame was just
starting. Her shoulders drooped as she watched Rogelio helping Kyle up. She tossed the mini-
monitor onto one of the still standing chairs and slumped away into a corner of the lab.

“That outburst at the dance, and now tablecide? Been a while since I’ve seen this Catra,” Scorpia
remarked, having followed her. They were seperated from the rest of the lab by rows of metal crates.

“You mean the real ‘Catra’?” Catra huffed.

“I don’t believe that,” Scorpia said. “What happened.”

“He yelled at me,” Catra growled. “All we’ve done in the last year. We make one mistake and
suddenly he’s making feel like I’m just some bumbling cadet all over again.” Catra banged her head
against one of the crates. “Worst part is, he’s right.”

“I definitely don’t believe that,” Scorpia protested.

Thanks Scorp. You’re 100% wrong, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Scorpia gently scratched her giant claw down Catra’s back. About halfway down a small purr
rumbled out of Catra. “You’ve been doing so good, Kitty. Yeah, we made a mistake. But was just
one mistake.

“Look, I’ll go get my yelling at, and then we can start planning on how to get back in Midnight
Sands’ good graces.”

“No you won’t,” Catra said airily. “I didn’t tell Lord Hordak what really happened. He doesn’t know
anything about the dance or you and Entrapta being there. And we’re going to keep it that way.”

“Is lying to Lord Hordak such a great idea?” Scorpia worried.

“With the mood he’s in? Do you really think telling him that we messed up a peace treaty over some
shenanigans that happened at a dance would go over well?”

“You shouldn’t have had to take the fall all by yourself, Kitty.”

Catra chuckled. “That’s what leaders do, right?”

“Wow,” Scorpia laughed. “You spend one night with Adora and you’re sounding just like her.”

“How dare you!” Catra said, mockingly clutching her chest. They both laughed.

“You know, it’s okay,” Scorpia said.

“What is?”

“You know, to admit that you still like her.”

“Who? Adora? HA!” Catra forced a laugh out at the top of her lungs. “Just because I didn’t punch
her on sight last night doesn’t mean I suddenly like her again.”

“Kitty…” Scorpia sighed.

“...She’s our enemy. Nothing about that’s changed,” Catra muttered. “That was her choice. She
chose to not be here with us.”
“Funny, because I distinctly remember her choosing to spend the day with us in Dryl,” Scorpia fired
back. “She certainly seemed to choose to be with you on that roof last night.”

A low grumble came out of Catra. She pushed herself off the the crates she was leaning against and
forced herself to stare Scorpia in the eyes. There as a mix of emotions in Catra. A little bit of anger,
blended with a little bit of sadness, and a lot of fatigue.

Scorpia threw her thick arms around Catra and squeezed hard into a hug. Catra squirmed some,
mostly for the sake of precedence. “I’m sorry. I won’t push. Just… Think about it.” Scorpia
whispered.

“Now come on, we should probably go help clean up,” Scorpia said as she let the catgirl slide out of
her grip. They began walking back with Scorpia’s arm slung over Catra’s shoulders. “And hey, no
more talk about ‘angry, rage Catra’ being the real ‘Catra’. You’ve worked too hard for that kind of
talk.”

If I’m not anger and rage and hate…. Then what even am I?

Over the next two days Adora spent the majority of her time in her room, reading all about the
misadventures of Angella and C’yra. It had been an intense friendship. They seemed to perfectly
balance each other out. C’yra was always ready for a fight, and if there was no fight to be had, she
was always ready to create one. Angella, even then, had all the makings of the calming force that she
would one day grow into. Adora found herself lamenting that she could never meet Empress C’yra,
or even that version of Queen Angella.

At no point had Bow or Glimmer stopped by. Adora had made minimal effort to seek them out. The
farther she went from the Midsummer Ball, the more Adora became angry at herself. She knew, deep
down, that most of what she felt was true, but that wasn’t the way to handle it. To try to bottle it up
and ignore it until it comes exploding out. This was her friendship with Catra all over again. And just
like Catra, Adora was now terrified that she had irreparably damaged their relationship.

On the third day Adora was just about sick of her room. So she found herself once again in the Great
Library, following up more leads on magicats. The Great Library had many rolling ladders, for
reaching up to the highest shelves. Those were for other people, not the hero of Etheria. Adora
scaled up the bookcase, the shelves creaking under her weight. The book she was after was right
there, red and thick and just out of reach. Adora was straining to reach the book. So much so that she
started losing her balance.

Before she could fall though, Adora was engulfed in pink sparkles. There was a swirling noise and
in a poof of glitter Adora was now standing safely on the ground, red book in her hands. She looked
up. Just in front of her was Glimmer, whose lip was quivering. After a second Glimmer threw her
arms around Adora’s head and hugged her.

“WE ARE SO SORRY!” Glimmer wailed right next to Adora’s ear.

As if on cue, Bow slammed into them and just like that Adora was being buried in a Best Friend
Squad hug. “WE ARE TERRIBLE FRIENDS!” Bow lamented through tears.

At first her main concern was the red book that was being pushed into her abdomen, but she soon
was able to deal with that. The warmth from her friends, the sounds of sobbing, the comforting touch
of their arms and hands hugging her, it all proved too much for Adora to bear. Tears began forming
in her eyes, then suddenly Adora was also crying.

“I’m sorry too,” Adora sniffled.

Glimmer and Bow released her slightly. “We’re supposed to be apologizing to you! Not the other
way around,” Glimmer snorted.

“You don’t know anything about my life in the Horde, because I didn’t want you to,” Adora sighed.
“It was my choice to not tell you. Especially how I felt about Catra.”

“We could have asked. We should have!” Bow retorted.

“I don’t know how much I would have said. I was so worried what you’d think of me. You’ve both
been so wonderful, inviting me into your home, into your lives. And I know the Horde is evil. I
know what damage they’ve done to Etheria, to Bright Moon. That’s why I was so scared to tell you
that… I didn’t hate growing up in the Horde. I kind of loved a lot of my childhood. Sure there was
training, but there was also a lot of Catra and I sneaking up to the roof late at night to pig out on
stolen rations and watch the lights of the Fright Zone. Or Kyle and Rogelio and I making a volcano
for our lab experiment.”

Adora closed her eyes in an attempt to hold her emotions in check. “I especially didn’t tell you about
Catra. How was I supposed to tell you that the person that’s trying to stop us, that’s trying to lead the
forces of the Horde against us, is the same person that when I’m going to bed at night, I wish was
there curled up with me.” Adora squeezed her eyes shut tight. Even tighter than before. Tears were
still escaping. “I wanted to, I really did. I want to see you guys everything.”

The Best Friend Squad closed in for another tight hug.

“Tell us now,” Glimmer softly said.

Catra entered the lab, a rectangular box tucked under her arm. She stopped to survey the room.
Scorpia was at the side table, working on reports on the mini-monitor. Some of Entrapta’s
workstations had been moved around to make some floor space. There was a long table that Rogelio,
Kyle, and Lonnie were sitting at. Behind them were two more long tables that six more cadets were
sitting at. A few feet in front of them was Entrapta, hovering in front of one of her large monitors,
staring at the trio, and holding a remote to the monitor. Next to Entrapta was Emily, somehow
wearing a sweater and holding a folder of paper in its pincers.

The sight confused Catra, who sat next to Scorpia.

“Um, what’s going on?” Catra whispered, so not to disturb Entrapta, who was lecturing about where
rain came from.

“So apparently Entrapta’s developed a way to reasonable predict when it’ll rain,” Scorpia began. She
was cut off by Catra’s snorting laugh.

“Predict rain? What kind of witchcraft is that?” Catra asked.

“Lonnie made a similar joke. So now Entrapta’s teaching them about weather patterns.”
Catra narrowed her eyes. “Why is Emily wearing a sweater?”

Scorpia cleared her throat. “‘Because that’s what teacher’s assistants wear’.”

After a long sigh Catra got up and carried the box to the edge of the “classroom”. She leaned against
a stack of crates and waited for Entrapta to notice her. Once she did Catra made a nodding motion to
the side room.

“Alright class,” Entrapta said. “TA Emily is going to pass out a worksheet.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Lonnie protested. “You didn’t say anything about having to do work!”

“A class has to have classwork,” Entrapta continued. “Make sure to do both sides before turning it
back into TA Emily.” Entrapta surveyed her “students”. “You may work together on them, you will
almost certainly need to.”

Entrapta, Catra, and Scorpia gathered in the side room, which had become the “Bot Room”,
equipped with monitoring and charging stations for both Emily and Clack. The latter was currently
resting at their station.

“Sorry to interrupt… Whatever that was,” Catra said. “I won’t keep you long.”

“That won’t be a problem. That worksheet will likely keep them busy for the entire day,” Entrapta
smiled.

Catra and Scorpia exchanged looks before moving the conversation on.

“I was actually wondering if I could use Clack,” Catra asked.

“Of course!” Entrapta beamed. “The more test runs he conducts the better the data!” Entrapta strode
over to the monitoring station and pushed a button. Clack rose with a hiss and scurried over to them.

“You simply press this button to open his storage compartment. Or simply ask him to open it. He
fully understands voice commands.” A purple tentacle poked the button and Clack’s side slid open.
Catra put the box in the compartment. Something caught her eye, and she pulled a small red flower
out of the compartment. Catra only had a chance to regard the flower for a second before it was
snatched out of her hands by Entrapta’s hair. “Sorry!” Entrapta screeched.

That’s when Catra noticed that there were little red flowers nestled throughout Entrapta’s pigtails.
There were at least a dozen upon a quick glance.

“They look good ‘Trapta,” Catra smiled.

“D-do they?” Entrapta asked, her face slightly going red. “She said the red was because they
matched my eyes. I-I don’t know if that is how it works.”

“Trust us, they work,” Scorpia assured her.

Entrapta cleared her throat. “Right. So, where is Clack going?” For some reason the question seemed
to mean that it was Catra’s turn to blush.
After relocating to one of the tables in the Great Library, the Best Friend Squad spent the next two
hours finally getting to know the life Adora led before She-Ra. It was a new chance, and Adora
wouldn’t let herself make the same mistake again. So she told them everything, the things she
thought they’d be curious about as well as all the questions they had. She told them about the first
night Catra curled up in Adora’s bed because Adora had had a nightmare. She told them about being
raised by Shadow Weaver and about her squad and what being a child in the Fright Spire was like.

Not surprisingly, Catra took up much of the conversation. Above all else Adora wanted to make sure
that they knew the real Catra. The Catra that would spend a lazy afternoon doodling with Kyle while
Adora would be furiously working on homework. The Catra that once drug Adora into a fight after
Catra had bit a fifth year cadet who was bullying the younger cadets. The Catra that would cuddle in
Adora’s arms on nights when it would thunderstorm.

Adora recounted to them the stolen memory that Light Hope had recently showed her. “It’s kind of
weird, knowing a memory that you can’t actually remember,” Adora remarked. Glimmer and Bow
both nodded at Adora’s assessment. “But I think I remember what exactly led me to go see Shadow
Weaver that day. Catra had disappeared the day before, which was something she would do once in
a while. She had left me a note though to meet her on the roof that night. Well when I got there I
found Catra with a full dinner from Hampeezey’s, which was a fancy restaurant not far from the
Fright Spire. I had always dreamed of going there. Some of the senior Horde staff would bring food
from there from time from time. It seemed like the kind of place you only went to if you were
someone special. She never did tell me how she managed to get it.

“But there it was. Just for us. Just for me really. I don’t know. There was just something about it.
Being up there. It was one of the clearer nights in the Fright Zone. Catra seemed so pleased with
herself. That night was the first time that I looked at her and realized that I was in love with her,”
Adora said, with a chuckle. Glimmer rested her hand on Adora’s. They exchanged soft smiles.

“It sounds like the two of you really had something special. I’m sorry about how it’s all worked out,”
Glimmer said. “Although, judging from the Midsummer Ball, doesn’t seem like all is lost.”

“I don’t know Glim,” Adora sighed. “I made a decision not to long ago that I couldn’t keep ignoring
how I felt about her, but all I’ve been really trying to do is hopefully get her to not hate me. To not be
consumed by trying to get revenge on me.” Adora wistfully glanced at Glimmer. “All I’m expecting
to get out of it is apathy. Which, is good enough.”

“That wasn’t apathy we saw up there, Adora,” Bow said. “Even if it’s just slim, sounds like it might
be a chance worth taking.”

“Thanks Bow,” Adora smiled.

“So, where have you two been?” Adora asked. “I haven’t seen either of you since the ball.”

“Wellll,” Glimmer started, while scratching the back of her neck. “When I heard about you getting
accused of treason. So I went to talk to my mom. And we got to talking and I managed to get out of
her that you were researching magicats this whole time.”

“Soooo,” Bow continued. “We figured that if it’s Etherian history, then we should go talk to my
dads.”

“Oh!” Adora piped up. “How are George and Lance?”

“They’re doing great!” Bow chirped. “Visiting home is so much better now that I don’t have to hide
who I am,” Bow beamed. “They send their regards, Adora. And also, this!” Bow said as he held up
a brown book with orange leaf on it. Bow flipped through the book. “Apparently the magicats were
a pretty advanced society, incorporating a lot of First Ones tech into their lives. And you know how
my dads love First Ones stuff. This is a journal they put together years ago about some of the stuff
magicats were able to accomplish with it.” Bow snapped the book closed and handed it to Adora.

“You guys,” Adora sniffled. Glimmer and Bow scooted their chairs closer for another hug.

After another hour in the Great Library, the Best Friend Squad found themselves heading back to
Adora’s room.

“So, what does that mean for you two?” Glimmer asked, opening the door. Bow and Adora
followed her in, both holding books.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find Zayn either since she accused me of treason. Which, you
know, wasn’t fun,” Adora huffed.

“Honestly, that’s crazy,” Bow said. “Thinking you could betray us. Did she even really get to kno-”
Bow stopped mid-sentence when they all heard a metal clanking noise.

They turned their attention to the balcony, where the noise had originated from. “What was that?!”
Adora wondered. She held her hand up and the Sword of Protection slammed into it. “Is someone
there?”

Suddenly Clack seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the doorway to the balcony. Everyone yelled
and jumped back. Glimmer’s fists powered up. Bow, not having his bow on him, held up the book
he was holding in a menacing manner. Adora stared at the bot, who cowered when they yelled.

“I think it’s okay,” Adora said, putting the sword down. “Hey fella. You’re Clack aren’t you?”
Adora turned to Bow and Glimmer, who were slow to relax. “This is the little messenger bot that
Perfuma was telling us about.”

“Seeing it do that in person is a lot more disconcerting than I thought it’d be,” Glimmer said. “She
developed this for the Horde? What if they decide to do something else with it?” Glimmer dreaded.

“It IS a pretty scary thought,” Bow mused. “Maybe it’s time I start trying to develop something that
could detect invisible things.”

“That’s a good idea Bow,” Glimmer nodded.

“Yeah, just one question. Where do I even start?” Bow wondered.

Clack approached Adora slowly. “It’s okay little guy,” Adora said with a smile. “We won’t hurt you.
We’re friends with your… Creator? Mother? With Entrapta. We know you mean a lot to her.” The
bot seemed to perk up. It spun around and the storage compartment slid open.

Adora tilted her head as she stared at the box inside. Then with a shrug she reached in and pulled it
out.

“What is it?” Glimmer asked.

“Only one way to find out I guess,” Adora said. She tore the box open easily. Inside was a soft,
 wrapped package with a folded piece of paper. Adora opened the paper and read the note inside.

I know you don’t get cold. But it always was a pretty cute look on you.

- Catra

Adora let out a little gasp and set the note down so she could give the package her full attention.
There was a label on the package that read “Ned L. Pointe Fashions”. Adora tore into it and gasped
louder.

In one smooth motion Adora slipped on her new jacket. Styled exactly like her previous jacket. High
collar, puffed shoulders, air vents across the biceps. Exact same fabric. Only this one was a slightly
more crimson than red, and there was gold trim along the collar and bottom of the jacket. The biggest
difference was the back. On the back was the crest of She-Ra: a blue oval surrounded by three gold
points on each side, a larger point at the top, and a gold stripe that ran out of the bottom and fed into
the gold trim at the bottom of the jacket.

“How does it look?” Adora asked, posing and unable to control her giggling.

“Looks great!” Both Glimmer and Bow said in unison.

“It’s like a perfect recreation,” Glimmer remarked.

“Mr. Pointe made my old one too,” Adora smiled.

“That’s a really accurate She-Ra crest,” Bow noted. He rubbed his chin and grinned deviously.
“Catra must have been staring at your chest, a lot.”

“BOW!” Adora gasped, she threw her arms over her chest, which made both Glimmer and Bow bust
out laughing. Adora relaxed after a moment and picked up the note again. She read it four more
times, then began stroking her chin. She started looking around her room. After taking inventory she
nodded. “Yeah, a week. I can do this in a week,” Adora murmured to herself.

With an idea formed in her head, Adora turned to Clack. “Mr. Clack, do you think you can deliver
something for me to Catra?” The little robot seemed to bow and reopened his storage compartment
door. Adora sat at her desk and fished out clean piece of paper and found a pen.

“What are you doing?” Glimmer asked.

Adora stared thoughtfully at the paper for a moment before responding. “Taking a chance.”

Chapter End Notes

There'a a reason it's called "Jackets", not "Jacket". That's because "Jackets" sounds
better. :P But also, you know...
First chapter featuring Queen Angella! But definitely not the last.

I hope everyone knows what I mean when I talk about She-Ra's crest. If not, I drew it
for reference! https://midnightechoes.tumblr.com/post/185009862422/daily-doodle-for-
may-19th-the-crest-of-she-ra

Chapter 12 is Next Sunday!

Next Time:
"For what little it may be worth, I really am proud of you."
 Historian Adora
Chapter Notes

Okay, so unless you have a vivid memory Chapter 7 "Cracks in Walls", I actually
recommend going back and re-reading that chapter before this one. There are a couple
of emotional beats that were designed to mirror some parts of that chapter. Or don't! The
story works either way.

FYI I have an announcement about the upcoming update schedule at the end!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Hey, Catra! What are you doing next Tuesday? I was wondering if you would meet me at these
coordinates (43.771049, 11.248621). Say, around noon?

- Adora

PS: This isn’t a trap.

PPS: Don’t eat breakfast.

Catra didn’t know those coordinates offhand. When she punched them into the skiff’s auto-
navigation system a little map had come up on the screen. From what Catra could tell, there was
nothing in that area except for forests and rolling hills.

The skiff zipped along, cutting through thin forests near the northern edge of Bright Moon. It was
late morning. The skies above were a rich light blue. Catra was leaning against the skiff guardrail
while the autopilot did the work. She stared ahead as the wind whipped her hair about.

Adora’s note had been light on details. Catra hummed a little laugh as she thought about it. “This
isn’t a trap.” It sounded just like something someone who was trying to set a trap might say, but
Catra knew it was the truth. Catra was just amused that Adora felt the need to mention it. It wasn’t
that crazy though. At the end of the day, they were still enemies, leaders on a opposing sides of a
forever long war, right? Someday it was going to come down to her fighting She-Ra, wasn’t it?

If not a trap though, then what was this? Catra had been racking her brain all week. Most of the ideas
she came up with weren’t very realistic. She tried hard not to think about those. She didn’t want to
end up disappointed. Wasn’t that long ago that ‘enemy’ still sat so well in Catra’s brain when
thinking about Adora. Now there was a bitterness to the word. Like it didn’t fit. Like it wasn’t what
Catra actually wanted. Like it was never what she really wanted.

That left the question, then, what did Catra want? Dare she dream about it? Again? Dare she believe
again? Dare she risk that hurt again?
Rounding over a hill, Catra’s destination finally came into view, and it only made her more confused.
There was Adora, sitting relaxed in a flat clearing on some sort of blanket. Adora was reading a
book, with a large basket sitting just behind her. Catra couldn’t help but notice that Adora was
wearing her new jacket. The sight brought a smile to the catgirl’s face. There was something else
worth noticing. That stupid She-Ra sword anywhere was nowhere to be found.

As the skiff closed in, the roar of the engine announced its presence. Adora looked up and grinned as
Catra coasted towards her. She snapped her book shut and climbed to her feet. The skiff slid to a stop
just a few feet away.

“Hey, Adora,” Catra let slink out of her mouth as the skiff set down.

“Hey!” Adora said, grin bubbling over as she strolled up. One of her hands shot out to greet Catra at
the edge of the skiff. The catgirl regarded it for a second before giving Adora her hand, and allowing
Adora to help her down from the skiff. Catra gently touched down on the ground. Their hands
remained entangled.

“I’m so glad you came!” Adora beamed.

Catra took in her surroundings again. “Yeah, I’m here… Soooooo, what are we doing here?”

“Oh!” Adora blushed slightly. She took a step back so Catra could see the blanket and basket behind
her. “I thought it might be fun to have a picnic.”

Picnic. That sounded familiar. Catra stroked her chin, trying to recall.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t know what it was either until Bow and Glimmer showed me,” Adora assured
her.

“Right!” Catra exclaimed, snapping her fingers. “Bow made fun of me for not knowing what that
was when we were lost in the jungle.”

Adora giggled. “They mean well! But sometimes it’s soooo frustrating. How am I supposed to just
know about all this Bright Moon stuff?! It’s not like I expected them to know what a dermalstat is
when I got there!” Both girls chuckled.

“So what is a picnic, exactly?” Catra asked. Adora led her over to the blanket on the ground.

“Basically, it’s outdoor lunch,” Adora answered

“We’ve done lunch outdoors plenty,” Catra quipped. “Never anywhere like this though.”

“That’s a part of it!” Adora pulled them both down into cross legged sitting positions on the blanket.
“A picnic’s more than just eating outside. It’s about the people you’re doing it with. And also about
enjoying the weather when you’re doing it.” Adora’s explanation was met with a raised eyebrow.
“Okay. Close your eyes,” Adora commanded.

“Really?” Catra snarked back.

“Yes really. Try it,” Adora pleaded. Catra sighed, but closed her eyes. “Now just, think about it. The
warmth of the daylight on your skin. The way that gentle breeze is rustling the fur on your arms. The
smell of the grass and the flowers. I can smell them, I’m sure it’s pretty intense for you.”

Catra hung on Adora’s every word. She tried doing what Adora suggested, and, Adora was entirely
correct. “Outside” never felt like this in the Fright Zone. The scents were intoxicating. Something
about the way the daylight was beating down on her face made Catra want to roll around in the grass
then maybe take a nap. She fought the urge very hard. There was no arguing. Here, in the middle of
these grassy hills, miles away from anything, the outdoors felt amazing.

A nudging sensation in her arm returned Catra’s attention to the picnic. She blinked her eyes open
then looked for the source. Just in front of her was Adora’s hand, holding a cup of dark red liquid.

“It’s called berry juice,” Adora said. Catra took the cup and had a small sip. Then downed the entire
cup.

“THAT is delicious!” Catra stated. Adora held up the jug and poured her another cup. While Catra
enjoyed her second cup Adora fished a small, chilled container out of the basket. She popped the lid
off. Adora subtly scooted a little closer, to make it easier to share. “What’s this?” Catra asked as she
took a piece of the small, cylindrical food out of the container when Adora presented it to her.

Adora tapped her lip a few times. “I believe Mermista called it Suss-Shee.” She nudged Catra with
her shoulder. “It’s made of fish,” Adora said with a sultry tone.

The entire sushi slice went in Catra’s mouth at once. About halfway through chewing it her eyes
dilated into giant black saucers. “Adora, this is AMAZING!” Catra said as she gulped down another
piece. Together they made short work of the tray of sushi.

“Do you,” Catra sheepishly began, “do you have anything else?” she hoped.

Also, I can’t believe I’m going to think this, but can we spend the whole day like this?

Adora got a big grin on her face. She twisted her body and pulled out another couple of containers.
“Oh yeah, we have tons of stuff.”

Over the next two hours they slowly worked their way through numerous treats and snacks that
came from all over Etheria, all the while laughing through fun stories and completely decimating a
couple jugs of berry juice. The late afternoon day-moons were hanging directly over them.

Adora was currently sitting up. She was leaning back slightly and propping herself up with one arm.
Catra was laying perpendicular to her, with her head resting on Adora’s thigh.

“What’s this?” Catra asked as Adora lowered a slice of green fruit into the cat’s mouth. It was good.
Mostly sweet, with just a hint of tartness.

“Ke-Wheees,” Adora smiled.

A peaceful breeze ushered in a peaceful silence. It was the daylight, Catra was sure of it. Something
about it was overpowering to her. She gladly let it. There was no desire to fight it. Adora’s free hand
had found its way to Catra’s ear, and began scratching just the right spot. Soft purrs reverberated
through them both. Adora couldn’t even try to hide the giant grin on her face.

“Hey,” Catra said after a few minutes. “I have the craziest urge.” Catra pushed herself up into a
sitting position.

“Oh?” Adora gulped, trying desperately not to let herself blush at least until Catra told her the idea.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the daylight’s fault. Gotta be,” Catra pondered.

“... I wanna roll down the hill,” Catra finally confessed.

It made Adora burst out laughing. “What?!”

“I’m serious! Gah! I don’t know what it is, I just want to roll around so badly!”

Adora chuckled. “Yeah, that makes sense actually.

“You should do it!” Adora chirped.

“Do it with me?” Catra asked.

“What? I don’t have the urge to roll down a hill,” Adora giggled.

Catra bounced up to her feet. She flashed a sly grin at Adora and held her hand out. “Come on! First
one down gets to eat the last ke-wheee.” Adora took Catra’s hand and was yanked to her feet.

Before they knew it they were flinging themselves down the hill. They tumbled and bounced and
giggled down the grassy slope for a few seconds before both of them rolled to a stop at the bottom.
Adora gently careened into Catra. They were both laying on their backs, shoulder to shoulder. The
girls shared a meaningful look for a second before exploding in laughter.

“Okay, that was the dumbest idea!” Catra howled.

“Who even won?!” Adora wondered.

“No clue, I was too busy trying to keep track of up and down!” Catra responded. It took another
moment for the laughter to die down. They decided to continue laying there at the bottom of the hill,
simply smiling at each other.

“Hey,” Catra said after a bit. “Thanks for being willing to do something really dumb with me.”

“Always,” Adora assured her.

“So, how did you know?” Catra began. “You mentioned it on Mount Snows too. How did you
know that daylight would affect me so much?”

Adora sat up. She stared off for a moment, lost in thought. There wasn’t going to be a better segue
than that. “Here, why don’t I show you?” Adora got up and helped Catra to her feet. Hand in hand
they made their way up the hill back to the blanket. Adora dug around in the basket, and pulled out a
rectangular package. It was a bit smaller this time, but the wrapping was much fancier. She held it
out to Catra, her face bright red the entire time. Catra slid the package out of Adora’s hands.

“Another present?” Catra asked with a smile. Adora beamed at her.

Before Catra could do anything with it though Adora put her hand on it. “Before you open it,”
Adora started, her face shifting to something far more serious. “I have to warn you of something.”
Adora had to stop to take a deep breath. “Unfortunately, there was no way to avoid it. I’m sorry.
There’s some really bad stuff in here about the Horde in here. Like, really bad.”

“What?” Catra’s face suddenly drained of color.

“It’s just… Unavoidable. Some of the stuff the Horde-”

“Are you kidding me?” Catra scoffed. Her face went sour.

“I just didn’t want it to blindside you,” Adora said. She was beginning to worry. Catra’s face had
twisted into a sneer so fast.

Don’t overreact. Don’t overreact. Adora probably has a better explanation for this than whatever
that just was.

Catra glared down at the package for a moment.

In one swift motion, Catra threw the present violently onto the ground. “ARE YOU FUCKING
KIDDING ME ADORA?”

Adora glanced at the present briefly before returning her attention to Catra. She put her hands up, in
hopes to convince Catra to calm down. ”Wait. I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

A single tear traveled down Catra’s cheek. Her teeth were grinding. “Is THAT what this is? Another
attempt at get me to abandon the Horde?!”

“What? No! No! Catra, no…” Adora tried assuring her.

“Is that all ANY of this ever was?! Another attempt to get me to defect?! Another attempt to get me
onto the Rebellion’s side!”

“No I promise!”

I should take a breath. I need to take a breath.

“I can’t believe I fell for this, again!” Catra snarled. “I really wanted to believe this time! I wanted to
believe you!”

“I’m sorry! This… This came out all wrong!” Adora whimpered. “If we could just, maybe,
restart…”

Let her talk. Let her prove to me that she really cares.

“Shut up!” Catra barked. Her claws flexed out.

“Catra please! Just wait…” Adora took a step back at the sight of the claws.

Let her talk. Maybe she can explain it all…

“I SAID SHUT UP!” Catra screamed as she pounced. Adora tumbled backwards in time to let Catra
fly over her. She went crashing into the blanket full of empty containers as Catra landed on all fours
a few feet away.

Control yourself. Don’t overreact! Stop overreacting!

“I don’t want to fight!” Adora huffed as she stumbled to her feet.

“What’s the matter? Forgot your precious sword?” Catra grumbled.

“I was spending the day with you! I didn’t need it!” Adora yelled.

Control. Don’t overreact.

“Another thing you’re wrong about!” Catra sprinted at Adora and swung her arm wildly.

Don’t…

“OOOWW!” Adora shrieked. Her face burned. On instinct she shot her hand up to her face to feel
blood oozing out of the four cuts on her right cheek. Catra kicked Adora in the stomach, sending her
stumbling back.

“Please Catra, I’m not going to fight you!” Adora pleaded. Catra swung again. Adora threw her arms
up, and received deep gashes in both forearms. Another swing grazed with the bridge of her nose.
Maybe just a graze, but it still stung.

Catra swung again. Adora was able to grab her by the wrist. The other arm swung out. Adora
grabbed that wrist too. Even without She-Ra, Adora was strong enough to control Catra’s arms.
“Please listen to me! I won’t fight you!” Adora begged.

It just made Catra snarl more. With her arms held down Catra kicked out wildly. Nowhere to dodge,
it hit Adora right in the stomach. She winced. Another kick. “Stop!” Adora yelled. Catra seethed and
slammed her foot into Adora’s stomach again.

Adora didn’t wince. She didn’t protest. Catra’s wrists were released as Adora stumbled back a few
feet, then dropped to her knees. She doubled over in pain, one arm holding her up, one arm clutching
her stomach. Adora could already feel it. Something was wrong in there.

What started as an attempt to talk ended up just being a few coughs as blood spewed out of Adora’s
mouth. She let out a labored grunt as more blood drooled out of her.

Seeing Adora collapse. Hearing her bloody hacking. Catra stood there. Chest heaving. Panting. Fists
at her side. Her claws were digging into the palm of her hands. She focused on Adora’s face. A mix
of tears and blood covered her. Catra couldn’t bare to look at her, so she looked down. There she
noticed blood spattered all over her shirt. It was caked into her nails.

Catra forced herself to look back up at Adora.

What have I done?

“... Adora,” Catra called out, her voice weak, pulled down by shame, humiliation. She reached her
arm out to Adora. At the sight of it Adora winced and cowered. Catra immediately recoiled. She
didn’t know what to do.

Very slowly, Adora clammered to her feet. She wasn’t able to stand upright. After shuffling over to
the blanket, Adora began packing up the picnic. Amidst everything else, Catra couldn’t help but
notice how efficient Adora was. She wanted to help Adora. She wanted to stop Adora from leaving.
She didn’t know what to do.

Once the picnic was stuffed into the basket, Adora collapsed onto her knees and reached over for the
present on the ground. The paper seemed to be torn and damaged in a couple spots. The best she
could tell though the present itself seemed okay. She ran her hand over the wrapping paper and had
to suppress a sob.

“I understand,” Adora mumbled. Her voice was hollow, labored. “I get that you may hate it. Not
believe any of it. You’ll probably throw it away as soon as you can, but,” Adora had to choke down
another sob, her voice was barely louder than a whisper. “I worked really hard on it, and I hope you
at least give it a look before you destroy it.”
With a great deal of effort Adora was able to hold out the present at Catra, who gingerly took it.
Catra clutched it against her chest.

Adora struggled to her feet. She took a few deep breaths. “Catra. This wasn’t an attempt to get you
to defect. Of course I would give anything to be able to see you every day. To be able to hang out,
have picnics together, every day. But I know that’s not possible. I put us on different paths.” Adora
stopped to sniffle. “There was so much bad in your life. From teachers who never believed in you,
from people like me, like Shadow Weaver. You overcame it. You made a life for yourself. You’ve
managed to thrive. For what little it may be worth, I really am proud of you.”

A sharp pain in her stomach made Adora wince. She needed to get back to the sword as soon as she
could. Adora tried to muster the biggest smile she could. It wasn’t much of one. “Take care of
yourself,” Adora said as she turned to stumble away. She stopped for a second and glanced over her
shoulder.

“Hey. If you didn’t have anything else to do today, you should think about hanging around here until
dusk. I think you’d enjoy it ,” Adora suggested. She gave a little half-hearted chuckle. “Yeah. You’ll
enjoy it.”

Catra didn’t move, couldn’t move, until Adora was completely out of sight. Almost everything inside
her wanted to stop Adora from leaving, but she was seemingly paralyzed, overtaken by guilt. Unable
to move, to talk. Barely able to think. It took a few minutes before Catra remembered the present in
her arms. She carefully tore into the wrapping.

A book. Or more precisely, it seemed to be a journal. Handwritten by Adora, and over 100 pages
long. Catra turned it over a few times. It had a red leather cover, with black detailing on the cover
that vaguely formed the shape of a cat. She cracked it open to the title page.

The page made Catra gasp loudly. She stumbled back and fell onto her butt. The book hit the ground
in the space between her legs. Catra buried her head in her hands, tears pouring out.

“You dumb cat! You dumb stupid fucking cat, what did you do?!” Catra moaned. She sobbed
uncontrollably.

Finally, after all her tears were spent, and her nose was sloppily wiped off with her forearm, and her
eyes were puffy, pink, cleaned with her shirt, Catra picked the book back up. She had cleared her
schedule for Adora, and even if she already fucked it all up, she was sure as hell going to read the
present that Adora made for her. She owed her that much. She owed her so much more, but this
seemed like a good place to start.

Historian Adora’s Abridged Guide to Extinct Societies of Etheria Volume One:

Magicats

~ Forward ~
Hey, Catra! So, SURPRISE! Okay, I don’t actually know if you’ve learned this yet, but I’ve found
out what you are. You’re a magicat! I may have just told you this in person, I still haven’t decided
yet. Ugh, I really should have written this section in pencil first.

I know that you probably have a lot of questions about exactly what a “magicat” is, and I’m going
to try to answer as many of them as possible.

From reading a lot of books (yeah, I know, I’m a dork), this is the part where I’m supposed to thank
people that have helped me:

A lot of this information is from various text books and history books from around Etheria. So I’d
like to thank all the historians that came before me.

I’d also like to thank Bow’s dads, George and Lance. When Bow told them about what I was doing
they sent a very useful book. I think you’d like George and Lance! They’re sweethearts. Bow is very
much their child.

I also need to thank Queen Angella. She was personal friends with the last rulers of the magicats
and she helped me get to know all about what your people were actually like.

And finally, I’d like to thank, you.

For being you. :)

That last line made Catra pause. Not even into the book proper and she was already tearing up. As
Catra quickly realized, Adora wrote the entire book like she was having a conversation with Catra.
She could actually hear Adora’ voice as she read.

~ Home ~

Okay, so, I wanted to deal with this question right off the bat since it’s maybe the question that
matters the most: where are the other magicats? I’m so sorry Catra, but I’m pretty sure that you’re
the last magicat on Etheria. Or at least, if there are others, they’re deep in hiding.

That doesn’t mean you’re alone though. You’re not alone, Catra. You have a family. People that
love you dearly. You mean the world to Scorpia and even Entrapta, who for a while I wasn’t sure
even understood human relationships. And from what Scorpia was telling me, you, Kyle, Lonnie,
and Rogelio have gotten so much closer. You’ve built a great family for yourself. I’m so proud of
you.

Okay, before that though, where were magicats? Your race is from a kingdom known as Half Moon
. It’s pretty far to the south west. Unfortunately I’m not 100% sure where Half Moon was located. As
a safeguard against the Horde, the entrance to Half Moon changed often, and even then, those
entrances were often guarded by spells and illusions. My best guess is that Half Moon is located
somewhere in the now Horde controlled Scorched Mountains. Queen Angella seems to agree.

The only way Queen Angella and the Rebellion was ever able to get to Half Moon is that Half Moon
and Bright Moon once had a teleportation system set up that allowed them to get to each other
without having to travel through the Horde or over the sea. From what Queen Angella tells me the
system was pretty cool. Teleporting all the way from Bright Moon to Half Moon would have taken
too much power to be practical, so the system was actually a chain of teleporations. There’s two
“stations” between the two kingdoms. One station is deep under the Whispering Woods. It feeds off
the forest’s magic to function. And from what I can tell from the maps, the other station is actually
hidden far beneath the Horde village of Glenmar. Sadly that system was apparently destroyed. The
stations in Bright Moon and under the Whispering Woods still work, but the Glenmar and Half
Moon stations stopped working when… Well, I’ll get to that.

Catra continued reading another dozen pages about Half Moon, her apparent home. Her original
home. According to Adora, it was a massive city built into a mountain, with much of the city in and
under the mountain, while the rest of the city rose up into a hidden valley somewhere in the Scorched
Mountains. A massive elevator connected the topside and subterranean parts of the kingdom.

Describing the impressive elevator segued into the next section, ~ Technology ~ . Gifted and clever,
magicats were on the forefront of innovation on Etheria. One of the few kingdoms that could rival
Dryl in that regard. As it turned out, Half Moon had pioneered the skiff technology that the Horde
used so much in everyday life. There seemed to be a number of inventions that the Horde took from
Half Moon.

Part of Catra’s stomach went queasy at the thought that so many things in her life were stolen from
her people. They were a people she never met, but they were just like her. A people she should have
belonged to, instead of Shadow Weaver. There was another part though, that Adora pointed out.

I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what it must feel like. To know that all this stuff we’ve been using forever
was actually just as stolen from your people as you were. There’s another way to look at it though.
Parts of your home have always been here with you, even if you didn’t realize it.

~ Rule ~

I know how much you hate us princesses. Well you’re in luck! Sort of. Yes, Half Moon was a
kingdom ruled by a monarchy. BUT, the rulers weren’t called kings and queens. The ruler of Half
Moon was referred to as empress (or emperor), and their children were referred to as empris. I
know that probably looks like it reads similar, but there’s a difference, albeit a subtle one. I can just
say it for you the next time I see you.

The last ruler of Half Moon was Empress C’yra, and her dashing wife, Empress Mira’Dea. They
had one daughter, a precious kitten by the name of Empris C’yra the 2nd. They were fair and
beloved rulers. C’yra was raised to rule, and a skilled sorcerer. She was also the wielder of
runestones known as the Sun Gems. With her runestones she could heal people. The Sun Gems also
gave her increased strength and agility.

Mira’Dea was the child of a wealthy noble family, and a brilliant inventor. Many of her inventions
were to satisfy her apparent craving for adrenaline. They met at a charity event for cutting edge new
skiff technology that Mira’Dea had helped create. Apparently despite being the host of the party,
Mira’Dea got kicked out, and C’yra just had to meet the woman who wasn’t afraid to tell off the
Duke of West Low Block in the middle of a room of crowded people. Mira’Dea convinced her to
come get lost together, without even knowing who C’yra was.

Over the next few pages the book recounted the lifelong friendship between Angella and C’yra, and
the new friendships that were forged when Micah and Mira’Dea entered their lives. The book
chronicled their passion for the Rebellion, and C’yra’s commitment to the Princess Alliance. Catra
didn’t know who these empresses were, but she found herself wishing that she could have lived in
their kingdom. She was especially curious about Mira’Dea, the one who, if Mattis’ Gram was to be
believed, Catra had a passing resemblance to.

The next fifty pages were filled with sections about magicat physical traits, about the culture of Half
Moon, as well as history dating back to the time of the First Ones. There were a few heavy points;
some places that stung or brought Catra to tears. More than anything else, Catra was a little surprised
by how much Adora was making her laugh. Adora kept sprinkling in stories and references to
Scorpia and Entrapta and the squad that were only tangentially related, but they were funny
nonetheless.

Then Catra got to the last chapter, a pretty thick section that took the last 22 pages. The section’s title
immediately made Catra’s heart sink.

~ the Battle of Half Moon and the Fate of the Noblest Kingdom on Etheria ~

Hi Catra. Before we dive into this last chapter, I wanted to take a moment to apologize. For having
to be the one to tell you all this. For this being the truth. For there being yet more people who you
tried to believe in but ultimate failed you. I’ll explain it in more detail, but here’s the truth: the Horde
destroyed Half Moon, and slaughtered your people, and kept you. Half Moon was a threat to the
Horde. They were the heart of the Rebellion, of the Princess Alliance. Most of the Rebellion’s most
advanced weapons were from Half Moon. And unlike the rest of the Rebellion, with all the
expansion of the Horde, Half Moon was right at their doorstep.

I am so sorry. The Horde failed you. Hordak failed you. I failed you. Shadow Weaver sure as hell
failed you. But you know what? Forget about us. Focus on Scorpia. Focus on Entrapta. Hell, focus
on Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie. They believe in you. They’ll never fail you. Catra, you are loved. You
are cherished.

The rest of the words were a blur. Catra closed the book and held her head in her hands. For a time
she cried pretty heavily. Slowly she pulled herself back together.

Catra looked up for the first time in, it turned out, hours. Dusk was upon her. Most of the sky was a
mix of golds and pinks, with the inky darkness of night creeping in at the edges. Catra let out a little
chuckle. Adora was right, it was quite beautiful.

Except for all the bugs.

One landed on Catra’s hand. She shook her hand until the thing flew away. They were a new,
evening time addition to the hills. Another one landed on the book. She glared at it. The little pests
that were ruining the…
 It blinked.

That bug’s butt just blinked. Catra’s eyes became huge, black, shimmering saucers. Setting the book
gently on the ground, she scrambled to her feet and clapped her hand around one of the bugs. She
opened her hands slightly. Yellow light engulfed her palms as the firefly fluttered out. The entire
field was full of blinking fireflies.

Catra’s mind went blank. She giggled and pounced at one of the bugs. She could feel it squirming in
her cupped hands. Laughter rung out over the hill as Catra pounced and pounced and chased fireflies
for a good ten minutes. At some point she even began purring. Catra pounced on one last firefly
before collapsing onto the side of the hill in exhaustion.

A small fleet of fireflies were squirming in her hands. Catra was laying on her back when she threw
her arms up. The fireflies fled, creating a sky of glowing sparkles. Catra giggled uncontrollable as
they fluttered away. She watched for a minute before her fleet fully rejoined the society of fireflies
around her.

The giggling died down. Slowly, Catra sat up. She looked around. Beautiful sky. Beautiful, magical
lights fluttering about. A beautiful evening.

“This is what you wanted me to see, isn’t it Adora?” Catra mumbled to herself. She slammed her
eyes shut as more tears came pouring out. Catra pulled her knees up to her chest.

“I really messed this all up, didn’t I.

“I don’t know if I deserve forgiveness this time.

“But I am sooo sorry.” Catra rested her head against her knees and began sobbing.

“I miss you so much.”

Chapter End Notes

.... Hmm.

If it makes you feel any better, I kind of hate myself too for the way this chapter plays
out. But the story IS better for it. That doesn't make you feel any better does it. Yeeeeah,
okay.

Sorry.

But, hey, some GOOD news! Partially because I don't want to leave you all with this
for the whole week, and partially because we're getting into a stretch where stuff's
starting to happen, I'm actually releasing Chapter 13 THIS THURSDAY! In fact, the
next few chapters will be coming a little quicker. Here's the planned upcoming schedule:

Chapter 13: Thursday night, May 30

Chapter 14: Tuesday night, June 4
Chapter 15: Sunday night, June 9
Chapter 16: Thursday night, June 13
So that's something to look forward to, right? Yeah?

Next Time:
"And you know what? You know what the worst part is? It wasn’t just a job. I really
thought about it."
 Stratagem
Chapter Notes

Yay Thursday update!

Okay, so I actually have a song recommendation to go along with this chapter. When I
wrote the first scene of the chapter I envisioned this playing during it:
https://youtu.be/JMoBCXlk9kc.

And congrats Aries_Tenoh, you got thiiiiiis close to accurately guessing the twist. Good
job!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The door to Adora’s room creaked closed behind her. Somehow she had managed to make it all the
way through the castle to her room without anyone noticing. Which was good. The very last thing
she felt like doing was explaining any of what had just happened. She wasn’t sure that she could
even explain it to herself. Right now, all Adora could focus on was the pain. From her face. From
her arms. From her stomach and chest. And now from her legs, after having stumbled all the way
home on foot. Swift Wind wasn’t going to be back at the clearing until after dusk. Adora managed to
force out a faint chuckle as the thought of Swift Wind arriving to an empty field, and being very
confused.

Adora slumped against the door. The sword was, somewhere, in here. Finding it though would have
taken more patience and energy than she could muster at the moment. She held her hand out and the
sword zoomed to her. In her battered state, the sword felt so much heavier. With a great deal of
difficulty, she managed to raise it into the air.

“For... the honor, of GRAYSKULL!”

She-Ra stepped out of the light.

Good as new. Physically anyway. Power coursed through her veins. The pain was gone. The marks
were gone. The Physical ones anyway.

The room looked just as Adora had left it in the morning. Books stacked high on one side of the
desk. Scraps of wrapping paper on the other side. Pages and pages of notes everywhere. On the
desk, the floor, the bed, the reading nook. There were more books stacked around the room.

A note sat at the edge of the desk. She-Ra strode over and read it. “Kitten! You’re going to love
this!” it read, with page numbers on it. She-Ra let it go, allowing it to flutter to the ground. She
surveyed the room.

Slowly the grip around the sword’s hilt was tightening.

Everywhere, the room was covered with the work of the last two months. Adora’s room had
effectively become a cathedral to magicats. To her. Her “Kitten”.

She-Ra’s grip tightened. Her nails dug into her palm.

Physical recovery would come quicker than the mental one. She-Ra knew that. Adora knew that.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Deep breath. Deep, calming breath.

With a rattling bellow She-Ra swung the sword in an arc, slamming it into the desk, cracking it in
two. The desk chair kicked out. She-Ra’s free hand grabbed it and flung it wildly, sending it
careening off the balcony. A stack of books was punted, slamming them into the wall with such
force they exploded into puff of paper. She-Ra screamed as she hoisted the bed over her head and
launched it. The thing crumbled into a pile of wood and stuffing against the wall.

In a blink Glimmer and Bow were standing in the middle of the room. “What on Etheria is-”
Glimmer began, but stopped mid-sentence at the sight of the Sword of Protection plowing through
the standing armoire. “Adora!” she screeched.

Glimmer ran over to She-Ra, who was yanking the sword out of the giant hole. Seeing Glimmer was
just startling enough to She-Ra for Glimmer to grip the sword and teleport it and herself to the corner
of the room. Glimmer’s actions were met with a growl from She-Ra as she transformed.

Adora took a second to scratch the itch on her sword wrist before seemingly remembering the new
jacket she was wearing.

“Get it off of me!” Adora yelled. She tugged hard at the belts and began unzipping it. Bow ran over
and helped slip it off of her. He clutched it to his chest and took a few steps back.

“Give it to me!” Adora snarled.

“No Adora!” Bow retorted, gripping it tighter.

“Bow give it to me!” Adora snarled again as she took a step towards Bow.

“No, I’m keeping it right now! Let’s calm down, and if you really still want to destroy it tomorrow
we will!” Bow tried to reason.

“I said give it to me!” Adora howled. She leapt at Bow. He jumped back enough for Adora to miss
him. He scurried over some of the debris.

“Glimmer give me my sword back!” Adora yelled, turning her attention to her other defiant friend.

“Adora you need to calm down first!” Glimmer cried. Adora held up her hand. The sword tried to
wiggle out of Glimmer’s grip. It shimmied enough and nicked Glimmer on the arm. “OW!” she
yelped.

The sword clanked onto the floor as Adora dropped her arm. “Glimmer! I’m so sorry!” Adora took a
step. She started clutching her head. Anger drained out of her, replaced entirely by anguish.

“I’m so sorry!” Adora sobbed as she dropped to her knees.

The assault on her room was over. Glimmer and Bow nodded and ran over to Adora, wrapping her
in hugs. Adora continued ugly crying for a few minutes.

“Why… Is this so… hard,” Adora choked out through the tears. “Why does this have to be so
hard?!” Glimmer began stroking her fingers through Adora’s hair. “I-I just wanted to make her
happy! Just for an afternoon. Why can’t I make her happy?” Adora wailed.

“Because she’s a fool,” Glimmer softly replied. Her and Bow tightened their hug around Adora.
They would stay that way on the floor for over half an hour.
Upon reflection, autopilot in the skiffs were a stroke of genius. If left to steer for herself, Catra wasn’t
sure where she would be heading at this moment. Setting off to the Scorched Mountains blindly?
Driving aimlessly through the wildlands of Etheria? Crashing into the gates of Bright Moon? Catra
wasn’t sure. They all sounded good. They all sounded a little more like something she wanted to do
than what deep down she realized the smart thing was: head back to the Fright Zone. Get a good
night’s sleep, or at least, as much sleep as she could. Talk to Scorpia and Entrapta in the morning.
Like Adora’s book kept reminding her: when it all fails, Scorpia and Entrapta will be there for her.

The skiff slowly parked itself in the docks. It took Catra a minute or two to realize that she had
arrived back at the Fright Spire. She had been huddled up on the bench, book held tightly against her
chest.

It was late, dusk was hours ago. Catra disembarked and made her way through the docks in a daze.
As the familiarity of the Fright Zone crept over her senses, Catra began feeling more self conscious
about her general state of presentation. Her eyes were bloodshot, nose raw from wiping it, yet still
runny. Her clothes were still spattered with blood. Adora’s blood. Lucky for her the docks were
mostly empty, save for a few technicians, who were far too busy to pay attention to Catra. It was the
perfect time for Catra to slip in unnoticed.

“Hey! Catra! Catra!” Kyle called out. He was barreling at the catgirl. She rolled her eyes so hard it
gave her a headache.

“Not tonight, Kyle,” Catra scoffed with what little energy she had.

“But-” Kyle began, almost buckled over from the exertion. He was panting heavily.

“Whatever this is can wait until-”

“-Throne room!” Kyle blurted out, hands still firmly on knees.

That got Catra’s attention. “What?”

“Catra, you have to go now! It’s Entrapta and Scorpia!”

“WHAT?!” Catra gasped. Her mouth fell open. That didn’t make sense. She grabbed Kyle by the
arm. “Are you messing with me Kyle?!”

“No! Promise. Entrapta and Scorpia are in the throne room with Hordak. They need you Catra!”

Need. The word was like a match lighting the powder keg that was Catra’s emotional state. She
slammed her book into Kyle’s chest. “Take this to my room, and stay there . Got it?”

As soon as the book was in Kyle’s hands, Catra took off. Those two shouldn’t be in the throne room,
not this late at night. Catra had no idea what was going on. All she could think of as she raced down
the halls was that her family needed her.
Just as soon as the throne room doors were open enough for her to fit, Catra darted through. She got
a few yards to just about the base of the steps and stopped dead, gasping loudly.

“Good evening, Force General,” Lord Hordak greeted from his throne. He was sitting upright,
attentive. Then he did perhaps the scariest thing he can do: he smiled. “We have been waiting for
you.”

Tears were forming in corners of Catra’s eyes as she surveyed the scene. Entrapta was hovering a
good 20 feet in the air, being suspended by metal tentacles wrapped around her neck. She
whimpered and squirmed at the sight of Catra, to no effect. At the bottom of the steps was Scorpia,
claws chained behind her back and unconscious. She had a well formed black eye. Hordak rose from
his throne and marched to the top of the stairs, where he glared down at the catgirl as she dropped to
her knees to attend to Scorpia. She was breathing, and except for the black eye seemed okay.

Catra rose to her feet and glared back up at Hordak. Her hands were balled into fists so tight her nails
were digging into her skin. Her tail swished back and forth angrily.

“Lord Hordak, what’s going on?!” Catra demanded. “Why are my people being detained?!” It was
taking every last bit of energy to retain her composure. “None of this makes sense!”

“Yes,” Hordak began pacing at the top of the stairs, arms behind his back. “I guess you would have
had to have been here to understand fully,” Hordak growled. “Today has been an eventful day,
Force General. It has been quite the revelation.”

“M-my Lord,” Catra stammered. She knelt down in the hopes that deference might help. Something
about doing it tonight felt disgusting. “Just let Entrapta and Scorpia go, and we can work out
whatever issues have arisen.”

Hordak glared even harder. “Was that, a demand?

“You DARE demand things from your Lord?” Hordak sneered. “No Catra, they stay in custody.
You see Catra, while you were out, I learned the truth.”

“The truth?” Catra gulped. That could have meant a variety of things. Catra wasn’t sure which truth
to fear.

“You LIED,” Hordak growled. “To my face!” His glowing red eyes narrowed. It felt like lasers
piercing into Catra’s skin. “You lied, to protect traitors .”

Kneeling wasn’t working. Catra jumped to her feet. “What?! No, Lord Hordak, they’re not traitors! I
don’t know what you were told but-”

“What I was told?” Hordak let out a chuckle. It was unnerving, rattling. He began pacing again. “Do
you deny that Entrapta was fraternizing with one of the princesses?” Catra reluctantly shook her head
at the question. “Do you deny that Scorpia was also fraternizing with members of the Rebellion?
That She attacked the prince of a kingdom we had a peace treaty with?”

“My Lord, you don’t understand, she was just protecting me!” Catra pleaded. Every minute this
night seemed to bring a new fresh hell. What else did Hordak know?

“Yes, over a squabble about a party .” Hordak made the word “party” drip with such disgust and
disdain it might have been toxic to even hear.

At this point Catra was less trying to wrestle control of the situation away than she was simply trying
to contain it.
“Doesn’t sound great, I admit that Lord Hordak. But please, Scorpia and Entrapta are not traitors.
This can all be explained. It’s not as bad as it may seem.”

“No. What is, ‘as bad as it seems’, as you put it, is Entrapta’s continued secret communications with
the princess.”

Every new distorted, but correct, accusation Hordak threw out felt like a body blow to Catra. Maybe
on a fresh day she could have rolled with it. With how battered her psyche already was though, this
fight was hard. This fight was being lost and she was trying desperately to find a way through.

“But her and Perfuma were just-”

“-Oh, ‘Perfuma’ is her name. Noted,” Hordak quipped. “What is even worse, Force General, is
YOU and Entrapta withholding the fact that she has developed cloaking technology for the Horde.
What is worse is that I was not told where you were going today. Or more precisely, who you were
going to see.”

Hordak stopped pacing and stared back down at Catra, his arms folded behind him. “Care to give
honesty a try Force General? WHO, did you go see today?”

Catra hung her head. “...Adora,” Catra mumbled.

“Aaah. Finally, some truth.”

“How,” Catra continued, head still hung low. She was trying to hide the defeat on her face. “How do
you know all this, my Lord?”

“Sorry Kitty-Cat. Afraid that was me,”a voice said from behind Catra.

Confusion sliced through Catra’s anger and despair. She knew that voice.

Slowly Catra turned around. The woman in front of her was wearing all black, except for the
crimson belts and boots, and vertical maroon stripe on the front of her top. She had striking indigo
hair that tapered off just below the chin. Catra’s face twisted as her confusion grew.

“... Zayn?” Catra asked.

Zayn let out a light chuckle and slapped Catra on the shoulder. “Not anymore I’m afraid. All that
time building trust, and poof, burned it up on something that didn’t even work. But damn, I got
thiiiiiis close to getting She-Ra banished from Bight Moon. GAH! It was so frustrating. I thought for
sure helping you was going to be enough to get Adora kicked out, but nooooo. If that spineless sack
of a queen had even a LITTLE bit of nerve, who knows what would have happened to Adora.”

Catra still stood there, mouth slightly agape at what she was seeing.

“I’d like you to meet Decepsha, one of the Horde’s top spies,” Hordak announced. “She has been
undercover in Bright Moon for the last three years.”

“But with my cover blown,” Decepsha continued, “I thought it was time to come home. Especially
after seeing that our new Force General seems to prioritize dates and dances over, you know,
winning a war!”

“I do not!” Catra retorted. She growled at Decepsha, who smirked back.

“Lord Hordak,” Catra said, whipping back around to face him. “I have served you faithfully for my
entire life. Over the last year I have led your empire diligently.”

“Yes,” Hordak answered. He beckoned Catra and Decepsha up the stairs as he returned to his
throne. From there he ordered Entrapta and Scorpia to be jailed. An battalion of guards drug them
out of the room.

“Please, Lord Hordak, don’t do this,” Catra implored.

“For a time you were an exemplary soldier of the Horde. Which is why I am willing to offer you a
second chance, Catra.”

“What. Anything! Just please, don’t hurt Scorpia and Entrapta!” Catra begged. Decepsha grinned,
seemingly enjoying the awkwardness of it all.

“The time has come,” Hordak announced. “Our expansion has slowed. Our peace treaty with
Midnight Sands is broken. It is time to remind Etheria what the Horde is really about.

“Conquest. Order. Rule.

“We shall attack Bright Moon. And this time we shall succeed. This time, we will conquer it.”

“How? The Whispering Woods is the only way to Bright Moon, and it’s as healthy as ever,” Catra
argued.

“Not necessarily,” Decepsha chimed in. “The Whispering Woods is the most obvious way in, but not
the only one. Way down by Seaworthy, there’s a valley that our tanks could pass through. It’s
heavily guarded, and constantly patrolled. Our tanks would be spotted in a second. UNLESS, they
were invisible,” Decepsha smugly finished.

“They’ll never see it coming,” Catra breathed.

“We’ll be literally on their doorstep before the even know we’re there,” Decepsha added.

“Preparations to adapt the cloaking technology to our tanks starts tomorrow. I’ve been assured that it
will be completed within a week. We have a week to prepare our army,” Hordak stated.

Catra’s stomach was turning over. Her eyelids fell shut. “And my second chance? Lead our armies
against Bright Moon?”

Hordak rose. His red eyes were slits. His red teeth bared in an evil smile. “No Force General. Your
skills are uniquely suited for a very key part of this mission. On the day of the attack, you will meet
with She-Ra, and keep her away from the battle. By any means necessary.”

A thousand protests ran through Catra’s mind. “You want me to meet and stop She-Ra?”

“Yes. You have reestablished a connection to Adora. For this very reason. Correct?”

If it was possible, Catra was squeezing her eyes shut even harder. No matter what, she couldn’t let
the tears leak out. “I… I don’t know if Adora will agree to meet with me again,” Catra muttered.

“She will. If you ask,” another voice said from the edge of the throne area.

Catra whipped around. Her mood swung in an instant, hissing, baring her claws. She knew that
voice too. Before Catra could act, she felt one of Hordak’s sharp hands grip her shoulder. Catra just
stood there, glaring at Shadow Weaver. There was a small shard of the Black Garnet in Shadow
Weaver’s mask. Her hair was wispy, lively cascading slices of black waterfalls, just like it used to be.
“What is she doing free?!” Catra snarled.

“I sent for her,” Hordak answered. “With my Force General on another mission, and my other top
Force Captain in jail, someone has to lead the assault.”

“We can’t trust her!” Catra yelled.

“No,” Hordak agreed. “But I know where she stands, and I can trust that .”

“I’ll behave, I promise,” Shadow Weaver assured in an almost menacing way.

It took a tremendous amount of willpower, but Catra was able to rip her attention away from Shadow
Weaver and give back to Hordak. “I do this, and Scorpia and Entrapta go free?

Hordak’s grin grew. It was unsettling. “Yes, Force General, of course.”

Catra ground her teeth. She gave a little huff, and did all she could to hold herself together. “Okay.”

Decepsha was strolling down a hallway in the Fright Spire. As far as meetings went, that one was
pretty fun. She had been worried that she’d feel awkward being back, but even after years away,
these walls felt like home. There was also a little part of her that thoroughly enjoyed seeing Catra’s
discomfort as everything all came crashing down.

As Decepsha passed by a door is slid open. Two arms reached out and yanked Decepsha into the
room. Decepsha stumbled, until Catra pushed her hard, sending her crashing to the ground.
Decepsha rolled over, getting a look at her assaulter for the first time. Catra was standing, chest
huffing, the single light in the room behind Catra casting her in shadow.

“Hey Kitty-Cat,” Decepsha smirked.

“How could you do this to her?” Catra demanded.

Decepsha climbed to her feet. She couldn’t help but laugh in Catra’s face. “ME?! Oh that’s rich.
Especially coming from YOU!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Catra grumbled.

“I was just doing my JOB catgirl. And you know what? You know what the worst part is? It wasn’t
just a job. I really thought about it,” Decepsha sighed. “I tried to stop her from following you at the
ball. Who knows, if she chose me I might be there right now, confessing to her all the Horde’s
darkest secrets.” Decepsha glared directly at Catra. “But noooo, ‘her Catra needed her!’ I never stood
a chance. And what have you done with it? Made a mess of her, that’s what.”

Catra scoffed. “No-no I haven’t.” She bit her lip.

“Lying’s not going to work with me. Don’t forget, I’m the one who got to be there. To see all of it. I
know about that book she made you. I’ve seen her room, it’s basically a damn library right now.
Stacks of books everywhere. I’m the one who, instead of getting to go on a real date, had to settle for
hanging out in the library with her while she tried to piece together magicat genealogy. She spent
months on that thing.” Decepsha paused. It appeared she was deep in thought. She let out a faint
laugh.
“I found out that she was going to be meeting with you today. Thought I could follow her, get some
last minute intel before heading home, finally.” Catra gulped, her anger and shame was mixing
together as Decepsha leaned in close to her. “I saw what you did. Damn near killed her. And what
was her crime? Daring to give you a present? Caring about you?”

“Shu-Shut up,” Catra muttered.

“No wonder you’ve been such a good Force General. Shadow Weaver trained you well.”

Catra grabbed Decepsha by the throat and slammed her into the wall. “I said shut up!”

“Whoa, settle down Kitten , we’re on the same side, remember?” Decepsha cracked.

“ You don’t get to call me that! Nobody calls me that,” Catra huffed. She maintained her grip on the
spy. There wasn’t much Catra felt she still had a good grip on. Decepsha’s neck was something
tangible at least.

“Not to your face anyway.”

“What?”

“Told you, I saw it all. Including all her silly little notes that she was taking for your book. I know all
about you Catra.”

The implication smacked Catra. Adora, called her, that? Catra shook her head, trying to clear it. The
grip around Decepsha’s neck loosened slightly. “You don’t know anything about me.”

Decepsha pondered that for a minute. “Know what? You’re right. All I know is the woman that
exists in Adora’s eyes.” Decepsha looked Catra up and down. “You can’t hold a candle to that
person.” Catra yanked Decepsha again, throwing her on the ground.

“Get out,” Catra commanded, still staring at the wall.

“Gladly,” Decepsha said as she hoisted herself to her feet. She got to the door and stopped after
opening it. “I look forward to working with you, Kitty-Cat. This is gonna be fun,” she said just
before the door closed behind her.

Catra stood in the room, alone, still staring at the wall. Not matter what she did, she couldn’t seem to
get her breathing under control.

A fist slammed into the wall. Then another. And another. And another one. And one more.

Hands cracked, knuckles bloodied, Catra’s feet slid out from under her. She crumpled onto her
knees. Catra tried jamming both of her fists into her mouth in an attempt to muffle her scream.

The door to Catra’s room slid open. The catgirl straggled in and closed it behind her. For a brief
second she had forgotten that she had told Kyle to wait for her. Which is why when he greeted her
she almost jumped through the roof.

“Oh, sorry Catra!” Kyle groaned. He was sitting in the side chair in the room. Catra’s book was
splayed open in his lap.
“It’s fine Kyle,” Catra sighed. She took a couple deep breaths. When she refocused on the room, she
couldn’t help but notice the book open.

It was obvious to Kyle too. He snapped it shut as quick as he could before jumping to his feet and
depositing the book in the chair. “I’m sorry! It fell open and I happened to read a few lines and then I
got interested,” Kyle said far too quickly. He scratched the back of his neck. “Catra, your home…”
he started. Kyle stopped when he took a good look at Catra. Standing in the middle of the room,
posture drooping, head facing down. There was sniffling. Tears were starting.

Before Catra knew it Kyle had his arms wrapped around her. “Are Entrapta and Scorpia okay?”

The question changed Catra’s crying to uncontrolled sobbing. She hugged Kyle back. “They’re in
jail. Hordak’s going to make me do something awful to get them out!” She wailed.

Kyle’s hug got tighter. “We’ll think of something,” he assured her.

Something about Kyle being so confident about something made Catra laugh. “Thank you, Ky.” He
nodded happily. “Actually, there is something I need your help with right now.”

With what sway she still had, Catra had ensured that Scorpia and Entrapta were put in neighboring
cells. Currently Scorpia and Entrapta were both on the floor, knees cuddled up into their chests. They
were sitting back to back, with two feet of steel cell wall between them. Entrapta’s pigtails hung
lifelessly. To pass time Scorpia was scratching the floor.

“Hey,” Catra said. Her voice was raspy.

Both Scorpia and Entrapta looked up. Catra was standing between the cells, holding a red book.
When she made sure both of them saw her, Catra turned around and rested against the wall between
the two cells. She slid down into her own huddled position. All three sat there in silence for a
moment.

Scorpia was the first to break it.

“You shouldn’t be here, Kitty. If they see you-”

“-I have an hour,” Catra interrupted her. “Kyle is doing a ‘routine maintenance check’. He’ll have
the cameras offline for the next hour.”

Catra pulled her knees in tighter. “I am sooo sorry.”

“This wasn’t your fault,” Scorpia said. A sad laugh escaped her. “We were trying to have a life, and
serve the Horde.

“Apparently there’s no room for ‘life’, in the Horde,” Entrapta grumbled.

“Just ‘the Horde’,” Catra added. “Did, they hurt you?”

“Well, ego for sure,” Scorpia quipped. “Otherwise, just this shiner.”

“Nothing permanent,” Entrapta muttered.

“But hey, tell me something good,” Scorpia demanded. “I wanna hear about today. How’d it go with
Adora?”

“She took me on a picnic,” Catra answered. Her eyes fell closed.

“Heh, that is so Adora,” Entrapta remarked.

“What’s a ‘picnic’?” Scorpia asked.

Catra took a deep breath. “It’s taking me to a bright hilltop in the middle of a forest. It’s making me a
bunch of delicious food that I’ve never even heard of. It’s letting me roll around, and laugh, and relax
for once. It’s being a sweetheart and showing me the time of my life, right up until I hurt her, for no
damn reason,” Catra said with a sniffle. “Because I can’t CONTROL ANYTHING THAT
HAPPENS IN HERE !” Catra screamed as she banged her fists into her head.

“Hey Kitty! Catra!” Scorpia had moved to kneel by the cell forcefield. “Kitty calm down! Please?”

“I thought I was getting better Scorp. I’m just as broken as ever,” Catra cried. “Everything’s just so
confusing! And when I’m around Adora I can’t think right! I don’t know what’s wrong with me!
There’s just so much in my head and none of it makes any sense!”

“Sure it does,” Scorpia assured her. “Kitty you’re doing so much better than when I first met you.
You’ve come so far, don’t let one or two missteps undo everything.”

“I don’t understand why my mind’s like this,” Catra sighed.

“I think you do, if you’d let yourself think about it,” Scorpia said.

“It’s pretty obvious, really,” Entrapta added.

“It’s Shadow Weaver. She messed me up. She messed me up beyond repair,” Catra snorted through
tears.

“No. No Kitty you’re not beyond repair! You’ve already repaired a lot!” Scorpia argued. “I can’t
imagine the lingering baggage that witch left you with, but you’re working through it. And besides,
that wasn’t what we were alluding to anyway.” Catra turned to Scorpia with a confused glare.

“Kitty,” Scorpia smiled softly, “you want to be with Adora. But you don’t want to abandon us.”

Catra collapsed back against the wall between the cells. She was quite for a while. Finally she got up
and tapped the button to open the little hole in the forcefield meant for food trays. She slipped the
book through to Scorpia.

“What’s this?” Scorpia asked as she opened it. She gasped as she began reading.

“It’s a book, that Adora wrote for me. The entire history of magicats,” Catra said while facing
Entrapta’s cell. “Every question I could have asked. Including what happened to my people. Spoiler
alert, the Horde killed them.”

“Your people,” Entrapta said. “Do, you believe what it says?”

“I want to,” Catra said, a little deflated. “I… I don’t want to believe she’d lie or decieve me anymore.
I wish I could get proof though.”

“Proof that the Horde could do something like that?” Scorpia asked. Catra nodded. Scorpia hummed
a little laugh. “Kitty, I’m your proof.” Catra knelt in front of Scorpia, who was still flipping through
the book. She stopped for a moment.

“Do you remember when I told you that I didn’t know why Mattis’ family was banished? That was a
lie. My parents, they tried so hard to let me just be a child. To keep me innocent-”

“-they did a remarkable job with that,” Entrapta teased.

The trio chuckled.

“Shut up, you,” Scorpia shot back. “Anyway, Mattis’ family was banished because his mother told
me the truth, about what happened to the Scorpio Kingdom. The Horde never gave my people a
chance to cooperate. Hordak took our runestone. ‘Thinned’ my people out until we were compliant.
Telling me was unforgivable to my parents.

“I was so young, I barely knew what any of that meant, until I was older. By then, I was so adept at
putting it out of my mind. I never allowed myself to think about it. Until I reconnected with Mattis.”

“Scorpia.. I..” Catra was stammering to respond.

“It’s okay Kitty. You couldn’t have known. One of the many sins we turn a blind eye to, ‘for the
Horde’.”

Catra flopped down on her butt and put her head in her hands. “I just wanted to build a life here, a
home.”

“Hey,” Scorpia closed the book and turned to Catra, who was sitting a few feet in front of her. “The
Fright Spire? This isn’t my home. This? The three of us right here? This is my home. No matter
where we go, you’re my home.”

A sniffle came out of Catra as she wiped away a few tears. “... I love you guys.”

“Same,” Entrapta responded with a thoughtful nod.

“We love you always,” Scorpia smiled back.

“Show off,” Catra quipped. They all laughed. She climbed to her feet and reopened the slot for
Scorpia to pass her book back. “Hour’s almost up,” Catra sighed.

“Will you be back?” Entrapta asked.

Catra stared directly at the purple haired princess. “Every night until you’re both out of here.”

“Can I read it tomorrow?” Entrapta meekishly asked.

“Of course,” Catra smiled. “You two try to get some rest.” Catra turned and glared out into the void
of the large cellblock. “I unfortunately have a little more work to do tonight.”

The door slid closed behind Catra. The room, a guest quarters, was lit with a hazy purple glow.
Every hair on Catra’s body stood on end as she was basked in purple light. Her tail swished wildly.
She felt a tug on her pants. It was Clack. Somehow Entrapta had designed him and Emily to emote
via their lights. Clack was absolutely terrified. Not sure what else to do, Catra gave him a reassuring
pat on the top of his dome.

“Greetings, Force General,” Shadow Weaver said as she emerged from a side room. She was
standing, head held high, hands calmly clasped together in front of her. Her mask was repaired, a
small Black Garnet shard sat inset in it.

Catra’s eyes narrowed to slits. “ You should be the one that’s still rotting in a cell.”

“Perhaps,” Shadow Weaver pondered. She had a disturbing air of amused calm about her. “But like
they say, desperate times and all.”

“I see jail didn’t break you. I guess they defied my orders and actually fed you.”

The jab got a laugh out of Shadow Weaver. “I’ve survived worse.”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Catra scoffed. She made her way over to the desk in the room.

“For Lord Hordak’s plan to work, you need to ensure the She-Ra is kept busy, or disposed of, and
kept away from Bright Moon. You’ll send a note to Adora, asking her to meet you somewhere
secluded, eight days from tomorrow.”

Blank paper was sitting on the desk. Catra stared at it. The woman, the witch, next to her, made
every part of her made Catra’s skin crawl and her stomach twist itself into knots. The thing Catra
hated the very most about her though? Was all the insight she possessed about her and Adora.
“Earlier, you seemed sure that Adora would come if I asked.”

“I have no doubts.”

“Hah! Well, sorry to tell you SW, but while you were busy getting let out of prison, I was busy being
that fuck up that you always knew I could be,” Catra huffed. “I wouldn’t trust her to show up.”

“She’ll show,” Shadow Weaver assured her.

Catra glared into that mask of hers. “ How are you so sure?”

Shadow Weaver stared back, sizing up Catra. “I’ve tried to catch up on the last 15 months. I noticed,
some two months ago you broke into the Crystal Castle, looking for She-Ra’s weakness.”

Something about knowing Shadow Weaver was going through her files made Catra uneasy. “Er,
yeah. So what?”

“How was the Crystal Castle? A mesmerizing place, isn’t it? Is that holographic nitwit still up and
running?”

Despite her efforts to suppress it, Catra couldn't’ help but laugh. “Yeah, Light Bright’s still there. Still
annoying.” Catra cocked her head to the side. “How do you know about her?”

“What, you don’t think you were the first Force General to have the brilliant idea of trying to raid the
Crystal Castle for its secrets and power, do you?” Shadow Weaver asked. “The file said that you
were unsuccessful in learning She-Ra’s weakness.”

“So? What does any of this have to do with Adora?”

“Simple, my child, She-Ra’s weakness is Adora’s weakness. It’s the same weakness that she’s
always had.
“You.”

“Me?!” Catra huffed.

“Yes, of course. You were always her blind spot. Her motivation. You’re the opponent she fears
facing off against on the battlefield. At the end of the day, we both know that she can’t defeat you.”

“Hah, are you saying that I’m stronger than She-Ra?” Catra chortled, trying to keep her mood from
nosediving.

“Oh no, definitely not! She could break you in half without even working up a sweat.

“Not that she sweats.

“You know what I mean Catra. You are Adora’s weakness, and hence She-Ra’s weakness. So yes,
unless you killed her, she will come if you ask. Perhaps you may have to beg, depending on how
much of a, what did you say, ‘fuck up’, you were, but she will still come.” Shadow Weaver waved
her hand. The pen on the desk floated up to Catra. “So make it count.”

Clack scurried out of Shadow Weaver’s room. Catra left right after him. She was caught off guard by
Lonnie, who was leaning against the wall across from the door. Catra sighed and forced a smile.

“Lonnie! I’m glad I finally ran into you!” Catra said. Catra meant it, but was a little concerned by the
stern glare Lonnie was giving her.

“I told you this would happen,” Lonnie grumbled.

“What?”

“THIS!” Lonnie yelled and waved her arm around. “All this! Shadow Weaver free. Scorpia and
Entrapta in jail. All of it! And you let it!” Lonnie scoffed.

“I didn’t ask for this Lonnie!” Catra argued back.

“Didn’t you? Negotiating with territories? Peace treaties? Attending balls? Letting Entrapta have a
thing with a princess? Face it Cat, you went soft. You started talking to Adora again and you let that
bitch turn you into mush!”

In an instant Catra shoved Lonnie against the wall. She was inches away from Lonnie and growling.
Lonnie was just smiling.

“There! There’s the Catra I know!”

Lonnie’s words seemingly pushed Catra back a little. “No. I’m not going to fall for this. Dammit
Lonnie! Don’t you see, I’m trying to protect us!”

“Us?”

“Yes, us. You, me, Kyle, Rogelio, Scorpia, Entrapta. Our squad. We’re a unit! We-”

“- Serve the Horde. I serve Lord Hordak,” Lonnie cut Catra off. She patted Catra over her heart.
“Don’t forget that,” she said. Lonnie pushed Catra’s arm away and stormed off.

Catra watched her go until she rounded a corner.

“Dammit, Lonnie,” Catra sighed.

Lonnie stomped around the corner away from Catra. She was hoping talking to Catra would ease her
mind. Instead she was more worried than ever. Lonnie was so busy grumbling in her own head that
she didn’t notice anyone else in the hall.

“Gotta warn you, generally cats do the exact opposite of what you tell them to,” Decepsha called out.
It made Lonnie stop dead in her tracks and look around. Decepsha was leaning, arms folded, against
the wall. They were alone in the hallway.

Having gotten Lonnie’s attention, Decepsha pushed herself off the wall and strolled over to the
soldier. “Can we trust her?”

Lonnie pondered the question for a minute.

“She’ll make the right choice,” Lonnie decided on.

“Let’s hope. Didn’t get your name.”

“Lonnie,” she said, staring at Decepsha’s outstretched hand a moment before shaking it. “And you
must be Decepsha, Queen of Lies. Heard you finally got back from assignment,” Lonnie said in a
mocking tone.

“Oooh, my reputation precedes me. How exciting!” Decepsha grinned.

“Been gone a while,” Lonnie said. “Don’t think you’re gonna get a pass just because some of the old
heads around here are gushing over you.”

“Worry not, I earn my reputation.”

“Good luck with that,” Lonnie said. She began walking away, and threw back a “see ya,” as she left.

Decepsha watched her go, arms folded, with a sly grin on her face. “Yeah Lonnie, you have a good
night,” she breathed to herself.

A mid-morning breeze cut through the clearing in the Whispering Woods. Adora stood, just feet
from the closed door of the Crystal Castle. The Sword of Protection was strapped on her back. She
was wearing her usual red boots, grey pants, and white long-sleeved top. No jacket. She had arrived
fifteen minutes ago, but just continued staring at the door, eyes half glazed over.

“Dearie!” a voice called out behind Adora. It pulled her out of her daze. Adora slowly turned.

“Madame Razz,” Adora said as she forced a weak smile. The old woman was scampering toward
her, basket and broom in hand. Just like always. Adora couldn’t be sure, but she was starting to think
that Razz’s glasses got thicker every time she saw her.

“Picking berries today?” Razz asked.

“No. I have training today,” Adora corrected.

“That usually takes place on the inside, Dearie.”

“Er, yes. I know,” Adora sighed as she returned her gaze to the door. Adora knew she had a duty to
go in there. Just about every fiber of her being wanted to be doing just about anything else though.
The only reason she was even here was that she was hoping that some training would help her put
yesterday out of her mind.

“Adora, Dearie, can I see your sword?” Razz asked. Adora shrugged and handed it to her. Razz took
a long look at it. Adora was always amazed by how much strength Razz had in her little body as she
handled the sword with ease. With a shrug Razz tossed the sword over her shoulder, sending it flying
into the nearby woods.

“Hey!” Adora yelled.”Razz I need that!” Adora held her hand out. The sword began zooming
through the air towards her. Midway it deviated course and flew into Razz’s outstretched hand. The
sight made Adora’s jaw fall open. She stared at her empty hand. “H-How?” Adora stammered out.

Razz gave Adora a soft smile. She adjusted her glasses with her free hand. “Dearie, my Mara, she
shared her heart with me. Allows me to do some of the minor sword abilities.”

The answer made Adora start pondering. About her abilities. About her and the fact that Adora’s
only ever been able to access her healing magic when she was there to help. “Like healing magic?”
Adora asked.

“Of course not Dearie!” Razz laughed. “I said ‘minor’ abilities, not major.

“Now, training happens on the inside, and you’re still on the outside. You don’t need to train today,”
Razz said with a big laugh. She tossed the sword back over her shoulder. “Come pick berries with
me Dearie!”

Adora couldn’t help but laugh at Razz’s tenacity. “Okay, Razz. Let’s go pick some berries.”

Catra sat huddled up in the side chair in her room. She was wearing her jacket, with her sketchbook
opened in her lap. At the moment Catra was simply staring out of her window at the mid-morning
haze. Catra couldn’t help but feel that the sky seemed duller than usual. Or maybe, it was just the first
time she took a real look at it in long time.

A knocking on her door broke her concentration. “Come in!” Catra called out. Kyle and Rogelio
slipped into the room. “Morning guys!” Catra chirped as she jumped out of the chair. She carried her
sketchbook over to meet them by her desk.

“You wanted to see us?” Kyle asked. He and Rogelio had melancholy expressions, which seemed to
clash with Catra’s aggressive peppiness.

“I definitely did!” Catra beamed. “I did a few new drawings that I wanted to show you!”

Kyle cocked his head to the side. “You called us, just to show us drawings?”

“Yep!” Catra smiled. She flipped her sketchbook open and handed it to Kyle, all the while with the
 biggest, widest grin her face could manage. Kyle looked down at the page and immediately nodded.

Rogelio, Kyle, we can’t actually “talk”. You never know where that little Imp is. And now “Spy
Master” Decepsha is also snooping around, seemingly everywhere.

I am so sorry for letting this mess happen. I want you to know, I consider the both of you a part of
my family, and I’ll do everything I can to protect you, and help you, no matter what you decide to
do.

“Deciding what to do” is really what this is all about, isn’t it. Here it is.

I don’t trust Hordak. I can’t trust him anymore. Not after everything that’s happened. Everything
I’ve learned. The rest of our family are sitting in jail cells right now, while Shadow Weaver of all
people is roaming the halls free. The only way Hordak will let them out is if I hurt Adora… I don’t
think I can do that. Not unless EVERYTHING else went wrong. But I CAN’T let Scorpia and
Entrapta just rot in jail.

So, I think I gotta go. But I can’t go alone. I don’t want to go without the two of you. And I won’t go
without Scorpia and Entrapta. Only way we’re going anywhere is with a jailbreak. I have a plan but
to do it I’d need both of your help. Which means, all of us goes, or none of us do.

I know, I’m asking for a lot. I’ll respect your decision, not matter what it is. But know that I’m not
asking this a superior officer, or even as a fellow soldier. I’m asking this as a friend.

Are you in?

The three exchanged meaningful looks for a moment. Then Kyle held out his hand. Catra gave him a
pen. The room echoed with the sound of the pen scratching and scraping the paper as Kyle wrote.

Chapter End Notes

Considering all of chapter 12 and most of this chapter, right up to the Razz scene, takes
place in one day, I feel like I could have lumped the two together and called it "Catra
and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". Lol, also the working title for this
chapter was definitely "Fucking EVERYONE Gets a Go at Catra". XD

I'm so glad I was able to finally work Razz into the story! I'm also super excited to
finally get to write Decepsha without having to pull any punches!

Have I talked yet about how I have an intense love/hate relationship with the names in
the show? Like, they're AWFUL. But also, kind of amazing. I still can't say
"Castaspella" without giggling, it's so stupid! And characters call her that, with a straight
face! Which is to say, I love that I was able to think of the name "Decepsha" for the spy
and think "That is awful, and PERFECT".
Chapter 14 will be up Tuesday (6/4) night!

Next Time:
"I don’t get to want things, I get to have 'a destiny'."
 There Are Worse...
Chapter Notes

Madame Razz and Mattis are not featured in this chapter... LITERALLY EVERY other
character is!

Been so excited to get to this chapter!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Swift Wind soared through the sky on a clear blue morning. Adora sat on his back, staring off into
the distance. The Sword of Protection was strapped to her back, and again no jacket. Her eyes were
unfocused. In truth, Adora wasn’t looking at anything. Her mind was racing in so many different
directions. It had been a hard week after getting Catra’s note. Nothing elaborate, just Catra pleading
with Adora to meet with her. Most noteworthy part was probably the least sensible part. “Dump
scone”. It was gibberish, an insult that Catra had made up when they were young when she had run
out of ways to insult Octavia. More importantly though, it was something Adora and Catra used as a
code word. It meant “emergency”. The location was a grassy cliffside north of the Whispering
Woods, near where Midnights Sands, the wildlands, and Skydancer converged. There was nothing
of significance there, just a nice view from the cliff. Maybe Catra was planning to throw Adora over
it.

Adora tried shaking that thought from her mind. It was one of the dozens of emotional highs and
lows Adora had went through over the week. From “maybe she wants to make up!”, to “maybe she
wants to finish what she started,” and everything in between. Bow and Glimmer kept asking Adora
the same question: “What is Adora hoping happens?”

In truth, there wasn’t an easy answer. She knew she should be mad. It would have been
understandable if she crumpled Catra’s note up and never gave it a second though. Reality was
though, that was never an option. Deep down, Adora still longed for Catra. That love hadn’t gone
away, just now it felt commedically pointless. If, after everything she tried, Catra still hated her,
Adora wasn’t sure what else she could do.

It made Adora feel like a tremendous failure. Catra didn’t love her. That wasn’t shocking, but after
everything she couldn’t even convince Catra to forgive her and move on.

It had been a hard week.

“Hey, we doing okay Adora?” Swift Wind asked.

“Huh, oh, yes, I’m fine,” Adora lied.

“Okay,” Swift Wind replied. “It’s just, you’ve barely said a word this entire time. And also, you
know, we are sort of connected.”

“Right, Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay! This can’t be easy. Honestly, I’m not even sure why we’re doing it,” Swift Wind
admitted.
“Catra seemed desperate in her note. I need to at least make sure she’s okay.”

“Why? After all she’s done? I know you care about her a lot, but Adora, where’s the limit?”

“The limit?” Adora repeated. She tried to make room in her head for the question, to give it some
space to be examined. “Honestly Swift, I don’t know.”

“I’m worried about you Adora,” Swift Wind confessed.

Adora cracked the first smile of the day. “Thank you, Swift Wind.” She patted the unicorn on his
neck. “How could anything really bad happen to me when I have so many people looking out for
me.”

A Horde skiff came into view. It was parked at the top of a hill, at the edge of the cliff. Catra was
leaning against it, looking out over the cliff with her arms folded. Swift Wind set down way down at
the bottom of the hill. Adora climbed off and gave Swift Wind a pet.

“I’ll call you when I need you, okay?” Adora asked.

“Yeah,” Swift Wind said. “Remember, there has to be a limit, Adora. Don’t let her take advantage of
you.” Adora smiled again and nodded. Swift Wind rose into the air and took off.

With Swift Wind gone, Adora turned her full attention to the hill. She could just make out Catra’s
hair sticking out from behind the parked skiff. She started her short hike. It wasn’t that steep. Adora
probably could had covered it in less than a minute if she really wanted to. That climb felt like
forever though. So far there weren’t any signs of a trap.

About ten yards from the skiff, Adora paused. Catra was mostly in view now. Adora took a deep
breath.

“Hey,” Catra said, quickly glancing over her shoulder. “Brought the sword this time.”

“Don’t usually make the same mistake twice,” Adora fired back.

“No, that’s… That’s smart,” Catra said. Her voice was low, hollow. Her arms were wrapped tightly
around herself.

Another deep breath. Adora slid the sword out of its sheath and jammed it into the ground. One more
deep breath then Adora made her way over to Catra and leaned against the skiff, just a few feet away
from Catra.

They both just stared out over the valley below the cliff for a moment.

“Your note sounded desperate,” Adora finally said. “You pulled out the ‘dump scone’ and
everything.”

Catra lowered her head. “I needed to make sure you’d show,” she mumbled.

“Well, congratulations, I’m here,” Adora responded. She hummed the faintest of laughs.

“You are,” Catra confirmed. She was still looking down mostly. Every now and then she’d look to
her side, or back at the valley, but never at Adora. At least, until she closed her eyes all together.

All week Catra had been trying to brainstorm what to actually do when, or if, Adora showed up.
Nothing seemed right. It was the one part of the week that she hadn’t been able to figure out. After
taking one look at Adora though, Catra had an idea of where she wanted to start.
“... I am so sorry,” Catra said, barely louder than a whisper. She snorted back a sniffle. “I know I
can’t take any of it back, but I really wish I could.”

“Still no time machine I’m afraid,” Adora joked. It got an actual laugh from the both of them. She
turned to face Catra, but maintained her distance. One of her hands seemed to instinctively be
reaching for Catra. “Hey, it’s, it’s going to be okay.”

“Don’t do that,” Catra said. “Don’t just forgive me. You tried to do something incredibly sweet, and
I messed everything up.” Catra bit her lip. “I don’t deserve forgiveness.”

“I’m-I’m not,” Adora assured her.

They fell quiet again for a moment.

“I guess I kind of am though,” Adora said. She let a half smile on her face. “I know I should be mad.
I am mad. But I also hate being mad at you.” Adora collapsed back against the skiff. “This last week
has been so hard,” Adora groaned. Tears were starting to pool in the corners of her eyes. “I don’t
know what I can say around you, or what I can do around you. I’m scared that anything I do, that
everything I do is going to upset you!”

“I don’t want you to feel that way,” Catra lamented.

“I don’t want to feel that way!” Adora closed her eyes and took another deep breath. “Catra, ‘with
you’ used to be the only place I felt safe. But now, I don’t even know how I’m supposed to act
around you. I hate this feeling.” Her hands were gripping an edge on the skiff, and slowly tightening.

“I hate that you hate me,” Adora let tumble out.

That slammed into Catra so hard that she actually winced. “I don’t hate you,” she forced out. It just
got a tired laugh from Adora.

“Why do you care?” Catra asked.

“What?”

“Adora, you have everything you’ve ever wanted.”

“ Everything I’ve ever wanted?! ” Adora huffed.

“No, I didn’t mean that as a negative or anything! But, you do. Why are you wasting your time on
me? You have friends who care about you. A family that you’re a part of now. You’re a hero.
You’re beloved. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Right,” Adora grumbled. She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “What I wanted. Catra,
do you really think that’s what I want? Do you really think I even get to want things?”

“What are you talking about? Everyone has wants, Adora.”

Adora gave Catra a sad, defeated smile. “I don’t get to have what I want, Catra. Do you really think
that this is what I would want? To be the one that’s supposed to know how to save everybody? To
be the She-Ra that doesn’t mess everything up? I don’t get to want things, I get to have ‘a destiny’,”
Adora scoffed.

“First Shadow Weaver ‘destined’ me to be the best Force Captain the Horde’s ever seen. It was my
entire childhood. I never had a choice. Shadow Weaver made that choice for me a long time ago.
And then I was DESTINED to be the hero of Etheria. Not much room in there for wanting things.”

Catra glared at Adora. “I don’t believe that. There has to be things that you want.”

“What’s the point though? I can’t have what I want now can I.”

“Says who?”

“Says… UGH, Catra, just, believe me, please. I’m not going to get what I want.”

“No, you’re avoiding it. Adora, what do you want?” Catra asked, a grin finally forming.

“What do you want?” Adora spun it around.

“What?”

“You keep asking me, but what does the big, bad Force General of the Horde want?” Adora
smoothly asked.

Something about the question struck a nerve in Catra. She stood, staring intently at Adora.

“Oh, hey, I’m sorry, if you really don’t want to tell me you don’t have to,” Adora assured her.

“I… Want to protect my family,” Catra spit out.

“Catra?”

“It’s Hordak, he imprisoned Entrapta and Scorpia! He said the only way he’d release them is if I did
something for him!” Catra said. She was having trouble catching her breath again.

“What?! Why are we just hanging around here then? We have to go rescue them! Did you want to
meet with me to ask for my help? You know I’d always help you with something like that.” Adora
pushed herself off of the skiff.

“No!” Catra immediately shot down the idea. “No, it’s, fine. Adora, it’s alright, really. They’re going
to be fine.”

Adora stood, and took a good look at Catra. Her shoulders sagged. “Catra, what does Hordak want
you do?”

The two of them stared at each other for a solid minute. “He’s, he said he'd only release them if I
stopped She-Ra,” Catra divulged.

It hung in the air between them, like a toxic gas. Adora stood there, blank faced, blinking once in a
while. Catra was awash in shame. After another minute Adora gave a confident nod, then turned
around and started marching toward the sword.

“Hey, Adora, we’re just talking though. I’m not looking for a fight. You didn’t let me finish!
Adora?” Catra called out, but Adora was ignoring her. She marched all the way to the sword, still
standing jammed into the ground. “Adora?” Catra called out again. Adora gripped the handle. She
closed her eyes and sucked air in through her nose before letting out a big exhale.

Swift Wind. You asked me earlier, “Where’s my limit” I think I finally have an answer for you.

The Sword of Protection was pulled from the dirt. Adora slowly turned, sword in hand, and began
marching back toward Catra. Adora was stone faced, determined.
“Adora, whoa! Hey! We were just talking!” Catra pleaded as she slowly backed up. Adora was
stalking her way to her. “I didn’t say that to fight! I don’t want to fight! Please believe me! I’m
sorry!” Catra threw her arms up and slammed her eyes shut as Adora was upon her.

I know, Swift Wind. I’m an idiot. A fool. You’re right. I am those things. I tried to figure out how I
should feel, but in the end, I can’t change how my heart wants to feel.

In the end, I’m just a girl who can’t help but love the girl who’s always made her heart flutter and
soar.

So that’s my answer Swift Wind...

...There is no limit.

Much to Catra’s surprise, she wasn’t feeling any pain. In fact, all she felt was a soft pressing against
her chest. Cautiously, Catra opened her eyes. Adora was holding the sword, handle up, pressing the
broadside against Catra.

“Take it. Show it to Hordak, as proof that you defeated She-Ra. It should be enough,” Adora smiled.
A sincere smile, but not a happy one. “But if you could please convince him to not destroy it, if that’s
even possible. I’m probably going to have to steal it back eventually. Don’t worry though, I’ll make
sure it doesn’t come back to you.”

Catra gripped the sword by the handle. Adora let it go. The weight immediately yanked Catra’s hand
down. “Adora…”

“Go,” Adora gave Catra the softest smile she could. “Go save your family. You love them, and I
know you’d do anything to save them. So go save them Catra.” Adora spun on her heel to leave.

“Wait,” Catra said, setting the sword down by leaning it against the skiff. “It’s okay Adora.
Everything’s going to be fine. I thought we were just talking.”

“Are you sure?” Adora asked, glancing over her shoulder.

“Yeah. Besides,” Catra looked at the sword, the back at Adora and grinned. “You’re stalling.”

“Excuse me?”

“About what you want.”

“Oh,right, that. It really isn’t important. Are you sure you don’t have to take the sword right away?”

“Stop changing the subject Adora. What is it you want?”

“Forget it. It’s stupid and not worth talking about,” Adora insisted. She started walking away.

Catra grabbed Adora by the arm and spun her around. “Bullshit. I told you about what I want. You
gotta tell me.”

Adora stared at the hand on her arm, then at Catra. She glared at Catra for a long moment. She was
tired. She wanted Catra to drop it, to stop asking. She couldn’t tell Catra, why couldn’t Catra
understand that? She was so tired. She could feel the warmth of Catra’s hand. Adora was tired. Of
fighting. Of resisting. Of always holding back. And now Catra wouldn’t stop pressing her about the
one thing she couldn’t talk about with her. Adora was exhausted. She gazed into Catra’s mismatched
eyes. Her perfect, mismatched eyes.
Fuck it.

With both hands, Adora grabbed Catra by the cheeks and pulled her in, crashing their lips together
for a kiss.

And, it was everything. The butterflies. The sparks. The fluttering in the stomach. The weak knees
and the stopping of time.The ecstasy and all the other clichés that could never fully explain it. She
felt the softness of Catra’s lips. Smelled the cinnamon of her hair. Bathed in the heat of Catra’s whole
body just inches away.

For the first time in forever, Adora’s mind was clear. There were no doubts. No sides. No wars. Just
her, just Catra. Just those adorable ears and playful tail and cute orange stripes and perfect
mismatched eyes and beautiful freckled face.

It was hard to tell precisely how long the kiss lasted. Probably a good 30 seconds, but it felt like all
time collapsed into that one moment.

It was perfect.

Until it wasn’t.

Guilt began creeping into Adora’s mind. She became disgusted with herself in an instant. She forced
herself to pull away from Catra, who was standing there, mouth slightly agape. Catra’s eyes were
bulging, her hands just dangled at her sides.

“I am so sorry!” Adora gasped as the kiss ended. “That was awful of me! I never should have forced
myself on you like that!” Adora was just inches from Catra, who still staring in disbelief. Adora
slapped herself on the head. “Dammit Adora! Just have to ruin everything ,” she yelled at herself. “I
am sooo sorry,” Adora whimpered.

As Catra regained her bearings, Adora found that she couldn’t look at her any longer, out of shame.

“Do you get it now though?” Adora asked with a whisper. She was still staring at the ground. It was
the only thing she could stomach to look at, at the moment. “I don’t get to have what I want.”

Adora’s words echoed in Catra’s brain as she regained function of it. She looked at the girl in front
of her…

...And smiled.

“Why not?”

Adora rose her head just in time for Catra to throw herself at Adora. Their lips locked together for
another kiss. Catra pulled Adora in as tightly as possible. Adora wrapped her arms around Catra’s
head, burying her hands into that gorgeous mane.

Catra was being playful. She nibbled Adora’s lower lip until Adora opened her teeth, allowing
Catra’s tongue to play. One of Adora’s hands began scratching that spot by Catra’s ears. She began
purring, vibrating both of them. Adora hummed a moan through the kisses. The sweet sound drove
Catra wild. All she could focus on was getting Adora to do it again, which turned out to be quite
easy. Catra pushed forward, she needed all of Adora. She needed to feel every inch of the blonde.
Adora attempted to balance for both of them.

It turned out to be a terrible idea. Adora’s knees buckled and they both went crashing onto the
ground. Adora slammed down back first and Catra landed on her. Neither of them could control their
amused giggles at suddenly being on the ground.

“Sorry!” Catra snickered.

“No, no! It’s okay!” Adora assured her with a soft smile. She was on her back, arms splayed out
over her head. Catra was straddling her waist. “This is okay. Better than okay, actually,” Adora
meekishly grinned.

Catra’s grin was a bit more devilish. She was slowly running her finger down the side of Adora’s
face. Every inch of her skin felt like a fire Catra needed to bathe in. “Reeealllly?”

“I mean, Catra, you spent most of our lives pouncing on me. Did I ever complain about it?” Adora
asked, playful grin on her face.

“Come here,” Catra pulled Adora up into a sitting position under her, and also into another kiss.

They released their lips after a couple minutes with a small gasp. Catra had a soft smile on her face.

“You, wanted, me ?”

Adora was caressing Catra’s face. “It’s always been you. Catra, you’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

The answer bought Adora another kiss.

They sat, kissing, legs around each other’s waists, hands caressing and exploring, for a while longer.
Until they reached the limit of how much oxygen their lungs could be deprived of. When they finally
separated their mouths, they leaned in and pressed their foreheads together, and shared a giggle.

“You never said anything,” Catra murmured.

“Never dreamed that you’d ever think of me that way.”

“Of course I did.”

“Well I know that now !” Adora huffed.

They both giggled.

“I’m sorry,” Catra breathed.

“For what?” Adora asked as she traced the edge of Catra’s ear with her finger.

“Where do I even start?”

Adora put a finger over Catra’s mouth. “Stop,” she said. “Yeah, there’s, goodness, there’s so much
to talk about, and work out, and apologize for. That’s all probably unavoidable.

“But if it’s okay with you, there’ll be time for that. I’d like to just stay in this moment for now.”

Catra licked the finger that was placed over her mouth. As an impulse reaction the finger bent. Catra
began kissing and sucking on it, which was drawing out cute little gasps from Adora, which only
stopped when Catra pulled her in for another kiss. She pressed their lips together as tight as she
could, in the futile hope that she could bury herself in Adora and not have to face life.

Eventually Catra forced herself to pull away. “Dammit, we can’t!” Catra groaned as she untangled
herself from Adora. After climbing to her feet, Catra stomped over to the sword. “We can’t just stay
in this moment,” she heaved. Catra picked the sword up and stared directly into it. There was a faint
reflection of her in the shiny runestone. “Adora, you have to go back to Bright Moon. Now.”

“You, want me to leave?” Adora asked, voice sullen. She climbed to her feet, clutching her hands
together over her chest.

“That is the last thing I want,” Catra cried. She swung around to face Adora, sword still in hand.
“But you need to! You need to save your friends!”

“What?!”

The truth. It was the last thing Catra wanted to say. After all this time, she finally had Adora. But
now the truth was threatening to destroy it all in an instant. There was no choice though. Adora
would hate her if she found out Catra knew what was happening to Bright Moon and didn’t warn
her. And she’d deserve it.

All Catra really wanted to do was crash back into those lips, plump and red from all the abuse they’d
already taken today, and get lost in the gentle oceans of Adora’s eyes.

But, the truth.

“Hordak sent me here to stop you, but also, to distract you. Adora, they’re attacking Bright Moon,
today! Probably as we speak. I couldn’t stop them!”

“How did we not know..” Adora started, but trailed off. “... Clack. The cloaking technology.” Catra
reluctantly nodded in agreement.

Adora stared at Catra. There was so much pain in those eyes. “All this, was just a distraction?”

“No!” Catra screamed. She started to make her way towards Adora with the sword. “No, Adora! I
just needed Hordak to think I was following his plan today! NONE of this was because of that! I
promise! That’s why I’m telling you nooo-OW!” Catra screeched as she slammed into the translucent
gray forcefield in front of her that appeared out of nowhere. She took a step back to see that she was
completely enclosed in a gray forcefield cage. “What the hell?!”

“Catra!” Adora screamed.

Both of their attention was drawn by a sudden clapping behind Catra. Both girls gasped in disbelief.

“Well done, Force General,” Hordak said. He strolled around Catra’s force cage.

“Hordak!” Adora glared.

“Ah, She-Ra,” Hordak remark. “So much potential. Wasted. A tragedy really.” Hordak swung his
attention to Catra, who was banging on and clawing at the forcefield. “You weren’t in the middle of
betraying the Horde, were you Force General?” Hordak asked with a bemused smile. Catra just
growled at him. “Worry not, as long as you sit tight and hold onto that sword like a good girl, your
end of the bargain will be fulfilled.”

“Hordak! Please don’t do this!” Catra pleaded.

“It is LORD HORDAK!” he snarled at Catra. Just then Hordak spun around and threw his arm out,
catching a leaping Adora by the throat. “Admirable attempt,” Hordak smiled. Adora smiled back and
smashed the rock she was holding into his face.
Hordak dropped Adora, who took the opening to spin kick into Hordak’s side. He screamed out and
held his hand up, firing a pulse wave from it that crashed into Adora, sending her flying back.
Hordak stalked after her. Adora struggled to her feet just in time for Hordak’s pointy fist to slam into
her face, knocking her back down. Hordak drove a fist down but Adora rolled out of the way,
immediately spun on the ground and kicked Hordak in the face. He growled. Adora thrust her leg
out again but Hordak caught it as he rose to his feet. He tossed Adora, flipping her a little down the
hill. She was using all her strength to push herself up off the grass.

“Very laudable, Adora,” Hordak said, stalking towards Adora. “I see it now, what they all saw in
you. A shame, you could have been a great Force Captain. Under Weaver’s tutelage who knows
what you could have been.”

“I’d rather die!” Adora growled.

“Don’t worry,” Hordak cracked his knuckles, “you will.”

Adora screamed and pushed herself off the ground, careening into Hordak.

In the force cage, Catra was slashing and stabbing at the walls with the Sword of Protection, to no
avail. “Come on you stupid sword! Help me out here! Adora needs us!” Catra huffed after another
few swings. She was panting, and on the verge of tears. Nothing seemed to be working. Catra held
the sword up. The runestone glistened at her. Catra pressed her hand against it. “Please,” Catra
begged. “We have to save her. We HAVE to! So please, I need you to do something!” Catra felt a
warmth beneath her hand.

Hordak laughed as Adora collapsed onto the ground. She was slow to stir. Blood was spilling from
the gash across her forehead and nose. She rolled onto her side and spit, a mix of blood and saliva hit
the grass. “Valiant effort Adora, but I think this is at an end.”

Just as Hordak was over Adora, a thunderous boom filled the area, followed immediately by an
energy wave. The force made Hordak stumble. It took all his strength to not get knocked over
completely. Hordak turned around just in time for Catra’s flying dropkick to land on his chest. The
force sent Hordak tumbling down the hill.

Catra landed just next to Adora. She helped the blonde up to her knees and laid the sword in front of
her. “I’ll buy you time, you do your thing.”

Adora stared at Catra, a weary smile began forming. “Catra…”

It was met with a quick kiss on the lips. “Come on Babe, it’s She-Ra time,” Catra winked. She
jumped to her feet and darted down the hill. Adora looked down at the sword, a devious grin washed
over her.

The kick had sent Hordak down to almost the very bottom of the hill. He immediately rose to his
feet, and sensed Catra just at the last second. His arm shot out. Catra’s claws dug into Hordak’s
bracer and drug down. Hordak screamed as the claws punctured through and connected with skin.
Catra hopped back to give some distance between the two.

“Afraid I have to hand in my resignation, Hordor,” Catra quipped as she flexed her claws.

“I will NOT stand for this insolence Catra!” Hordak barked.

“Oh yeah,” Catra narrowed her eyes, “try to stop me.”

Catra launched herself back into the air. Hordak threw his hand out and shot out another pulse wave,
but Catra pirouetted in the air and avoided it. She was able to connect a glancing kick to the face.
Catra landed a few yards behind Hordak. He spun around and began striding towards Catra.

Out of nowhere two interlocked fists slammed into Hordak’s back, sending him stumbling. He spun
again, just in time for She-Ra’s fist to bash him right in the jaw. Hordak stumbled right into claws
slashing against his face. She-Ra swung again, but instead of connecting, her fist just flew through a
sort of wispy black mist.

Both girls looked up to the top of the hill, where Hordak had reappeared. He felt his face, where a
couple drops of blue ooze had dribbled out of the claw marks. “I’m not sure I like these odds,” he
stated. Hordak snapped his finger, which echoed throughout the hillside unnaturally loud.

There was a rustling behind Catra and She-Ra. They moved closer together as they turned to see a
dozen Horde soldiers, all pointing laser modified stun batons at them. The Sword of Protection
immediately transformed into the Shield.

“Stay behind me,” She-Ra encouraged.

“Yeah, unfortunately there’s not really a ‘behind you’ right now, Babe,” Catra quipped.

She-Ra reached behind her and grabbed Catra’s hand. “We are not dying here today,” she stated
with all the air of confidence and truth she could muster. Catra was a little taken aback by just how
otherworldly Adora could sound in this mode. Somehow, she believed her.

“No one has to die,” Hordak confirmed. “I would happily parade She-Ra through the Fright Zone as
a prisoner.” Hordak took a few steps down the hill toward them. “You two put up quite the fight, but
not even the great She-Ra can withstand over a dozen lasers all at onc-ACK!”

Hordak’s sentence was cut off as he began gagging. She-Ra, Catra, and the Horde battalion watched
as Hordak began rising into the air, suspended by the hairy purple tentacles wrapped around his
neck.

“HOW DOES IT FEEL?” Entrapta snarled as she emerged over the hill. Neither She-Ra nor Catra
had ever seen such pure rage on the Princess of Dryl’s face. It was a terrifying sight.

There was the sound of an explosion behind She-Ra and Catra. They spun back around to see a
couple of the Horde soldiers flying through the air. The robot Emily landed in front of the rest of the
battalion, all of her guns drawn. She fired her Sonic Wave cannon, blasting a group of the soldiers.

With all the soldiers’ attention on Emily, Catra took the opportunity to attack a handful of them from
behind.

Seeing that the soldiers were under control, She-Ra turned her attention up the hill. Hordak was still
squirming in his vice. He flexed his hand out, popping out a small laser dagger. He swung back, but
Entrapta recoiled her tentacles in time. Hordak landed on his feet facing Entrapta. He only got a step
or two before the Sword of Protection slashed up his back. Hordak stumbled and howled in pain,
and was immediately caught with a giant purple haired fist. She-Ra kicked him in the back, just
where the gash was.

Catra made her way to She-Ra just Entrapta grabbed Hordak by the feet and flipped him into the air.
She-Ra’s eyes went wide.

“Oh! Catra! Catra! Fastball Special!” She-Ra squealed.

“What?!” Catra huffed.

Without warning She-Ra scooped Catra up. “Don’t worry! I’m actually strong enough to do it now!”
She-Ra said, then immediately tossed Catra as hard as possible. Catra slammed into Hordak in mid-
air, claws first. She drove him into the ground with her claws dug into his shoulders and a look of
frenzied glee on her face.

Hordak coughed and labored to breath as Catra glared down at him. He smiled. “Enjoy… Your
mediocre life Catra, for what time you can at least,” Hordak said, then evaporated into another cloud
of black mist.

The princesses and Catra gathered on the hill. “Where’d he go?!” She-Ra stammered. They all
looked around the hillside. All they could see was Emily, finishing off the last of the guards.

“He is gone,” Entrapta stated. “Hordak knows when he’s lost.” Catra immediately hugged Entrapta.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Catra whispered as Entrapta hugged her back. “The plan?”

“Working perfectly so far. Well, except for Hordak showing up,” Entrapta responded. “One of
Assistant Kyle’s greatest skills is that everyone underestimates him.”

Emily and Swift Wind arrived on the hill at the same time.

“I came as fast as I could She-Ra… What the heck happened here?” Swift Wind asked as he
surveyed the area.

“A long story!” She-Ra chuckled.

“Ooooh, She-Ra your winged unicorn can talk,” Entrapta remarked. “That is FASCINATING.” She
pulled out some sort of measuring device. Catra immediately grabbed Entrapta’s hands.

“Hey ‘Trapta. Maybe leave Swifty alone until after we help save Bright Moon?”

“Yes, that is probably for the best,” Entrapta agreed. She clamored up onto Emily. “I’ll meet you
there!” she said as the robot scurried off.

Catra turned to smile at She-Ra. “Shall we?”

“You’re going to help me? Save my home?” She-Ra stammered, and blushed. Catra nestled her head
into She-Ra’s chest.

“There are worse first dates.”

Another volley of laser blasts slammed into the Forcefield surrounding Bright Moon Castle. The
barrage had been going on for 20 minutes now. Once the blasts even managed to break through the
forcefield, but Queen Angella had made her way to the moonstone and was currently doing all she
could to keep it powered up.

Glimmer led Bow, Netossa, Spinnerella, and a battalion of Bright Moon guards towards the gates of
the castle.

“How did this happen?!” Spinnerella bemoaned.

“That damn cloaking tech Entrapta made, that’s how!” Glimmer growled.

Bow seemed very upset. “I know she’s working with the Horde, but I really didn’t think she’d do
this,” he sighed.

“She DID almost destroy the world in the name of science,” Glimmer said. “Apparently that’s all that
means anything to her.” The bitterness in Glimmer’s words was palpable.

“We can be angry at her later. Right now we gotta focus on that!” Netossa said as they spilled out
into the watery valley between the castle and the edge of the Whispering Woods. There were dozens
of tanks. Hundreds of soldiers. And almost just as many attack robots. “Please tell me we got word to
the Princess Alliance!”

Glimmer’s shoulders drooped at the overwhelming sight. “I did. But I JUST did. There’s no way
they’re going to be here in time. And I have no idea where Adora is.” Glimmer narrowed her eyes.
“It’s just us.”

Spinnerella summoned a whirlwind that cut through a swath of Horde soldiers and slammed into a
tank, sending it flying into the air. A number of soldiers immediately rounded on her, but were
knocked down by one of Netossa’s light nets. They both had to dodge quickly as a barrage of laser
fire came at them. Spinnerella shot more out, trying to, if nothing else, cause chaos and confusion.

The Bright Moon guards, with Glimmer and Bow at the front, crashed into the front rows of the
soldiers. As the guards and soldier fought, Glimmer teleported her and Bow towards the center. They
popped in, sprayed a few sparkle blasts and arrows, and popped away. She knew she couldn’t keep
this up forever, but in the shadow of the moonstone her powers were supercharged. They were
trying to make their way to the attack robots, who were causing all sorts of damage.

The two made it to the edge of soldiers. A number of them swung around to pursue. “You get the
robots, I’ll hold these guys off for you!” Bow yelled. Glimmer agreed and teleported away. Bow
loaded an arrow and shot it at the soldiers. It exploded on impact of one of them, sending that one to
the ground and creating a thick smoke cloud. It was too late for two soldiers to see Bow as he
emerged from the cloud, cracking his bow over their heads. Another soldier swung their baton,
which Bow was just able to dodge. The next baton swing got him right in the stomach though,
sending him crashing onto the watery ground.

Bow sat up quickly and fired a net arrow at the approaching soldiers, taking down three of them. As
he did that though another soldier fired his stun baton at Bow, which sent him into a convulsing fit.
Bow writhed in the water for a moment as soldiers stalked towards him. He recovered enough to
swing his bow just as they reached him. The bow smacked into one, but another soldier tased Bow
again. Three soldiers stood over Bow as he struggled to his knees.

Suddenly one of the soldiers was flung into the air. The other two were lifted up and slammed into
each other. They both fell lifelessly onto the ground. Bow looked up at the outstretched claw and
grabbed ahold of it. Scorpia yanked him up to his feet.

“You okay, Buddy Bow?” Scorpia asked with a giant smile. Bow stared at her for a few seconds,
then threw his arms around her. Scorpia pulled him in for a tight hug. “Don’t worry, I got you.”

Bow pulled away enough to look up at Scorpia’s face. “You’re here to help us?!”

“Of course! It’s a long story, but the short of it is the last week’s been… Not great. And let’s just say
we’re between places right now, so we’re here to help!”
“We?”

Scorpia pointed over her shoulder. A little ways behind her Rogelio was tearing through waves of
Horde soldiers, while Kyle knelt and provided cover fire with a laser rifle. Scorpia gave Bow a sly
gin. “Let’s go kick some Horde butt!” She exclaimed. “Oh, that’s going to take some time to get
used to saying!”

There was a path of torn and destroyed machinery in Glimmer’s wake. With her father’s staff in her
glowing hands, she had dispatched of almost a dozen robots in no time. Fueled by anger and
desperation, Glimmer was pushing herself. Even in such close proximity to the moonstone, she was
already beginning to feel the limits of her abilities. The last robot almost got her when here
teleportation fritzed momentarily. There was no room for those worries though as she slammed a
sparkle fist into the closest attack robot. The robot stammered back. It quickly regrouped. Glimmer
swung another sparkle fist at it, but the sparkle fizzed out mid arc, leaving only Glimmer’s hand. Her
fist cracked into the metal exterior of the robot hard.

“OW!” she yelped. Glimmer tried to recover with the Staff of Micah, but the robot smacked her in
the stomach, sending her tumbling onto the ground. Glimmer tried firing a sparkle blast, but only a
few shimmers of light came out. The robot reared up, preparing to strike.

Before the robot could do anything though, three giant purple lasers tore through it, and also eight
robots behind it. They all fell lifelessly to ground as smoldering lumps of metal. Glimmer scrambled
to her feet in disbelief.

“HAH!” Entrapta’s voice rang out loud. “Glimmer! Glimmer!” Entrapta was calling. Glimmer turned
around. Just a few yards away Entrapta was climbing down from Emily. “Did you see?! TRIPLE
BARRELED CANNON!” Entrapta exclaimed. She was shaking her fists in triumph. Emily
powered her cannon back up and stalked after more robots. Entrapta bounced toward Glimmer. “I
can’t believe it actually worked! I never had time to even test it!”

Glimmer stared at Entrapta for a second. Entrapta began waving her hand in front of Glimmer’s face.
“Glimmer? HellOOO? The residual energy distortion from the cannon didn’t fry your brain did it?

“Because if it did I really should document i-Oh!” Entrapta was cut off by a teary eyed Glimmer
hugging her. Entrapta stood stiffly as Glimmer began crying on her shoulder.

“You’re here!” Glimmered whimpered.

“Er, yes. There were a few minor delays. We got here as soon as possible,” Entrapta said, patting
Glimmer on the back. Emily appeared next to the two princesses. It was beeping excitedly. “Oh,
even better, Emily says that Clack just arrived!” Entrapta beamed. She scanned the horizon until she
saw Clack, waving at her, atop the ridge.

“Well, I’m glad he’s okay,” Glimmer said, looking a bit puzzled at Entrapta’s enthusiasm. “I’m not
sure how useful he’s going to be though.”

“HAH! Not in battle, of course,” Entrapta assured her. “He’s been doing what he does best,”
Entrapta said as she enthusiastically waved back at Clack, “delivering messages.”

The little robot began scurrying down the ridge. Just behind him a giant green vine slithered along
the ground at an impressive speed. Riding atop the vine was the Princess Alliance: Perfuma,
Mermista, Embra, and Frosta, along with Sea Hawk.

Mermista, Sea Hawk, and Frosta hopped down into the standing water of the valley. Massive clumps
of water rose into up and began soaring through the air. The water crystallized into ice spikes just
before they slammed into a row of Horde tanks. Sea Hawk, brandishing his yellow laser sword,
swashbuckled his way through Horde Soldiers as he met up with Scorpia, Bow, Kyle, and Rogelio,
currently taking the fight to the Horde ground soldiers.

Embra leapt from the vine and onto another vine that was shooting out of the ground. They
hopscotched along more rising vines until they were over the attack robots. With one more leap
Embra’s fists ignited on fire and they dove at the ground. A massive explosion of fire erupted from
the point of impact where their fists slammed into the ground, exploding an entire group of robots.
Vines shot up and through a few of the errant robots.

“Glimmer!” Embra smiled as they regrouped with Glimmer and Entrapta.

The giant vine dissolved back into the ground, depositing Perfuma right next to them. “You’re safe!”
Perfuma squealed at the sight of Entrapta. The tech princess ran to her and leapt into Perfuma’s arms.
Their lips quickly found each other.

“I’m sorry to worry you,” Entrapta breathed when they finally separated.

Perfuma caressed her fingers against Entrapta’s face. “You have nothing to apologize for!” Perfuma
assured her.

A few feet away Glimmer watched the warm embrace, and was overcome with emotion. She was
startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay Glim?” Embra asked.

“I can’t believe it, you’re all here!” Glimmer sniffled.

Embra pulled Glimmer in for a hug. They ran their fingers through her glittering hair and smiled. “Of
course we are! We came as soon as we got Entrapta’s message from Clack.”

“I… Thought Entrapta was… That is… And now… She saved Bright Moon,” Glimmer smiled.

“Incorrect,” Entrapta stated. Her and Perfuma were standing next to Embra and Glimmer, arms
interlocked. “Yes I am executing the plan. I can’t take most of the credit for creating it though. And
also, we haven’t saved Bright Moon, yet.”

Glimmer pulled away from Embra and pounded her fist into her own hand. “Then let’s go finish the
job!”

Entrapta put a finger up, as if about to make a point. She had a nervous smile. “We may not be able
to. All the robots and tanks are being controlled by a Mobile Command Ship. And the Horde has
plenty of reinforcements. The only way to truly stop the onslaught will be to stop that ship. Which is
of course, at the rear of the attack, safely behind all the forces of the Horde.”

“How are we supposed to get to it?!” Glimmer huffed.

“We’re not. Our job is to keep the Horde from overrunning Bright Moon and keep the Horde’s
forces busy.”
“Then who’s going to stop the Command Ship?” Embra asked.

Entrapta was quiet for a moment. She was looking around in seemingly erratic directions. After a
moment she perked up. She turned to face the group. “They will,” she said as a shadow briefly
passed over them.

Swift Wind soared over the valley of Bright Moon as the battle raged on below. “Whoa,” he
mumbled at the sight.

“I’m still not convinced this is safe!” Catra yelped as she sat sidesaddle, cradled in She-Ra’s lap. Her
arms tightened around She-Ra’s waist.

“You know I can hear you, right?” Swift Wind remarked.

“It’s okay Catra, I trust Swift Wind with my life. We’re connected!” She-Ra tried to reassure her.
Catra’s only response was somehow tighten her grip around She-Ra even more. “Everyone’s here!”
She-Ra grinned widely. Below them the Princess Alliance was slowly turning back the tide of Horde
machines.

“Yeah, Kyle and I figured Bright Moon would need more than just Bow and Glitter to help hold
back the invasion,” Catra mused.

She-Ra nuzzled her head into Catra’s mass of hair. “Thank you,” she whispered. “So what’s our part
of the plan?”

Catra pointed off just in the distance. “See that? That’s the Mobile Command Ship. Kind of brilliant
idea Entrapta had. A massive command center than can remotely control all the Horde tanks and
robots. No human drivers makes them more relentless. Of course, it also makes them vulnerable to all
be taken out at once. We’ll just storm the ship and… Oh no,” Catra sighed as she surveyed the area
around the Mobile Command Ship.

“What is it?”

“Lonnie. She’s heading up the ship guards. Of course she is,” Catra grumbled. “Okay, I’ll take care
of the exterior guards and try to talk some sense into Lonnie while you get to the bridge and disabled
the ship.”

“So Lonnie didn’t come with you? I’m sorry.”

“Bah, she just needs to see the truth. She doesn’t realize just how bad the Horde i-oh son of a bitch!”
Catra growled. She-Ra was shooting her a self-satisfied smirk.

“What? I didn’t say anything,” She-Ra said with a grin. “You should finish that thought.”

Catra glared at She-Ra for a couple seconds then pulled her in for a passionate kiss. She nipped She-
Ra’s lip as they separated. Then Catra jumped off of Swift Wind. “I admit to nothing!” Catra teased
as the dropped to the ship below.

Swift Wind was rounding towards the back of the ship. “Hey, Adora?” Swift Wind called out.

“Yes?”

“So, new rule I’m instituting right now: NO hanky-panky on the horse.”

On the top deck of the Mobile Command Ship was five Horde soldiers, being commanded by
Lonnie. Catra landed directly on one. She rolled off of that one and launched into a jump kick that
sent another one flying overboard. Catra rose to her feet to see Lonnie being flanked by the other
three soldiers.

“I just lost an argument with Adora thanks to you,” Catra muttered. “I’m tempted to punch you in the
face for that alone.”

“Why not?” Lonnie growled. “You abandoned your home for her. Why not punch your friend for
her.”

“Dammit Lonnie! I didn’t just abandon the Horde because I was smitten. They betrayed us!”

“No! You betrayed the Horde first!”

“The Horde killed my people! My family!”

“And the Rebellion killed mine!”

Catra took a step back at the revelation. “... Lonnie.”

“My parents were loyal soldiers for the Horde. They died fighting the Rebellion. And you expected
me to just drop everything and join them?!”

“Lonnie, I’m sorry. I’m not asking you to join anything. But, we’re your family, you belong with
us.”

“Then why did you abandon me!” Lonnie screamed and charged. The other three soldiers followed
suit.

The corridors of the Mobile Command Ship were minimally protected; almost no challenge for She-
Ra. It was dark and drab. Gray metal walls lit only by the glow and blinking of red lights
everywhere. Access to the bridge was blocked by a thick, heavy, locked door. It was kicked open
with such force that the door flew across the room.

She-Ra stepped onto the bridge. It appeared to be abandoned. Then a stun mace slammed into She-
Ra’s back. She stumbled a few feet before recovering. Another swing of the mace was coming at
her, she could hear the crackling energy slicing through the air. She-Ra spun to block the mace with
her sword.

“Hi Honey!” Decepsha snarled as she tried to push the mace through She-Ra’s block. Her eyes
looked wild, and her indigo hair was messed, strands falling all over her face. She-Ra leapt back,
giving them some distance.

“Zayn?!” She-Ra gasped.

“Didn’t get the memo? Name’s Decepsha!” she yelled as she charged at She-Ra. The swing was
blocked by the Sword of Protection. She-Ra kicked her foot out, sending Decepsha tumbling onto
the floor. She rolled over and chuckled at She-Ra.

“I miss ‘Zayn’,” She-Ra lamented, eyes half lidded.

“Well that’s funny.” Decepsha asked. She wiped her mouth with her forearm. “You killed ‘Zayn’.”

“Was, any of it real?” She-Ra asked. Her heart was heavy at the sight of this apparently complete
stranger that she had spent so much time with over the past few months.

“Don’t you get it?” Decepsha climbed to her feet. “All of it was real!” she howled as she charged
She-Ra again.

High above the fray was the moonstone chamber. Queen Angella hovered few feet in front of it,
doing her best to repower the runestone with her own magic. The initial barrage had weakened it, but
she had managed to almost fully repower it, especially as more and more of the battle move away
from the gates of the castle. The Queen knew how important it was to keep the shield up. It was the
only thing holding Bright Moon from ruin.

Yet, her daughter, and people that she had grown to care deeply about, were all down there. Fighting
the real fight. Making the real difference. Not being cloistered away from all the action. She wasn’t
strong enough to help them. So Angella stayed up here, out of the way. So nobody, not She-Ra, not
her daughter, could see what a failure of a leader she really was. Deep down she had always known
she was a failure.

Except, ‘always’ had apparently started today. She had never felt that way before. Or had she?

No, it was new.

But what if it was always there? Gnawing at Angella’s soul? Festering?

A celestial being doesn’t let things fester though. How can something fester when she surrounded
herself with so much light and purity?

There it was though. Inky and black and clawing at her from the corner of her eyes. Doubt.
Disgrace. They shouldn’t have been there though. Not here. Not when she was so sure of her
purpose. The darkness of failure.

No. Light.

Light can cleanse.

It WILL cleanse.

Queen Angella grunted and growled, and then screamed as a shockwave of light erupted out of her
from all directions. There was a thud sound against the moonstone chamber wall. The expulsion of
such energy made her fall to her knees. Angella looked over her shoulder to see Shadow Weaver
pushing herself off the wall.

“Well done, Angella,” Shadow Weaver said.

“You must be the one they call Shadow Weaver,” Angella responded as she climbed to her feet. The
Queen wasn’t sure what was more off putting, that Shadow Weaver had addressed her by first name
only, or that Shadow Weaver curtseyed when Angella addressed her. “Get out of my kingdom,” she
demanded.
“Come now, Angella. There’s so much for us to talk about!” Shadow Weaver barked. With the
wave of a hand black tendrils shot out of the floor at Angella. She jumped into the air and held her
hand out. Light shot out, disintegrating the tendrils. More tendrils spewed out of the walls, grabbing
Angella’s wrists. She made her entire body shimmer with a glow, which seemed to burn the tendrils.
She dropped back to one knee. Being in the presence of the moonstone couldn’t keep up with how
much energy she was using.

“Impressive,” Shadow Weaver remarked. “Micah would be proud.”

Micah’s name ignited something in Angella. She looked up and growled at the witch. “Keep my
husband’s name out of your mouth!” she yelled as she shot a hand out. A beam of pure light shot
out. Shadow Weaver disappeared into a puff of smoke before it connected with her.

Gray, cracked fingers wrapped around Angella’s chin as Shadow Weaver appeared just behind the
Queen. They burned to the touch. “Aw, did Micah never mention me?” she goaded. Angella spun
on her heels, connecting a backhand to Shadow Weaver’s facemask. The dark mage staggered
backwards. Angella summoned a ball of light and shoved it into Shadow Weaver. It blasted her
back, slamming her into another wall.

“What business would my husband have with something so vile as you?”

Shadow Weaver used the wall to pull herself to her feet. “Your husband. You mean my best pupil?
The one whose skills I molded and trained?” Shadow Weaver chuckled.

The accusation made Angella stop dead in her tracks. Shadow Weaver took the opening to throw a
wave of shadow at the Queen. It slammed into her, knocking her down. Suddenly Angella was
having trouble breathing as inky black tendrils began wrapping themselves around her throat. More
tendrils began enveloping both of her arms and upper body. They pushed her up and suspended her
in the air.

“You know it’s true, don’t you,” Shadow Weaver mused as she stalked over to Angella. The Queen
squirmed and struggled against her shadowy constraints. “You should be thankful. I taught your
husband to be a great sorcerer. I trained your ‘Hero of Etheria’ to be the mighty warrior she is.

“It’s almost as if I was the one responsible for shaping all the important people in your life. Except
for that daughter of yours. So much potential though. In time I could turn her into something
exceptional.”

Anger was rising in the Queen of Bright Moon. Her heart began racing. Her labored breaths
shortened. She wasn’t sure how much power she had left in her, but while there was any she wasn’t
going stop fighting. “You… Stay…” Angella began grumbling. Her entire body lit up again and
exploded in a wave of light. It destroyed the shadow bindings. “AWAY…” Still high in the air,
Angella began swinging her arm forward at the witch. “FROM GLIMMA’!” As her arm swung, a
thin column of light began forming in her hand.

The light took shape as a long solid light sword just in time to impale Shadow Weaver in the
shoulder. With all her might Angella drove Shadow Weaver back, slamming and pinning her against
the wall.

Angella held the light sword firmly in Shadow Weaver’s shoulder. “Micah and Adora may have
began their paths with you, but in the end, they ran to me,” Angella grinned. “What does that say
about you?”

Shadow Weaver let out a disconcerting hearty laugh. “Well played, your Majesty,” she said just
before disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Angella stumbled forward at the sudden lack of Shadow
Weaver. She searched the moonstone tower, but the witch was nowhere to be found.

Catra and Lonnie were pacing each other. Both were staggering. The other three soldiers were long
since dispatched of, it was just the two of them.

“Lonnie, I get it,” Catra began between heavy breaths, “but we couldn’t stay. Not after everything.”
Catra stumbled forward and swung her fist out, it grazed Lonnie’s shoulder.

“Yeah, you and Adora deserve each other. The cute little Freedom Fighters you are,” Lonnie
scoffed, half heartedly pushing Catra back.

“I never said I was joining the Rebellion!”

“Then what are you doing here?!” Lonnie swung at Catra. The catgirl shuffled out of the way.

“I’m here to help protect Adora’s home!” Catra retorted. “That’s as far as I’ve gotten. And yeah,
she’s important to me. Shit, Lonnie, you know how much Adora means to me.

“She… She kissed me,” Catra blushed.

The admission disarmed Lonnie for a moment. She sighed. “Catra… I’m happy for you. I don’t
know what you want from me though.”

“Who knows Lonnie! None of us have anything figured out right now. I just… I just want us to all
figure it out, together.” Catra held her hand out.

Lonnie gave it a long look. She began to raise her arm. Just then everything around them both began
to go black.

“NO!” Catra screamed. She fell to her knees as the world melted away around her.

Suddenly She-Ra flopped onto the ground next to her in a puff of smoke. “What the?” She-Ra
wondered, as she climbed up to a sitting position.

“Girls,” Shadow Weaver said, standing over both of them. She-Ra tried jumping up, but became
frozen as soon as she was on her feet. “I have no more fight in me today, Adora.” Shadow Weaver
knelt down in front of Catra, who was still on her knees, clutching her head. “Catra, look at me,”
Shadow Weaver commanded. She had to force Catra to look up with her own hand. The catgirl
stared at her, doing her very best to not feel terror. The witch rubbed her hand along Catra’s chin and
hummed a little laugh. She stood back up to face She-Ra. She moved a few strands of hair out of
She-Ra’s face. “The next time we meet, the goal will be to kill you both,” Shadow Weaver said with
a softness that betrayed the blatant threat.

Just as quickly as it all stopped, the world reappeared and was thrust back into motion. Catra jumped
to her feet at the realization that Lonnie was gone. “Lonnie!” she called out, but Catra knew the truth,
Shadow Weaver had taken her.

Wasting no more time Catra raced down to the bridge of the ship. She-Ra was slowly climbing to her
feet. Catra crashed into her with a hug. She-Ra wrapped her thick arms around Catra.
 “It’s okay. It’s okay,” She-Ra kept assuring her. “Za… Er, Decepsha was here. Shadow Weaver
showed up to rescue her.”

“Lonnie too.”

They both sighed in each other’s arms. After a moment they turned to massive control panel in front
of them.

Catra stared intently at the blinking lights and buttons. “Time to end this,” she said, sly grin starting
to come back.

All at once the Horde’s tanks ground to a stop, At the same time the attack robots fell lifelessly onto
the ground. The sight of their machines falling around them, the remaining Horde soldiers that hadn’t
listened to Shadow Weaver’s command of retreat finally paid heed and fled. For the most part the
Princess Alliance were happy to let them go. They were just overjoyed to that it was finally over.

Catra and She-Ra made their way back to the top deck of the Mobile Command Ship. From there
they could see the celebration of the Rebellion in the valley as the few Horde stragglers scurried
away. She-Ra transformed back into Adora. She scratched an itch on the wrist of her sword hand
then put it around Catra and pulled them close together.

“So, what now?” Catra asked.

Adora turned to her and smiled. She intertwined all of their fingers together and moved in close, just
inches away. “Now, we get to figure that out. Together.”

Chapter End Notes

Catradora. Is. Canon.

Well, Jackets canon at least!

Alright, so that was all pretty wild! Obviously, everything's been building to this chapter
for a while now. I'm so happy to have gotten here! I'm SO HAPPY that you've all come
here with me! Catradora's finally arrived in this Catradora fanfic!

Chapter 15 is in 5 short days from now! Sunday night, June 9th!

Next Time:
"Hey, this is happening. I want it to."
 One Night
Chapter Notes

SORRY! Bad time management on my part over the weekend, but only a half day late.
I haven't had time to edit this as much as I like. If you see any glaring mistakes please
feel free to tell me. I'll be going back over this tonight, but it'll just be minor editing, if
anything is needed, nothing will change from a story sense.

Okay, I have something to confess to that I'm pretty ashamed of. I've been fucking up
Rogelio this whole time. I wasn't taking into account the Spanish origin of the name,
and when people were using a shortened nickname I had people calling him Roj, which
is fucking wrong. It should be Rohé. I fixed that in this chapter and I'm going to go back
and fix it throughout the story.

Those mea culpas aside, I'm actually really happy with this chapter! It's um, well I think
we've all been looking forward to it. And I think it came out well. I'm actually pretty
happy with how this whole segment of the story has turned out. Chapter 10 was kind of
a turning point and everything's been working like I hoped it would. And you all seem
to be enjoying it, so thank you!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Two guards stood at the main doors of the throne room. Another one was posted by the stained glass
door leading to the balcony. Three more guards were lined on each side of the room. Them, plus the
entire Princess Alliance of Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Embra, Sea Hawk,
Spinnerella, and Netossa, as well as Catra, Scorpia, Entrapta, Kyle, and Rogelio, all packed Queen
Angella’s throne room.

At the front of the room were Glimmer, Adora, and Catra. Everyone else behind them was
cautiously, and awkwardly, trying to mingle while they waited for the arrival of Queen Angella. For
a stuffed room, it was uncomfortably quiet.

“Does Queeny always make you wait like this?” Catra grumbled. She stood just to Adora’s right side
with her arms folded. Her tail swished behind her.

“Soon enough,” Adora said. She had purposefully put herself between Glimmer and Catra, in hopes
that the buffer would be enough.

“THE QUEEN,” Glimmer hissed, “will be here when she can! She’s meeting with the generals of
the Royal Guard to discuss clean-up plans. You know, to clean up the mess that YOUR Horde
made!”

“They’re not MY Horde anymore! Or was the whole ‘hatching a terrific plan to save Bright Moon’
too much for you to figure out?” Catra cracked. “I beat up my boss like FOUR hours ago, you
should be thanking me!”

Adora rubbed the bridge of her nose. “You guys, please don’t.”

“Oh thank you SO MUCH, Cat,” Glimmer growled. She showed no sign of having heard anything
Adora had said.

“You are so welcome, Glue Gun,” Catra said with a smirk.

“My NAME is GLIMMER!”

“Settle down Glimma’,” Angella’s voice boomed throughout the room. The Queen of Bright Moon
strode in through the large double doors. There were scratches on her skin, smudges on her clothes, a
few errant strands of hair dangled over her face, and a look of triumph in her eyes. The people
around her began to kneel. “No,” Angella stated, “no one is bowing today.”

They may have not been able to use any more words, but the glares Glimmer and Catra were
throwing at each other were saying plenty. Adora stood in the middle of them, head in hand and
sighing loudly.

As the Queen passed between Glimmer and Adora she gave them both assuring pats on the back.
Once to the front she turned and surveyed the room, before stopping on Catra. Angella peered
directly at the catgirl, stone faced.

Under the Queen’s unblinking gaze Catra could feel herself shrinking. Her ears flattened against her
head. She cleared her throat with a big gulp and tried to match Angella’s stare. It was perhaps the
least successful thing Catra had ever tried doing. Apparently satisfied, the Queen turned and floated
up to her throne. Catra quickly grabbed Adora by the arm and leaned in.

“How did she do that? The staring thing. It is some kind of magic?” Catra whispered.

“No,” Adora answered. She looked up at Angella, and then back at Catra with a smug smile. “She’s
just a badass.”

Angella cleared her throat once. The entire room fell silent. “Thank you. All of you, for everything
you did to save Bright Moon. My kingdom owes you a debt of gratitude. Seeing some of you here is,
surprising, but appreciated.” Angella turned to look directly at Catra and her squad. “However, I am
left with questions. Shall we start with the obvious one? Why are you here?”

Catra’s squad was just behind her, gathered together. She stepped forward and tried to project as
much confidence as she could, which only worked at all when she wasn’t looking directly at the
Queen. “Well, it’s a long story, your Highness, but needless to say, we sort of wore out our welcome
back in the Fright Zone. So we escaped.”

“Yes, but you could have just escaped. Why come help us?”

The question made Catra stutter as she grasped for words. She glanced back at Adora briefly, which
did nothing to help her find the right answer. “Well, you see…”

“Revenge of course!” Adora offered confidently. Angella and Catra turned to Adora. “The Horde
didn’t just push them out, your Majesty, they were treated awfully. They wanted to make sure that
the Horde’s plans failed.”

The Queen stared at Adora, then back at Catra. “Is this true?”

“It’s… Not untrue!” Catra quipped.

The answer was met with another long stare. Catra’s eyes were darting around, trying to stare back
but at the same time not stare back.
“Very well,” Angella decided to accept that answer. “So what will you do now? Are you here to join
the Rebellion?”

Catra looked back at her squad and took a deep breath. “Honestly, we haven’t worked that out yet.”
Catra looked over to Adora and gave a sad smile before turning back to the queen. “If that was an
offer your Majesty, I speak only for myself but I’m afraid I must decline, at least for now. I still
need... There’s stuff I still need to figure out before I decide something like that.”

“And the rest of you?” Angella asked.

Entrapta’s hand shot up. “If I may,” she asked. Angella directed her to continue. “I am still a part of
the Princess Alliance, correct?”

Everyone turned to look at Glimmer. She stared at Entrapta for a moment before sighing. “Of course
you’re still in the Princess Alliance.”

“Fantastic. Then I will return to Dryl and resume my obligations to the Princess Alliance. For now,
Scorpia, Catra, Rogelio, and Assistant Kyle are invited to come stay in Dryl, until they figure out
what they wish to do. Assistant Kyle could be useful.”

Angella rubbed her chin. “Princess Entrapta, we are familiar with you. But I do not know your
friends. I am to allow ex-high ranking members of the Horde to just roam free?”

“I’ll vouch for them!” Adora butted in again. “I grew up with Catra, Rogelio, and Kyle, your
Highness. And Catra vouches for Scorpia. That’s good enough for me. I’ll vouch for them all.”

For the first time since arriving, Angella smiled. “If Adora trusts you, and Entrapta trusts you, then I
shall too. For now.”

Scorpia scurried up and whispered into Catra’s ear. “And Scorpia and I will be happy to debrief you
on everything we know about the Horde,” Catra offered.

“Thank you,” Angella said. “Now. To the other matter. Today’s attack. The Horde’s entire army
seemingly just appeared on our doorstep. Today we were lucky.”

Entrapta put her hand back up, more reluctantly this time. She had a melancholy expression her face.
“That… This is my fault. The Horde have access to cloaking technology now, because I developed
it. We wiped my files from their servers, but there wasn’t enough time to be thorough. There’s no
telling what may have survived. BUT,” Entrapta quickly added, “the cloaking technology is based
on First Ones technology.” Entrapta appeared to be perking back up as her brain worked. “First
Ones tech produces very distinct energy signatures. It SHOULD be possible to develop a way to
detect it. It may take some time. Assistant Kyle and I will begin as soon as we get back to Dryl.”

“And right now the Horde’s in disarray,” Catra assured them. “They just lost their Force General,
one of their best Force Captains, and their top scientist. And the only person they have to replace us
really is a woman who’s been sitting in a Horde jail for the last year. That should buy you some time
to regroup and fortify your defenses.”

“Right. I look forward to what else you and Scorpia have to tell us,” Angella remarked. In the edge
of her view, the Queen could see Glimmer getting antsy. She knew her daughter well enough to
know what topic she needed to pivot to sooner than later.

“In lighter news-” Angella began.

“-VICTORY CELEBRATION!” Glimmer cut her off! “In honor of completely kicking the Horde’s
butts, I propose we celebrate here in Bright Moon tonight!”

“Accommodations will be made for everyone, should you wish to stay the evening,” Angella pointed
out.

“If there is nothing else to discuss, this meeting is adjourned. Goodness knows, we all deserve at
least a few hours to relax.”

Everyone began mingling. Adora quickly found her way over to Catra, who was talking with
Scorpia.

“Your first party! This is so exciting!” Adora exclaimed.

Catra tilted her head. “Weren’t the Princess Prom and Midsummer Ball parties?”

“Those were dances,” Adora corrected.

“What’s the difference?” Scorpia responded.

“Well for starters, you don’t have to dress up for parties.”

“Oh, that was the most fun part,” Scorpia lamented.

“I’m not sure I actually understand what we’re celebrating,” Catra said, tapping a finger on her chin.

“We are celebrating being alive,” Perfuma said. Her and Entrapa had appeared next to Scorpia. “Life
is precious, and fleeting. In times like this, it can be far too short. And after days like today, it is good
to have a reminder why we fight so hard for it.”

Their little conversation was broken up by a Bright Moon guard appearing next to them. “Excuse
me, I’ve been directed to show you to your rooms and to help you with any belongings you needed
moved,” She said.

“Hey actually,” Adora piped up before anyone else could respond, “why don’t you bring Catra’s
stuff up to my room,” she commanded with a big grin. Catra looked at Adora with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, I mean…” Adora began stammering.

Suddenly Queen Angella appeared over their shoulders. “Excuse me,” she interjected. “I hope I’m
not interrupting anything, but I was wondering if I could speak with Catra in private for a moment?”

Catra looked to Adora for direction. Adora waved her to go. “Er, sure,” Catra said. The Queen
nodded and led Catra through the stained glass doors that led out onto the balcony.

Upon stepping onto the balcony, Catra was overwhelmed by the view. She ran to the edge and
leaned over the railing. An evening breeze rustled her fur. The comfort persuaded Catra to let out a
good stretch. It was over a minute before Catra remembered why she was out there. Fully
embarrassed, and worried about how annoyed the Queen would be, Catra was slow to turn around.
To her surprise, Angella was simply standing in the middle of the balcony and watching Catra with
an amused smile.

“Sorry, your Highness,” Catra mumbled.

Angella made her way over to, “the last magicat on Etheria. A cozy evening and a good breeze, I
would expect nothing less.” Still with a warm expression, Angella peered at Catra again for a
moment. “You have no idea who your parents were?”
“Not a clue,” Catra sighed. “You knew the Empresses of Half Moon, right?”

“Adora told you?” Angella asked with a light chuckle.

“Not so much told. She put it in her book.”

“Book?”

Catra went red with embarrassment. “Oh, yeah, Adora wrote me a book about magicats. She knows
I’ve always wondered about where I came from, and rightly assumed that the Horde long since
erased any and all references to magicats.”

“That was, very nice of her!”

“It was great of her,” Catra agreed. She leaned against the railing and sighed. “I still don’t know why
she bothers with me.”

“Because she cares deeply for you,” Angella stated matter-of-factly.

Catra’s gaze was slowly lowering, along with her head. “I don’t deserve it though,” she said,
suppressing a sniffle.

Long, perfect skinned fingers touched under Catra’s chin and raised her head up, until Catra was
staring eye-to-eye with Queen Angella. “That is rubbish.” Catra didn’t know what to say. The side
of her mouth twitched. Angella let Catra’s chin go, and moved her fingers to caress down the side of
Catra’s face. The catgirl quivered and leaned into the touch. “Do you know what I see when I look
at you Catra?” the Queen asked. Catra didn’t say anything, she just pressed harder into Angella’s
hand, still resting on her face.

“I see a survivor. Someone who has had to fight for every inch of life she has. And is still standing.
You have a lot of scars. You go out of your way to make sure nobody sees them though. And people
don’t see them. Most people don’t, at least.”

Magic. It had to be. Adora was wrong, the Queen had to have some kind of mental powers. She had
to. Catra couldn’t explain how else the Queen was making her feel this way. No matter how many
times Catra turned it over in her head, she couldn’t figure out the Queen’s game. Whatever angle the
Queen was playing at, it was alluding Catra. It was infinitely frustrating.

“H-how?” Catra stuttered.

Angella let out a laugh. “Mother’s intuition. You are not the first young woman I’ve had to deal
with. I did raise a daughter through a rough time, amidst a war. And then Adora came to stay with
us.

“More importantly though, I know those kind of scars all too well. The ones you can’t see.” Angella
let go of Catra’s face. Her arm moved down to give Catra’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Those
scars can still heal though. Over time. With help. Catra, you are not alone here.”

Catra sniffled loudly. “Why are you being so nice to me? I’ve done horrible things.”

“Adora believes in you, and that is good enough for me,” Angella answered. “She wants to help you
heal, if you’ll let her.” Angella stared deeply into those mismatched eyes. “Besides, I’d be lying if
didn’t say that you bring back memories of things that I had forgotten just how much I missed. C’yra
was a dear friend.”
“She seemed like an amazing ruler. I’m sorry I never got to experience it.”

A knocking echoed on the balcony. Angella turned to see Adora, poking her head out through the
slightly opened door. Catra quickly did what she could to clean her face up.

“Sorry! I just needed to speak with Catra for a moment,” Adora said, still standing in the doorway.

The Queen gently released Catra’s shoulder and gave her one more soft smile before strolling over to
Adora. “I have matters I should attend to anyway. The balcony is yours.”

Catra had made her way over. “Hey, your Majesty?”

“Yes?”

“You never really asked me anything,” Catra pointed out.

Angella smiled at Catra. “I got all the answers I needed. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” With that
Angella slipped through the door and closed it behind her.

The two stood there for a few seconds smiling at each other. Catra had regained her composure. She
grinned slyly at Adora. “You needed to talk to me?”

“Oh, right!” Adora yelped. She brushed a few errant strands of hair out of her face. “The guards
needed to know where to take your stuff.”

“Um,” Catra raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Didn’t you already tell them?”

“I-I did! But then I told them to wait until I talked to you.”

Catra’s heart sank suddenly. “You, didn’t want me to stay with you?”

“I do! I definitely do!” Adora sighed. “More than anything,” she mumbled. Adora began scratching
the back of her neck. “But, um… Okay...”

Adora took a second to collect herself before restarting.

“Today’s been crazy, right? I mean, it was crazy to me, I can only imagine what you had to go
through, before even getting to that cliffside.” She shot Catra an awkward smile. Catra returned a
raised eyebrow. Adora took a deep breath as her eyes fell shut. “What I’m… What I’m trying to say
is, it was wrong of me to assume where you wanted to stay. I’m sorry. And, I know today’s been a
whirlwind. Of stress and excitement and anxiety and all kinds of emotions. I just wanted you to
know that if you got caught up in all of that, and did anything that in hindsight you regretted or
wanted to take back, I’d understa-mphf!”

The end of Adora’s sentence was cut off as Catra leaned in to kiss her. Catra pulled her in tight,
cradling Adora against her body. It took Adora a few seconds to get over the surprise, but it wasn’t
long before she was swooning into Catra’s arms.

Their tongues danced and tangled. Every once in a while one of Catra’s sharp canines poked at
Adora’s lip. Catra’s hand was digging into a tuft of hair at the back of Adora’s neck. Her other hand
was slowly snaking down Adora’s back, noting every crease, every mound of muscle along the way.
Adora could feel Catra’s tail slithering around her thigh.

After a few more minutes of making out they finally had to separate their mouths.

“Hey, this is happening. I want it to,” Catra breathed. Adora met it with a smile.
“Okay,” Adora said. She leaned in, nestling her head on Catra’s shoulder.

“It really has been a while since we were around each other for long, hasn’t it?” Catra asked. Adora
made a little humming noise in acknowledgement. “I’ve always been too busy with my own shit to
notice, but Shadow Weaver really did a number on you too, didn’t she?”

Adora picked her head up and leaned back enough stare Catra in the eyes. “What are you talking
about?” she asked.

Their bodies remained intertwined. Catra pulled a hand free to caress Adora’s cheek. “You can’t stop
yourself, can you? Putting others before your own happiness. Feeling responsible for the whole
world.You want to save everyone, but yourself. Everything keeps seeming to be in the context of
what I want, not what you want.”

The soft fingers dancing along her cheek was making it difficult for Adora to focus on anything else.
She leaned into their caress. “I just want you to be happy,” she murmured.

“Did you ever think that maybe you make me happy?”

Tears began pouring down Adora’s face almost instantly as she stared into Catra’s mismatched eyes.
“...No,” Adora whimpered.

Catra immediately began kissing Adora again. She pushed them both forward until Adora was
pressed against the railing. “We’re going to have to fix that,” Catra breathed through kisses.

After a couple more minutes they came up for air. Their foreheads were pressed together. Catra kept
licking at Adora’s nose, which elicited giggles each time. Adora had her arms wrapped around Catra,
massaging her lower back, which to Adora’s delight, was making Catra purr.

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now, than right here with you,” Catra whispered. She closed her
eyes and let out a deep breath. “Which is what makes this next part so hard.” Catra pulled away just
enough so that she could better look Adora in the eyes. “I can’t stay. At least, not yet.”

Adora looked into Catra’s eyes. There was a sad expression on Adora’s face that she couldn’t hide,
but she forced a smile anyway. “You’re going to go try to find Half Moon.”

“I’ve been thinking about it all week,” Catra smiled. “I read the book you gave me five times.” Catra
pulled Adora in to rest their foreheads together. “Thank you so much.

“The place I’m from is out there, and I’ve never even seen it. I can’t stop thinking about it. About
what my home might have been like. What my parents might have done. It’s hard to explain.”

“No it’s not,” Adora answered. She leaned back on Catra’s shoulder. “Everyone deserves to know
where they came from. I’m just a little sad that you have to leave right away.”

“There’s never going to be a better time to infiltrate the Horde. I need to see where I came from. To
figure out who I am. Like, really who I am. For so long I was just your best friend, or Scorpia’s best
friend, or a Horde soldier, or Force General. But who am I without all that stuff? I need to do this.
For me. For us. I don’t want to jump into this relationship making the same mistakes I’ve always
made. And the last thing I want to do is mess this up.”

Adora gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. “I’ll come with you.”

“No, Adora, you can’t,” Catra bemoaned. “I would love to go on another adventure with you, but
Bright Moon needs you, now more than ever. The Horde may be wounded right now, but that may
make them desperate. Entrapta did what she could to wipe their servers, but don’t doubt for a second
that Hordak made sure to keep the important stuff somewhere we didn’t have time to find. Which
means they still may very well have cloaking tech. The last thing Bright Moon needs is for its hero to
disappear right after an attack.”

“I don’t like the idea of you going alone. Maybe Scorpia or Entrapta? Or even Kyle and Rogelio?”

“They’ve had enough turmoil over the last week. They deserve a break! Besides, the more people,
the more we’d stick out.”

It seemed that no matter what protest Adora had, Catra would have an answer. She grabbed both of
Catra’s hands and brought them up to her mouth, where she kissed them. “Promise me you’ll be
safe.”

“Of course. I’ll come back to you, I promise.”

Still holding her hands, Adora began rubbing her thumb along Catra’s knuckles. “Stay tonight for the
party? Don’t we deserve at least one night?”

Catra leaned in and nibbled Adora’s caressing fingers. It made Adora let out a little moan. “I’d love
nothing more,” Catra mumbled.

“Do you, know what a ‘girlfriend’ is?” Adora airily asked.

“I do actually! Perfuma and Entrapta gave me a crash course.”

“Maybe, when you get back, I was wondering-” Adora began.

“-Can I be your girlfriend now?” Catra asked before Adora could finish her sentence. She flashed
her cute little “begging” eyes that to date Adora had never been able to say no to.

This situation proved no different. “Yes! Yes absolutely!” Adora exclaimed. She threw her arms
about Catra.

“I should probably go get debriefed before the party,” Catra said after a while.

“Come, I’ll walk you to the council room,” Adora replied. Catra held her arm out. Adora wrapped
hers around it. Together they strolled into the throne room and towards the rest of their night.

“... And then Rohé took out the entire dock staff and commandeered the skiff for our getaway,” Kyle
explained. Rogelio was standing exceptionally close to his slender blonde boyfriend.

“Oh my!” Spinnerella gasped. “Was it hard fighting the people you used to live with?” she asked,
enraptured by Kyle’s tale. Netossa was next to her, haphazardly rubbing Spinnerella’s back, and
being amused by her wife’s ability to get along with just about anyone.

Rogelio grunted said. “He’s right,” Kyle said just after. “Most of them weren’t what I’d call friends.
But, ya know, we weren’t left with any choice.”

Just then Entrapta bounded up to them. “Assistant Kyle! Assistant Kyle!” She called out. Kyle
turned around just in time to have a blue icing topped cupcake shoved into his mouth. “This! This is
what you’ve been trying to work towards.”

Kyle chewed for a moment before his face lit up. “That’s amazing!” he spit out, along with a few
crumbs.

“They didn’t have cupcakes in the Fright Zone?” Spinnerella gasped. Kyle, Rogelio, and Entrapta all
shook their heads. “That’s so sad!”

“It’s alright sweetie, they can enjoy all kinds of good food now that they’re here,” Netossa tried
consoling her wife.

Adora attempted to slip into the party quietly. Doing a quick survey of the room it appeared she was
the last one to arrive. Netossa, Spinnerella, Kyle, Rogelio, and Entrapta were talking while Entrapta
had an entire armful of cupcakes. Further along the buffet table Perfuma was busy introducing
Mermista and Scorpia to each other. Sea Hawk was near them, with his focus on the food. Near the
center of the room Glimmer was chatting with Embra and Frosta. Off towards the back Catra and
Bow were huddled close and talking. Sitting at the large round table behind the buffet was Queen
Angella with a few of her top generals. They seemed relaxed as they shared a bottle of something. A
fun, melodic song was playing on the recorded music device Bow had developed.

Any attempt to not be noticed vanished in an instant. “Adora!” Glimmer bellowed as she appeared in
a puff of sparkles just next to her best friend. Glimmer grabbed Adora by the arms and began
dragging her towards the center of the room where Embra and Frosta were. “Where have you been?”

“Getting changed Glim,” Adora answered as she waved to Embra and Frosta. Adora popped her
head up to the corner of the room. It was empty. She could see that Bow had made his way to the
buffet table and was talking to Sea Hawk. No Catra though.

“Nice jacket,” Catra remarked. She was standing just behind Adora, and referring to the crimson and
gold trimmed jacket she had changed into.

Adora’s face lit up. She spun around and smiled at the catgirl.

Glimmer scoffed and shook her head.

“That IS a nice jacket,” Frosta confirmed. “Different from your old one. Where did you get it?”

“My girlfriend got it for me,” Adora grinned. She leaned in and entangled one of her arms with
Catra’s. “Enjoying the party?” she asked while pulling Catra into the conversation circle.

“Not going to ruin this one, are you?” Frosta asked with narrowed eyes.

“What, is that just like, your thing?” Embra chortled.

Catra sighed a laugh. “Yeah, okay, I probably deserved that.” Catra turned to Adora. “It’s been
pretty pleasant so far.”

“Yeah, because you’ve been bogarting all of poor Bow’s time!” Glimmer huffed. “How’s he
supposed to enjoy himself?”

“Did you ever think that maybe Bow likes talking to me?” Catra asked. “Believe it or not Glamour,
we’re actually friends.”

Glimmer started fuming.

“Her name is Glimmer!” Embra defended before Glimmer could say anything.

Catra rolled her eyes. “Yeah Umbra, I know.”

“Embra,” they flatly retorted.

“Right, Ombra, my bad.”

Embra sighed. “Hey Glim, I’m going to go hit the buffet table.” They stared directly at Catra. “Since
it’s unfortunately the only thing I can hit right now.” Embra led Glimmer and Frosta away.

“I like your friends,” Catra quipped.

Still connected to Catra’s arm, Adora turned to face the catgirl. “Do you?” she asked with a smirk.

“Well, I like riling them up,” Catra conceded. She let out a huff of air. “Sorry.”

Adora smiled at her. “It’s okay. We all knew this would take time.” She leaned in and pecked Catra
on the cheek. “And I’m not expecting you and Glimmer to ever sit around braiding each other’s hair,
but I hope that someday the two of you can coexist in a room together.”

Catra nuzzled their noses together. “I’ll try. I’m gonna run out of things to call her eventually.” The
response got a laugh out of Adora. “How did everyone react to you when you first met them.”

“When most of the people here first met me, I was an eight foot tall warrior woman, so it’s not really
a fair comparison,” Adora said. She wistfully looked over the room. “Now if you’re asking when
they started accepting me as Adora, and not just a side package that comes with knowing She-Ra… I
don’t know. It did happen. I think at different speeds for everyone.”

Their conversation trailed off at the sound of a minor commotion near the buffet table. Adora looked
over to see Sea Hawk standing very proudly, with Bow hovering around him. Mermista was
standing near them growling. That’s when Adora realized the song playing had changed to
something upbeat, more energetic. Something without any words. It would have been a good beat
for…

“UGH Sea Hawk DO NOT!” Mermista groaned. “Haven’t we been through enough today?!”

“That’s precisely why I MUST SING, Mermista dear! I must commemorate out VICTORY!” Sea
Hawk exclaimed.

“Sea Hawk! Sea Hawk!” Bow was chanting just next to him.

“WHY are you encouraging this Bow?” Mermista whimpered.

Just about everyone had gathered near Sea Hawk. Bow began clapping in rhythm to the beat. Slowly
everyone was joining in. Kyle leaned over to Catra, the person closest to him.

“What’s happening?” Kyle asked. Catra glanced at him and just shrugged.

Sensing defeat, Mermista moved off to the side next to Scorpia and Perfuma.

“Oh! Oh!” Scorpia excitedly shook Mermista by a shoulder. “IS he going to do one of those
chanties?”

“Against ALL my desire in the world, yes,” Mermista moaned.

With the beat firmly set, Sea Hawk cleared his throat.

“Be brave today

“Sincere tomorrow

“The battle’s won

“No room for sorrow

“We may dismay

“But will not wallow

“The battle’s won

“No room for sorrow!”

At this point everyone was clapping and stamping their feet in tune. Everyone except Mermista, who
was only haphazardly clapping. Bow jumped next to Sea Hawk, who gave the enthusiastic archer a
turn.

“We Fight for hope

“Fight to be free

“So We’ll live today

“Can’t take that from me!”

Unfortunately Bow stammered after his first verse. Sea Hawk started coming back to save him, but
before could Scorpia appeared next to Bow began belting out lines.

“Fueled by desire

“Pushed on by need

“No despair today

“We’ve overcome greed!”

Bow high-fived Scorpia. Just then Sea Hawk jumped back in.

“We may dismay

“But will not wallow

“The battle’s won

“No room for sorrow!”

Then Sea Hawk, Bow, and Scorpia sang the entire song all over again. As they were doing so,
Perfuma had slithered her way through the crowd. She tapped Entrapta on the shoulder. The Princess
of Dryl turned around to see Perfuma’s outstretched hand. They smiled at each other. Entrapta took
Perfuma’s hand and together they launched into a loose, jitterbug type of dance. The crowd moved
back to give them room.
Perfuma and Entrapta spun around. It was sloppy. They kept missing cues because they were too
busy laughing. They didn’t care. Nobody cared.

During the singing and dancing Catra snaked her way over closer to Glimmer, leaving Adora to talk
to Rogelio and Kyle. She found the sparkling princess near Embra. Glimmer was enthusiastically
clapping to the beat.

Catra just stood beside her clapping as well. “So, you and Embra?” Catra tried to casually inquire.

“What?” Glimmer responded. She looked perturbed by Catra’s general presence, and none too
pleased by the question.

“Hey, they’re cute! No reason to deny it!”

“That’s none of your business!” Glimmer huffed. She was clearly turning red. Catra wasn’t sure if
she was doing that, or the question about Embra. “I don’t understand why you’re asking me. And I
don’t understand why you’re talking at all!”

“Jeez! Settle down, Glam Rock, I’m trying to compliment you here!”

Glimmer growled. She grabbed Catra by the arm and teleported them both far to the back corner of
the room. Well away from where anyone was paying attention.

“I will never understand what Adora sees in you,” Glimmer lowly snarled. “But you make her happy
so I am trying to tolerate you. But it’s just that, tolerating . If you EVER break her heart,” Glimmer
leaned in close to Catra and glared at her dead in the eyes, “you’ll wish you never left the Horde.”
Glimmer didn’t wait for a response, she spun on her heel and began to walk back towards the party.

“I won’t,” Catra called out. Glimmer stopped, she turned enough to side eye the catgirl. “I won’t
Glimmer, I promise,” Catra reiterated.

Glimmer wasn’t sure if it was the sad saucer eyes, or the sincerity in her voice, or the fact that Catra
finally used her real name. She sighed and held out her hand. “Come on,” she huffed. The two
silently returned to the party together.

The party went on for another two hours without incident. Everyone seemed to be getting along. To
Adora’s shock, Catra and Mermista seemed to really be hitting it off. Satisfied that Catra and her
other friends from the Horde were being accepted, Adora quietly slipped out into the hallway.

Once out there she had a good stretch. There was a mural on the wall that Adora decided she
suddenly found fascinating.

The door opened about a minute later. Catra slipped out. “Hey, there you are!”

Adora spun around, big smile on her face. “Sorry, I just needed some air.”

Catra came over and leaned against the wall Adora was standing in front of. “You don’t like doing
crowds for that long. I remember.”

“I guess I never have, huh.”

“It’s fine!”

“Thank you for checking up on me!” Adora said. “But please, I’m so happy everyone’s starting to
get along. You don’t have to just hang out in a hallway.”
“Yeah,” Catra chuckled. “I have no intention of hanging out in the hallway all night.”

“Go, go have fun, I’ll be alright.”

Catra rounded on Adora and pinned her against the wall. Adora blushed at how close they were and
how open the hallway was. “I think have a better idea,” she whispered into Adora’s ear. “Maybe it’s
time for you to give me a tour of your room?” Catra pulled away to see Adora’s reaction. The blonde
was staring at her, eyes huge, mouth slightly agape. Catra wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.
Then Adora grabbed one of Catra’s arms and enthusiastically began leading her down the hallway.

The door to Adora’s room swung open with more force than she had planned. She pulled Catra into
the room. Catra gave the room a look while Adora shut the door.

“This is cute,” Catra said. Adora’s room was full of pristine new furniture, almost identical to what
she used to have. Catra’s belongings, all stuffed into one duffle bag, sat next to the door. She strolled
over to the bookcase and began running her fingers along the books.

“A lot of the information I learned for your book came from those,” Adora remarked. Catra turned
around and smiled at her. Adora led her around the rest of the room, giving her the quick tour:
dressing area, wash room, canopied bed area, reading nook, balcony.

“What’s the waterfall for?” Catra asked. She was staring at it, tilting her head as she examined it
thoroughly.

Adora chuckled. “A year and a half here and I still have no idea!”

“This place is really nice. A little bright though. This whole place is actually. Gonna take a little
getting used to,” Catra said. Adora nodded and rushed over to the light knob on the wall. She spun it
until the lights in the room were dimmed to just a little better than candles. Moonlight flooded in from
the balcony.

“Better?”

“Much,” Catra smiled. She and Adora made their way to each other, meeting in just about the middle
of the room. Catra gave Adora a few playful pecks on her lips.

The joy in Adora seemed to be overflowing. “You’re really here, in my room!” she exclaimed as
they embraced.

“No I’m not,” Catra quickly retorted.

Adora suddenly pulled away. She had a panicked look on her face. “What?! What do you mean?!”
She began poking and prodding Catra. “Oh no. No no no!”

Catra grabbed Adora’s hands. She sly grinned at the Princess of Power. “I’m not here in your room.
I’m here in our room,” she quipped.

For a good 30 seconds, they just stood there, Catra grinning at Adora, holding Adora by the wrists,
Adora staring blankly at Catra. Then, Adora sprung into motion. She yanked her arms from Catra’s
grip. She grabbed Catra by the thighs and hoisted her up. On instinct Catra wrapped her legs around
Adora’s waist. Catra grabbed Adora’s head and began kissing her as Adora rushed them across the
room before slamming Catra down back first onto the bed. Adora toppled over with her, landing
directly into more kisses.

Their tongues quickly found each other. Catra grabbed Adora’s ponytail and slid the scrunchie out of
her hair. Blonde locks fell down onto their shoulders and cheeks. Without looking, or releasing
Catra’s mouth, Adora detangled Catra’s headpiece from her mane of hair, and tossed it behind the
bed.

Adora finally separated their tongues. She kissed down Catra’s cheek to her neck, where the kisses
turned into nibbles that made Catra moan. One of Adora’s arms was propping her up, while the other
one began pulling at Catra’s top. She got it hiked up enough to expose her abdomen. Adora ran her
fingers over the area, enjoying the fur between her fingers. After a moment she stopped herself and
looked at Catra.

“Is this okay?” Adora breathed, soft smile and half lidded eyes staring back at Catra. With one
impressive motion Catra had spun Adora and herself so the Adora was now the one on her back. She
was laying lengthwise on the bed, with Catra straddling her waist. Catra had a slick grin as she undid
Adora’s coat and pulled it off of her.

“Better than okay,” Catra smiled.

Catra let herself fall towards Adora, landing with her mouth firmly on Adora’s neck. Adora squirmed
under Catra, snaking her hands down until she could grab at Catra’s shirt. Catra chomped down on
Adora’s neck, making her gasp loudly. Catra pulled up and gazed into Adora’s eyes. There was a
hunger in the catgirl’s mismatched eyes that Adora had never seen.

It scared her a little.

It excited her a lot.

It didn’t take very long for Catra to tear Adora’s shirt and bra off, along with her own shirt. Adora
helped her with her bra and then wouldn’t rest until Catra’s pants were on the floor. In less than the
span of two minutes both girls were completely naked. Catra was straddling Adora’s waist again,
pinning her to the bed

“Fuck,” Catra smiled.

“What?” Adora asked, somewhat confused.

“You are so gorgeous,” Catra remarked. She leaned down and kissed her blushing girlfriend. They
continued kissing for a bit. Adora’s hands kept caressing Catra’s arms and back. Catra’s free hand
was busy exploring Adora’s chest and fit stomach. Every time Catra’s hand grazed one of Adora’s
nipples it made her gasp, which just made Catra do it more. Slowly Catra’s mouth worked its way
down Adora’s neck. She nibbled on Adora’s collarbone. Her hand was slowly raking down past
Adora’s belly button. Catra couldn't help but smile when she felt the first curls of Adora’s bush.

Catra didn’t want to rush. She pulled back up and began tracing around Adora’s belly button while
her mouth wandered down to Adora’s breasts. Adora was moaning and mewing, and already starting
to writhe around. Catra snaked her other arm under Adora, and grasped the back of her head. Catra’s
fingers found their way back down, and were playing in Adora’s trimmed forest. Every once in a
while a finger would slide over Adora’s pussy.

“Heh, you are so wet!” Catra breathed between attacks on Adora’s neck. Her voice was playful, a bit
husky.

Almost immediately Adora stiffened up. Floods of emotions came crashing on top of her. “I know,”
she said.

“I’m sorry,” Adora whispered. Catra immediately stopped what she was doing. She looked Adora in
the eyes, only just realizing the sadness that had befallen her girlfriend.

“Sorry?” Catra parroted back. “Adora, what on Etheria are you sorry for?”

Adora blushed slightly. “You know, for, like, being so wet. And gross.”

“Whoa! Hey, don’t apologize for that! Who told you that?” Catra asked. Adora meekly shrugged.
Catra had pulled her arm from under Adora and was using it to caress the Adora’s face. “Adora, if
anything it’s hot! And sexy. And cute. It just means you’re really excited to be with me. It means
you’re happy,” Catra drug her fingers down Adora’s cheek. “Never apologize for being happy.”

“I just wanted tonight to be perfect,” Adora sighed, feeling supremely embarrassed.

“Hey,” Catra leaned in and pecked Adora on the cheek. “You get to be here with me. I’m getting to
spend the night here with you.

“It already is perfect,” Catra said through a warm smile.

The very next second Adora pushed herself up and found Catra’s lips. She kissed her passionately.
Adora was so enthralled with Catra’s mouth that she had lost focus on what Catra’s other extremities
were doing, until…

“Oh FUCK!” Adora gasped as one of Catra’s fingers pushed inside her. Catra stared directly into
Adora’s beautiful blue eyes with a wicked grin. She lowered Adora onto her back as she slid a
second finger into her pussy.

“Feel good?” the catgirl inquired as she slowly began sliding in and out of her blonde girlfriend.
Truth be told, she didn’t need Adora to answer. That adorable face, and those cute gasps of air gave
her all the information she needed. But she really wanted to hear her say it.

“Y...Yes!” Adora moaned.

Under the guidance of Catra’s fingers, Adora was writhing enthusiastically in the bed. Every push of
Catra’s fingers brought more cute moans and the occasional swear of ecstasy. With every pull Catra
slid her thumb directly down Adora’s clit, which kept making the hand buried in Catra’s hair tighten
and grip what it could.

It wasn’t long before Adora figured out the rhythm and began rolling her hips with Catra’s thrusts.

For someone who didn’t sweat she sure did give off a lot of heat. A heat that Catra loved bathing in.
Catra couldn’t help herself, she was purring uncontrollably at the sight of the woman pinned beneath
her. Blonde locks of hair splayed out on the pillow. Rosy red cheeks. Her flushed chest bounced
slightly with each new thrust. Then there were the noises. Every little moan. Every grunt. Every half
formed word that Catra seemed to fuck into gibberish. They were a sweet honey to Catra’s ears, and
she was addicted. Maybe her very favorite though was how much Adora was screaming out Catra’s
name.

Adora’s eyes had been shut most of the time. They opened once in a while but every thrust seemed
to force them shut again. She leaned over and bit down on Catra’s shoulder. She just needed some
part of her girlfriend in her mouth. Shoulder would do. The nibbling brought Catra’s attention down
to Adora’s mouth. Catra began kissing her. Yes, tongue was better than shoulder. Lips were better.

Thoughts and plans were melting away in Adora’s brain. All that existed were Catra’s fingers and
tongue. And those wonderful mismatched eyes. The few times she could get her eyes open, all
Adora could see was them. They seemed to glow in the moonlight. They were all the light Adora
needed.

At first Adora wasn’t sure what was happening. A fire deep in her was lit that had never been there
before, and Catra’s fingers were the match. Suddenly, a force began exploding from Adora, rippling
through her body. Destroying her. Rebuilding her. The force pushed out the biggest moan.

Smaller explosions followed. Catra’s rhythm began to slow.

Soon the chaos passed and Catra gently pulled herself out of Adora. Catra leaned up to bask in her
success. Adora lay there, sucking in air, perfect chest heaving and glowing beet red. Her arms were
spread out haphazardly over her head.

After a moment Catra gave Adora a gentle nudge. Adora didn’t react. Catra smirked. “Ut-oh, did I
kill you?”

“Was,” Adora began, her voice was airy as she was still sucking in oxygen, “Hordak’s master plan?
Murder me in the best way possible?”

“Looks like I’ve been caught,” Catra grinned. She leaned down to give Adora’s neck a bite. “So, not
dead?”

“No. This is just what euphoria looks like,” Adora mumbled.

“Euphoria? Who’s that? Another princess I haven’t met yet?” Catra asked with a big grin. Adora’s
eyes flew open. She grew her own devious grin as she bolted up and flipped them.

Catra let out a little giggling yelp as she found herself on her back. Adora was lightly nibbling along
the edge of Catra’s ears, which if Catra was being honest, was almost enough to get her off right then
and there.

“I lo… I’m so happy right now,” Adora whispered through her soft bites.

“Me too,” Catra breathed, futilly attempting to maintain her composure. “H-hey,” Catra forced out
while she could still think. Adora stopped to look at her. “What were you starting to say?”

“Oh. It’s nothing,” Adora smiled.

“Are you sure?”

“Yep, don’t worry about it,” Adora assure her. She leaned in and kissed the base of Catra’s ear.
Adora kept nibbling and giggling along Catra’s face. Her shoulders. Her chest. There was a thick tuft
of fur just above where Catra’s breasts met in the center that Adora loved running her nose through.
She moved up to nip Catra’s lip before planting another kiss on her. As she did so Catra felt Adora’s
hands running, caressing, along her thighs. She gently pried Catra’s legs apart and let her fingers
dance around Catra’s pussy.

“May I?” Adora pleaded.

“I really hope you do!” Catra breathed. Adora grew an ear to ear grin. She lowered her head back
down on to Catra’s collarbone and kept kissing and nibbling. After one more playful pass through
Catra’s bush, Catra suddenly felt two of Adora’s thick fingers digging at her lips, slowly forcing their
way inside of Catra. Catra let out a husky moan.

At first Adora maintained a slow pace, which Catra was enjoying. After a bit she sped up, which
made Catra push back with her hips. Finally Adora settled into a steady rhythm that allowed her to
tease Catra’s clit with each pass.

It was perfect.

Catra rolled her hips with each deep thrust into her. Adora’s other arm was under Catra, cradling her
head. At first Adora’s free hand was playing in Catra’s hair, but after Catra began gnawing on
Adora’s forearm she slid her hand down. Catra began suckling on Adora’s fingers as Adora gently
thrust them into her mouth. All the while Adora was still doing a number on Catra’s neck and
shoulder area.

There was no room for thoughts in Catra’s mind. Just the constant pleasure of fingers inside her. Of
lips tracing maps along her skin. All she could muster once in a while was “Adora”, which appeared
just long enough for Catra to moan it out. Catra couldn’t stop purring if she wanted to.

Just as it seemed Adora couldn’t stop giggling. Soon she pulled her fingers from Catra’s mouth, and
replaced it with her own mouth. They kissed passionately as Adora’s rhythm sped up ever slow
slightly. But it was just the right amount.

Catra convulsed under Adora. She felt like a dam that was on the brink.

“Do you wanna come for me, Kitten?” Adora asked at a low, soothing tone.

The panting catgirl nodded excitedly. It was all Catra wanted to do, and the question was the last
crack. She slammed her eyes shut. Suddenly violent waves crashed through Catra’s entire body.
Tumbling and slamming into every ounce of her existence. More tsunami force waves crashed threw
her, followed by a few smaller waves, then just a few ripples. Then finally, Adora slid her fingers out
of Catra.

It took all of Catra’s remaining energy to force her eyelids open. Half lidded, and still overcome with
emotion, Catra looked up with blurry vision. There was an angel staring back down at her, smiling.

“You are so beautiful, Kitten,” Adora remarked with soft smile. She leaned in and began gently
pecking Catra’s cheek.

“Kitten?” Catra asked out loud. In her emotional, vulnerable state Catra couldn’t help but be brought
back to hearing Decepsha telling her about that word. Catra shook her head violently. No way she
was going to let that bitch into her mind tonight.

“I’m sorry, would you rather me not call you that?” Adora asked, still hovering over Catra.

“What? No, no, I like it when you call me that,” Catra smiled.

Grinning broadly, Adora took in the view beneath her. “How did I get so lucky?” she airly asked as
she leaned in for another kiss.

Lucky. It crashed into Catra’s brain like a rock through a window. Catra wasn’t going to be able to
shake that one off. The only person she had to blame for it was herself.

Adora pulled back when she heard a sniffling. Catra’s expression had suddenly soured, with tears
welling in her eyes. “Oh no!” Adora gasped. “I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you? I did something wrong
didn’t I! I-” Adora’s sentence was cut off by Catra forcing herself up to a sitting position so she could
reach Adora’s mouth. She pulled the blonde into an intense kiss as Catra gently ran her claws down
the back of Adora’s neck.

“You didn’t do anything wrong Adora,” Catra said as she finally separated. “You were amazing.
THAT was amazing.” Adora adjusted her legs so she could scoot in and wrap them around Catra’s
waist. Catra pulled her into a tight embrace.

“It’s me,” Catra sighed. She nestled her head in the crook of Adora’s neck. Catra let out a soft laugh.
“Fuck, who wants to be with the girl who cries during sex.”

“I do,” Adora assured her, gently running her fingers through Catra’s hair.

They sat there embracing in silence for a few minutes. Catra was taking comfort in Adora’s warm,
physical and otherwise.

“... I don’t deserve you,” Catra said with a sniffle.

“What? That’s not true,” Adora protested. Catra didn’t answer. At first Adora thought Catra was just
idly running her fingers up and down Adora’s back, until she realized they kept moving in the same
very specific lines. “Catra…”

“I’ve never even apologized for them,” Catra murmured.

“That’s okay,” Adora said.

“No it’s not. How many more would you have if you didn’t have She-Ra’s healing abilities?” Catra
pulled away to look Adora in the eyes. “How many do you have that don’t leave visible marks?”

Despite it all, Adora continued smiling brightly at the catgirl in front of her. She grabbed Catra by the
head and pulled it down to lay on Adora’s chest. “Catra, do you hear that? Do you feel it?”

“Do you mean your heart?” Catra asked. Adora hummed a little sound in confirmation. “Yeah, it’s
racing really fast!”

Adora let her up so she could stare into her mismatched eyes. She kept her hands on Catra’s cheeks
so she could caress them with her thumbs. “That’s because I’m happy. I’m ecstatic. I’m, over the
moons. YOU did that too.”

Catra leaned into one of Adora’s hands. Her own hands moved up to softly clasp themselves over
Adora’s.

“I know,” Adora started. “There really is a lot we have to work through when you return. But we
will. And we’ll have all the time in the world to heal together. It’s going to be wonderful. Do you
know how I know?”

“How?”

Adora turned so that she could lean her back against Catra. She cuddled in between Catra’s leg.
Catra wrapped all her limbs and her tail around Adora. “Because nobody else has ever made me feel
this way, and I’m willing to fight for it,” Adora hummed into Catra’s ear.

The build up of passion in Catra exploded. She pulled Adora in tightly and began nibbling on her
ear. Her arms began exploring their way down Adora’s body again.
“Catra!” Adora moaned out. She giggled as she felt Catra spreading her legs apart. “We already
did…” Adora started, but trailed off as Catra squeezed one of her breasts.

“You know what they say Babe, second time’s the charm.”

“I thought it was the third time?”

Catra bit Adora’s ear. “Don’t get greedy,” she chuckled. Catra crooked her fingers and slid them
back into the blonde, who was still plenty ready to receive. Catra gripped Adora tightly against her
body. She could feel every muscle convulsion, every short breath from her lungs, every attempt to
writhe and wiggle. Her entire body was performing, and it was quickly becoming Catra’s favorite
show.

Adora didn’t last long. Catra felt her go stiff, then begin convulsing violently has her orgasm
slammed through her body. Eventually Adora seemed to melt lifelessly into Catra’s arms. She only
stirred when Catra lightly bit her on the nose. She reached up and pecked Catra on the lips.

“Can I try something different this time?” Adora asked with her gently, pleading blue eyes.

“Uh, sure.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do,” Catra confirmed. Adora smiled widely and pushed Catra back down onto her back.
She kissed Catra’s mouth again, then slowly began kissing her way down Catra’s neck, then to her
chest, then down her abdomen. Adora sat up so she could spread Catra’s legs apart, then dove down.
Her mouth crashed into Catra’s clit, which elicited a husky gasp. Adora drug her tongue down
Catra’s lips, then slurped her way up them. She pried Catra apart with two fingers, then shot her
tongue into her pussy.

Catra convulsed wildly with every wiggle, every flick, every lip to lip slurp. Catra’s hands shot out
and grabbed Adora by the hair, gently pushing her further into her. Catra already knew she wasn’t
going to last long, and that was before Adora moved a finger in just to play with Catra’s clit.

Within a few minutes another orgasm began thundering through Catra. It felt like Adora was slurping
the orgasm right out of her. Adora’s hands moved to Catra’s stomach as the orgasm rumbled through
her.

Soon the orgasm passed. Adora began kissing her way back up Catra’s body. She shot Catra a
mischievous grin as she was doing so. “Kitten, you are yummy,” Adora smirked.

“I’m yummy?!” Catra chuckled. Adora appeared over top of her. “Get away, you have pussy
breath!” she laughed.

“That’s not a thing!” Adora protested as she blew air into Catra’s face.

“Then how do you have it?!”

They squirmed and giggled and wrestled for a few minutes.

“You are such a dork,” Catra said as Adora remained hovering over her.

“I know.”

Catra relaxed on the bed, content. She gazed into Adora’s eyes. Those gentle, calming, loving
 oceans.

“I love you,” Catra airly said.

Adora was on the verge of crying. Happy tears. “I love you too!” she exclaimed as she lowered in
for another kiss.

Chapter End Notes

... I really need to figure out where the "mature" vs "explicit" line is for AO3 before I
get in trouble.

Also, I reaaallly gotta stop trying to do songs. I have NO confidence in them.

Someone in the comments last chapter mentioned that it almost felt like we're starting to
approach the finish line for "Jackets". I definitely get how these last couple chapters
could feel like that. There is a "good things are happening!" vibe for sure.

Okay, so I mentioned this in the comments a few chapters ago, but despite the total
chapter number being a ? on here, I've actually known exactly how long Jackets has
been since the start. I've just been holding it back because I'm a sneaky jerk. BUT, this
Thursday, when I post chapter 16, all this wondering about how close we are to the end,
how many chapters, I'm going to answer them.

See you THIS Thursday night, 6/13, for Chapter 16!

Next Time:
"Um, what do you think you're doing?"
 Exercises in Penmanship
Chapter Notes

Well, this is certainly the shortest chapter thus far, but it felt very fitting for what it is.

Also, randomly, exactly a month ago I posted Chapter 10, the Midsummer Ball dance
chapter. That feels like a LIFETIME AGO NOW!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The first few rays of morning light streamed through the windows into Adora’s room. Light hit the
canopy surrounding the bed area, basking it in a lavender glow. Slowly Adora began to stir. After a
few minutes, when she was just far enough into consciousness, something occurred to her. Adora
bolted upright in her bed, only to realize that she was in it alone. Catra’s duffel bag was still sitting by
the door. The dresser drawers were open, and appeared to have been rummaged through. Adora’s
heart sank. She had gotten half of what she had wanted for so long, she had gotten to fall asleep in
Catra’s arms again. If only she had been able to wake up next to that perfect freckled face.

Adora wiped away a tear from her cheek as she turned to sit at the edge of the bed. That’s when she
noticed a folded piece of paper, her name written on it in big letters, sitting on the nightstand.
Definitely Catra’s handwriting. Adora eagerly snatched it up and unfolded it.

Hey, Adora,

I am so sorry that I won’t be there when you wake up. Getting to wake up next to you again was the
best follow-up to what was an amazing day. I had to leave now though. I couldn’t wait until
morning. Because, if we’re being perfectly honest, if I had to look into those eyes of yours to say
goodbye, I never would have been able to leave. Even now, even while you’re sleeping soundly,
while you lay there, looking completely at peace, and adorable, I’m finding it so hard to pull away.

But I have to. I need to do this. I need to find Half Moon. I need to see just what the Horde did to my
people. I know I read about it, but I need to see it with my own eyes. With any luck, maybe I can
figure out who my parents were, who I was supposed to be. I never should have been in the Horde,
but that doesn’t even begin to explain what I should have been. Who was I? Who were the magicats?
Hopefully figuring that out will help me figure out who I want to be.

There’s no way I’m going to let myself mess this up again. Mess us up. In order to make sure I don’t,
I need to sort my shit out. I promise you, I will come back to you once I do. Once I figure out exactly
what I’m supposed to be, what I want to be.

Because right now I have no clue about any of it. I’m sure you understand, the Horde’s always
provided those answers for us. Now I gotta go find them on my own. So far there’s really only one
thing I do know for sure: I’m the girl that gets to love Adora… And that’s a pretty damn good place
to start.
Adora clutched the letter to her chest and flopped back onto the bed. She wiped a few more tears off
her cheeks. They weren’t from sadness though. Adora was already desperately missing Catra, but
Catra promised that she’d come back, and Adora believed her.

Hours Earlier.

The moons of Etheria glared brightly in the night sky. Bright Moon was living up to its name, the
entire kingdom seemed to be bathed in pale purple light. Reflections of the moons danced in the
shallow lake between the kingdom and the Whispering Woods. All around was evidence of the
day’s battle. Fallen and destroyed robots and tanks littered the lake and the ground around it. There
were gashes in the soil from laser fire. Bright Moon Castle bore a number of scorch marks from
when the shield briefly fell. It could have been much worse, but in this moment there was no denying
just how fortunate the Rebellion was to have secured victory.

On the far shore of the lake, Catra stood at the edge of the Whispering Woods. She was leaning
against a tree and idly flipping through Historian Adora’s Abridged Guide to Extinct Societies of
Etheria Volume One: Magicats. The pages were beginning to get dog-eared already. In the little over
a week since she got it, Catra had read it five times; Scorpia once; Entrapta twice; and Kyle once.

Currently Catra was wearing her dark red pants. As a top she was wearing one of Adora’s long
sleeved white shirts. The one that still had the Horde logo on the back of it. She wasn’t wearing her
headpiece. It would be too recognizable. Besides, she wasn’t entirely sure where Adora had tossed it
the night before and she hadn’t wanted to wake her up from looking for it.

“Psst!” a noise came from the tree next to her.

Catra smiled and snapped the book shut. “Hey Bow.”

The Rebellion archer emerged from behind one of the trees, holding a backpack. “Hey Catra! I got
all the supplies you asked me to get for you.” Bow handed the backpack to Catra. “And don’t worry,
I found you the plainest looking cloak I could find!”

“Thanks a bunch, bud!” Catra exclaimed. She knelt down and began rummaging through the
backpack. “This is perfect.”

“Heh, can’t help but notice that you’re wearing Adora’s old shirt,” Bow smoothly remarked.

“Well, figured the Horde logo would help me blend in. Besides,” Catra pulled some of the fabric up
to her face and gave it a sniff. “This way I can keep her close to me, no matter where I am.”

“You really think you’re going to be able to find Half Moon?” Bow asked.

“Adora’s book gave me a pretty good idea where to look. Plus, I think there might actually be
someone in the Horde that can help. Besides, I have to. I just feel, lost I guess. Adora anchors me,
but it’s unfair to her to ask her to be the entire foundation of my existence. That doesn’t sound very
healthy for our relationship.”

“I’m guessing, considering the sneaking out in the middle of the night, that you didn’t tell Adora that
this was your plan all along,” Bow sighed.
“Well, I sort of did.” Catra unfurled cloak that was in the backpack. It was dark brown, a little
tattered at the edges. No designs or patterns. It was completely normal. It was, like, boring how
normal the cloak was.

“I told her that I was leaving, just not tonight. I did leave her a note though. Couldn’t just leave
without explaining myself at all,” Catra said as she tightened the cloak around her neck. She stopped
for a moment. “I’m not going to mess it up this time,” Catra mumbled to herself.

“Hah! We’re Letter Buddies!” Bow exclaimed. Catra spun around in confusion. Her head cocked to
the side to take in the sight of Bow. “You know, because I wrote letters too. Great minds think
alike!”

“Um, what do you think you’re doing?” Catra asked, with a slight twitch in her eye.

Standing in front of Catra was Bow, strapping a second backpack to his back. He was already
wearing a matching plain brown cloak. Bow gave her a slick grin. “I’m going with you.”

“Whoa! Whoa Bow! No you’re not!” Catra commanded. “I can do this on my own. They need you
here. They-”

“-Are fine!” Bow retorted. “Look, I get that Adora can’t go with you. She-Ra probably shouldn’t
just disappear right after a big battle with the Horde. And yeah, Entrapta and Scorpia have to go back
to Dryl and figure out how to neutralize the Horde’s cloaking tech. That’s where I come in!”

“I’m pretty sure they’ll miss you too Bow.”

“Miss me sure, but need me? Are you kidding? Entrapta and Scorpia are back. For the first time in,
well ever, every living princess is on the same side!”

“Bow I can do this on my own.”

“I know that, but you shouldn’t have to. I’m not about to just let my friend sneak back into enemy
territory on her own.”

Friend. That’s a low blow, Bow.

“Fiiiinne!” Catra huffed. “You better keep up!

“And, thanks.”

Together they started walking down a path into the Whispering Woods.

“Wait,” Catra suddenly chirped up as they walked. “Did you say letterS? As in plural?” Bow began
blushing profusely.

Hey Glimmer!

I didn’t want you to worry, or wonder where I am. So if you’re reading this, it means that I
convinced Catra to let me go with her to help her find Half Moon. I know what you’re probably
thinking, “Bow that’s smart, you can keep an eye on her.” That’s NOT why I’m going with her.
Let’s face it Glim, Catra’s on our side now, we have to start trusting her.
But I didn’t want to talk about Catra. Look, yesterday was so crazy I didn’t really get a chance to
say it, but I am SO proud of you Glimmer. It’s always been just us, and then Adora came along and
the Best Friend Squad’s been in full effect since. But somewhere along the way you’ve grown into
your own, magnificent person. You’ve become such an amazing leader. We are all so fortunate to
have you showing us the way through this war. I am so lucky to call my best friend.

Take care of yourself! We’ll be back as soon as we can.

- Bow

PS: While I’m gone, I think you should think about spending more time with Princess Embra. They
seem to enjoy spending time with you. And I think YOU like spending time with them, too. ;)

Catra’s duffel bag sat open on the bed. Adora, fresh from bathing and getting dressed, was
rearranging her dressers to make room for Catra’s stuff. There wasn’t much, it easily all fit into one
draw. Despite that, Adora was trying to make more space for all the stuff she was sure Catra would
get when she got back, now that she could.

Once that was sorted Adora pulled all of Catra’s non-clothing belongings out and placed them on the
bed. She let out a little gasp when she saw the sketchbook. There were dozens of drawings already
in it. Adora couldn’t help but be impressed with how much Catra had improved. Some blend of
immense flattering and embarrassment overcame her when she got to what seemed to be the
Midsummer Ball section of the sketchbook. There were multiple sketches of Adora wearing her blue
dress. It was starting to make Adora a little misty eyed.

There was a slow rapping at her door. “Come in!” Adora called out. Glimmer ambled into the room,
eyes still puffy. “Glimmer? Everything okay?” Adora asked. She stopped what she was doing and
made her way over to her best friend.

At first Glimmer didn’t say anything, she just jumped into a tight hug.

“Are YOU okay?” Glimmer squeaked after a moment.

Adora’s eyes closed as she warmly embraced Glimmer. “You heard about Catra.” She could feel
Glimmer nodding in her arms. “I am actually. Yes, I miss her already… But I know she’s coming
back to me. I know that she wants to come back to me.” Adora hummed a little satisfied sigh. “For
the first time in as long as I can remember, my heart feels full. I’m just going to worry about her
being out there all alone.”

Glimmer pulled away and handed Adora the letter Bow had written Glimmer. “She’s not alone,”
Glimmer smiled.

It didn’t take long for Adora to read the letter. She handed it back to Glimmer and smiled widely.
“Bow. That beautiful boy!” Both girls chuckled. Glimmer held her hand out to Adora.

“Come on, everyone’s going to be departing soon. We should go see them off,” Glimmer said.
Together they walked out of Adora’s room and down the hallway. Adora’s eyes narrowed as she
smiled. “So, are we going to be making a trip to Skydancer soon?”

Glimmer’s face was completely flushed. “Yeah yeah, let’s just worry about our cloaking problem
first.”

By late morning most of the princesses had departed for their kingdoms. Only the group heading for
Dryl, and Perfuma, remained. It was due to Scorpia having spent the morning being debriefed about
her Horde knowledge by Queen Angella and her generals.

The ex-Horde skiff sat parked in the main courtyard. Adora, Glimmer, Perfuma, Entrapta, Kyle, and
Rogelio were standing around and chatting until the sound of the main doors opening quieted them.
Queen Angella, with Scorpia by her side, stepped out. The two nodded respectfully at each other and
Scorpia made her way to the group.

“I am so sorry for making you wait!” Scorpia exclaimed.

“No worries!” Perfuma answered.

“Glimmer, your mother is really nice,” Scorpia smiled.

“Yeah, you say that because she’s never caught you sneaking out after curfew,” Glimmer argued.
Everyone chuckled.

“We should be on our way. The sooner Assistant Kyle and I can begin working on detecting
cloaking tech, the better we’ll all be,” Entrapta stated.

Glimmer shook Kyle’s and Rogelio’s hand. Adora, on the other hand, pulled them into a warm hug.

“I’m SO happy to get to see both of you again!” Adora exclaimed.

“Same!” Kyle replied. They stared at each other. Kyle’s smile faded.

“Hey,” Adora said, patting him on the back. “We’re not giving up on Lonnie. We’ll get her back, we
just have to believe it. We’re her family. No matter where she is and where we are, we won’t
abandon her.” Kyle and Rogelio nodded happily before climbing onto the skiff.

Meanwhile, Glimmer gave Perfuma and Entrapta a hug. Scorpia grabbed Adora and squeezed them
into a group hug. Once everyone untangled, Entrapta and Perfuma said their goodbyes and helped
each other up onto the skiff.

“Don’t worry,” Scorpia stated between her, Glimmer, and Adora, “Bow and Catra are gonna be
fine. They have each other’s backs. They’ll come back safe to us.”

“It was good seeing you again,” Adora said with a bright smile. Scorpia nodded. She turned to the
skiff, but Glimmer caught her by the claw first.

“Thank you,” Glimmer blurted out, “for everything.” Scorpia gave Glimmer one of her big, soft
smiles. “Oh yeah! One more thing,” Glimmer exclaimed. She began feeling around her clothes until
she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. “This was addressed to you. It’s from Bow.”
 Scorpia stared at Glimmer, wide eyed, an expression of disbelief on her face. “From Bow? For me ?”
Just then Scorpia felt a tugging on her arm. She turned to see a purple hair tentacle pulling at her.
“Right!” Scorpia climbed up onto the skiff. It made a “veering” noise as it started up.

The skiff lifted off the ground and began to lurch forward. Everyone waved as they left. Once that
was all out of the way Scorpia found a seat on the bench and unfolded the piece of paper.

Hi Scorpia!

I know we haven’t known each other for that long really. But in the few short months since that
jungle, I’ve come to think of you as a real friend. You are amazing. And you destroyed almost every
belief I had about what and who the Horde could be. You are kind, loyal, beautiful, funny, fierce.
You want to wrap the whole world in a hug and bring light to everyone’s morning.

Scorpia, you are so easy to talk to. Whenever you’re around I just feel, happy.

So, um, I was wondering. When I get back, would you like to grab dinner together sometime? You
know, like a date?

- Bow

Scorpia folded the paper up and put it away as quickly as she could. She wiped a few tears off her
cheek.

“Hey,” Perfuma said, suddenly sitting just next to Scorpia. It made the woman jump from surprise.
“Sorry! I did not mean to startle you.”

“Oh, it’s okay! I was just in my own head for a moment, that’s all,” Scorpia answered.

Perfuma began rubbing Scorpia’s shoulder. “I just wanted to make sure. You’ve been grinning this
whole time, but the tears were concerning.”

“Thank you,” Scorpia replied. “But seriously, I’m fine. In fact,” Scorpia smiled widely, “I think
today’s going to be a great day.”

Chapter End Notes

Haha, like I would really send Catra off by herself when our best boy Bow is just
hanging out.

So, like I talked about last chapter, I know some people have thought that maybe we’re
coming up on the end of Jackets, and I can see why, especially now after this chapter,
there’s a feeling that this could serve as a satisfying conclusion to the story that I’ve been
trying to tell.
But I’m not satisfied. I designed Jackets to be a story told in two arcs. The first arc was
the buildup of Catradora. It was Adora and Catra building themselves through the
support of their friends and figuring out what they want and re-finding each other.
Obviously, Catra and Adora are together now. They’re full of great friends and healthy,
rebuilt relationships. So yes, this chapter marks the end of the first arc.

There’s so much more story left to tell though! Catra and Bow are about to go on an
adventure! I’ve brought up the “Radiant Core” too many times to not do anything with!
Lonnie’s still in the Horde. Scorpia, Kyle, and Rogelio have to experience life outside
the Horde. And you better believe that I didn’t bring Shadow Weaver back JUST to
have that fight with Angella (although I am still quite proud of that). Don’t worry, Catra
and Adora are still the protagonists, and their relationship is still the main focus of
Jackets. But there's all kinds of fun stuff that I have in store.

I am SO grateful for all the love and support you all have shown me. It fills my heart
that something I’ve written has delighted so many of you! I’m going to keep doing my
best, and hopefully you’ll keep going with me on this journey. I’m really excited.
Honestly the second arc is kind of buckwild and I can’t wait to get started.

So no, we’re not done, not by a long shot. After all, this was only chapter 16 of 35.

And now for the bad news. Being the end of this first arc, this seems like a great time to
give myself a few extra days to get ahead, and also get myself back on my Sunday
schedule. So no update this Sunday. Instead, Chapter 17 will be up the following
Sunday night, June 23rd.

Next Time:
“The choice is clear to her. All she really cares about is She-Ra, not you.”
 It's Nothing
Chapter Notes

And we're back! Ugh, you know, the break was probably good, but I kind of hated it! I
missed making updates. Good news is that I don't think I'll have to have too many more
breaks. I'll probably do one around the season 3 premiere. Maybe. I may try to find a
way to not do a full break during then.

But otherwise let's keep this thing moving!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Along the southern part of the Bright Moon/ Horde border was a steep cliff face that rose to a large
plateau on the Bright Moon side. It extended from the edge of the Whispering Woods all the way
down to Seaworthy and the shoreline. About a dozen miles north of Seaworthy was the only break
in the cliff face. An opening only 20 yards wide that fed into a valley that cut through the plateau and
led to Bright Moon Castle. The valley was treacherous. Uneven. Jagged pillars of rock rose out of
the ground all over the place. There were often Bright Moon patrols along the top edge of the valley.
Only the Clack technology had allowed the Horde to move such a large contingent of forces through
the valley without being caught.

The corner edge of the plateau was where Adora, Glimmer, Netossa, and Spinnerella had set up their
camp. Twenty four hours removed from seeing the rest of the Princess Alliance off to their
kingdoms, they were here to address the security vulnerability.

Netossa and Adora were standing at the corner, surveying the scene. Well, Netossa was. In truth
Adora was mostly staring out towards Horde territory. Somewhere out there was Bow and Catra.
Hopefully staying safe.

“How long did it take them to parade through here, right under our noses?” Netossa mused. Her
arms were folded as she stared down into the valley.

“No one’s to blame ‘Tossa,” Adora answered.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just,” Netossa sighed. “Girl, we got so lucky the other day. I don’t like relying on
that much luck.”

Spinnerella appeared next to Netossa, as if she was able to sense Netossa sagging shoulders. “And
that’s why we’re here, Sweetheart,” Spinnerella chirped, pulling Netossa into a side hug.

Adora couldn’t help at smile at the affection that Spinnerella and Netossa were always so
comfortable showing each other. She turned back to the Horde border and let out a soft sigh. After a
few seconds a hand appeared on either shoulder.

“You don’t have to feel guilty for missing her,” Spinnerella smiled. Her and Netossa were standing
on either side of Adora.

“She needs this,” Adora said.

“But every part of you wants her to be here right now,” Netossa said. Adora didn’t answer, she just
gave another little sigh. “Hey,” Netossa said. Her and Spinnerella gave Adora joint side hugs. “There
is nothing wrong with that.”

“Thanks you two,” Adora smiled.

A loud smacking noise jolted the trio out of their group hug. They turned to find that Glimmer had
set up a table in the center area of their five tent camp. She was laying out a chart on it. The trio made
their way over to the table, along with the top Bright Moon Guard.

“Okay,” Glimmer began, “there’s no telling how long it’s going to take Entrapta to develop her
detection device. So in the meantime we’re going to need to make sure this valley is closed and
monitored at all times.”

The Bright Moon Guard raised their hand and spoke when Glimmer nodded. “We’re going to have
staggered patrols along the top of each side. But, how are we to ‘close’ the valley?”

“Don’t worry, that’s what I’m here for!” Adora smuggly stated as she flexed a bicep.

Glimmer chuckled. “That’s not the only reason you’re here Adora! Until we have a way to detect
Clack tech we need to have a princess on hand at all times. The four of us will take the first shift.
Frosta agreed to take the second shift in three days.”

Everyone nodded at Glimmer’s plan. “Alright, let’s get to it then!” she exclaimed.

Adora and Glimmer made their way over to the edge of the cliff. Glimmer wrapped her arm around
Adora’s shoulder and gave her a maniacal grin. “You ready to She-Ra out?!”

“FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!”

She-Ra stepped out of the cocoon of light with a confident smile. She smacked one fist into her other
hand. “Alright, let’s do this!” She-Ra exclaimed and leapt into the air. She slammed fist first into the
valley wall down below, cackling with glee.

Nettossa approached Glimmer while laughing. “Is ‘closing’ the valley just Adora punching the valley
walls until she causes a rockslide?”

Glimmer interlocked her fingers on each hand together and smiled widely. “Sometimes the perfect
girl and the perfect job just find each other.”

For the better part of the next 20 minutes She-Ra wailed on the walls of the valley, causing one
rockslide after another. Sometimes the mantle of She-Ra felt like a crushing weight of expectations
that Adora could never live up to. But sometimes, it just meant being able to haul off on rocks with
reckless abandon.

Once the valley was buried under multiple piles of rock, She-Ra flew back up to the plateau above.
Glimmer was there to meet her with a high five that Glimmer had to teleport up to reach.

“Watching you smash things never gets old!” Glimmer screamed. She had entered into her ‘She-Ra
Hypewoman’ mode, which happened often when She-Ra was committing wanton destruction.

“Those rocks never stood a chance!” She-Ra added with glee.

Spinnerella and Netossa rejoined She-Ra and Glimmer. “AND,” Spinnerella chirped proudly, “the
Guard patrols have been assigned. Invisible or not, nothing’s getting through this valley!”
“Well done, everyone!” Glimmer exclaimed. “Now we can relax and hopefully nothing crazy goes
down on our watch.” Glimmer, Spinnerella, and Netossa made their way over to the table so
Glimmer could review the patrol assignments. As the war went on it had become increasingly
important to Glimmer to get to know the guards that served her. In her mind, it was the very least she
could do to show appreciation for their loyalty.

Satisfied that her task was done, She-Ra transformed back into Adora. She resheathed her sword and
absently scratched the itch on the wrist of her sword hand. Adora was looking forward to spending
the afternoon with her friends. There hadn’t been that many occasions for her to hang out with
Netossa and Spinnerella, but she always thoroughly enjoyed their company when she did. They
were fun and easy going, and Adora would be lying if she didn’t say that she looked up to their
relationship. Usually though, that feeling was tinged with melancholy. Today, on the other hand, it
felt different. Instead of looking at them and seeing something only Adora could only dream of,
today it felt like something she was excited to work towards with Catra.

Adora scratched the wrist on her sword hand again. Usually, there was a mild discomfort just after
changing back. Today though, the discomfort was persisting a little longer. Adora scratched it again.
The discomfort was fading away.

Suddenly, instead of discomfort the Adora’s wrist was inflamed with a searing pain that pulsed
through her entire body. Adora screamed out in anguish. The pain was so intense Adora stumbled to
her knees, clutching her wrist the entire time.

The Princesses rushed to her side. “Adora!” Glimmer yelled out. She dropped to her knees and
comforted Adora. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s my wrist,” Adora labored to say. She was kneeling on the ground, tears staining her cheeks
from the pain. “It usually itches after using the sword, but it’s never been like this!”

Glimmer slowly rolled Adora’s sleeve up, attempting to be as gentle as possible. Even still, the
movement made Adora wince a few times. After a few rolls everyone gasped. On Adora was what
looked like an intense rash that covered her entire wrist, but instead of looking like an average rash, it
was blue. There were crevices in the rash that glowed and pulsated a brighter blue.

“That… That wasn’t there this morning,” Adora muttered. It was a disgusting sight, but Adora
couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

“You said it’s always caused discomfort after using the sword?” Netossa asked. Her and her wife
were standing over Adora’s shoulder.

“Well, not always,” Adora conceded. “I think it started a little before the Midsummer Ball.” Adora
pulled her sleeve back down. The sight had been a little too much. “At first it was barely anything.”

“It’s definitely something now,” Glimmer scoffed.

The worst of the pain had passed. Glimmer helped Adora to her feet. “It’s fine,” Adora said. “I’m
feeling better now, thank you,” she smiled.

“THAT is not fine, Adora!” Glimmer protested.

“I have to agree,” Spinnerella added.

Adora absently ran her hand over her wrist. It made her wince slightly. “But what about the valley?
We can’t just abandon it for… Whatever this is.”
Whatever this was. Just a small problem. Adora probably just overexerted herself. Maybe everything
surrounding the last month or two had just made her too stressed out. There was such a thing as
glowing, magic triggered stress rashes, right?

As if arguing against Adora’s thoughts, the pain from Adora’s rash suddenly intensified again. Adora
stumbled, but Glimmer caught her and held her upright.

“This isn’t a pimple Adora, we can’t just ignore it,” Glimmer muttered to her.

“She’s right,” Spinnerella said, placing reassuring hands on Glimmer’s and Adora’s shoulders.
“We’ll watch the valley. You just figure out what’s wrong. The last thing we really need is for our
She-Ra to be out of commission.”

Glimmer helped Adora regain her footing. The pain was subsiding. At least enough so that Adora
could function on her own. She gave a firm nod, conceding the point to Glimmer and Spinnerella.

“Come on,” Glimmer said while wearing a sad smile on her face. “Let’s get you back to Bright
Moon. Hopefully the healers can figure out what’s wrong.”

“No,” Adora stated. Finally having enough energy to stand on her own again, she stood in the center
of them with as and sighed. Despite desperately not wanting to, deep down Adora knew the truth
about this. “Not Bright Moon. This, whatever this is, has something to do with the sword. There’s
really only one person, er, entity, that’s going to be able to help me.”

With that pesky science princess no long around to protest Shadow Weaver had wasted no time
reclaiming the Black Garnet chamber as hers, and returning it to its former set up. The sight of it was
jarring to Lonnie. Three days ago she was in here, arguing with Kyle and Rogelio about loyalty. The
couple was making their pitch to Lonnie about how much the Horde had betrayed them all. It was
the fourth time they had tried to during that week. On top of Catra’s many attempts to do the same,
Lonnie had grown sick of it. Sick of them not really hearing her perspective on the situation. She
remembered yelling at Kyle and Rogelio. Remembered using a lot of words that she probably
shouldn’t have. She remembered telling them off. What she didn’t realize at the time was that it
would be the last time she would get to talk to them.

How quickly the room had changed from the lab back to this cold, dark place, lit mostly by the glow
of the Black Garnet, now reinstalled in the center of the room. The door behind Lonnie slammed
shut. She gulped and took a few pensive steps into the room. The side table had been right here.
Their work table. Their card table. Their “we finally got Rogelio to admit he hates wearing hats”
table. Their “we wore Catra down until she showed us her sketchbook and it turns out she’s actually
pretty good at it” table. Lonnie let out a long sigh.

“Shadow Weaver?” Lonnie called out. She couldn’t see anyone else in the room.

“Lonnie,” Shadow Weaver’s voice seemed to creep directly into Lonnie’s brain. She whipped
around to see Shadow Weaver standing between her and the door, with both arms behind her back.
“You are here, and on time. Excellent,” Shadow Weaver said.

With the gentle motion of a few gray, cracked fingers, Shadow Weaver beckoned Lonnie to follow
her farther into the room. Lonnie followed, keeping a few feet between them, and keeping silent.
Behind them the door opened again. Both turned around to see Decepsha scurrying in. She looked at
the two women already in the room and smiled widely. “I haven’t missed it have I?” she asked.

“No,” Shadow Weaver replied in a cold, even tone.

“Awesome!” Decepsha said. She made her way over to stand near Shadow Weaver and stood up as
straight and formally as possible. Decepsha made every attempt to put on a serious face, but couldn’t
help but shoot Lonnie a grin and a wink when they briefly made eye contact.

Shadow Weaver cleared her throat. “Lonnie, I asked you here today for good reason. You have,
throughout your entire tenure here with the Horde, shown nothing but loyalty. Those things were put
to the ultimate test recently, and here you remain. Lord Hordak commends you on your fealty, and
recognizes your devotion to the Horde. As do I.” Shadow Weaver held out one of her hands to
Lonnie. It slowly opened to reveal a bright green badge. “You’ve earned this,” Shadow Weaver said,
with what passed for her ‘happy voice’.

Lonnie stood there and gasped at the sight of the Force Captain badge.

Decepsha snatched the badge and took it upon herself to pin it to Lonnie’s chest. She nodded at
Lonnie, who was still trying to come to terms with what was happening.

“Congratulations, Force Captain,” Decepsha said, bright smile on her face.

Lonnie left the Black Garnet chamber about an hour after being promoted. Shadow Weaver had
introduced her to life as a Force Captain, and went over what was to be expected of her. She
wandered down the hallways, new Force Captain binder tucked under one arm, head full of thoughts
pulling her every which way.

Being back in the place, that, for the last 14 months she had come to think of as just as much her
home as her bed, had proven to be more difficult than Lonnie had assumed. She had devoted herself
to the Horde. She chose to stay. At least, she was pretty sure she did. She vaguely remembered
confronting Catra on the Mobile Command Ship before waking up on a skiff halfway back to the
Fright Zone. The details of battle at Bright Moon were sketchy in her mind, but Lonnie had been
assured that she had chosen to stay. In truth, Lonnie didn’t know what to believe anymore. All she
really knew for sure was that everyone who kept calling her their family was now what seemed like
a whole world away, and she was here, alone.

Well, not entirely alone it seemed.

“Hey! Hey Lonnie!” Decepsha was calling out. She was jogging down the hall towards Lonnie,
who slowed up to let Decepsha catch up. “Oops, sorry. Hey Force Captain ,” Decepsha grinned as
the two strolled down the hallway.

“How’s it feel?” Decepsha inquired.

“Weird,” Lonnie admitted. She pulled the pin off and gave it a good look, flipping it over a few
times, marveling as the metal gleamed in the light. “Everyone here dreams of this right? I just…
Being stuck in the same squad as Adora and Catra. Well let’s just say that I never got my hopes up
about it.”
Decepsha jabbed Lonnie in the arm. Lonnie looked at her with shock in her eyes, and mild
annoyance.

“But here you are!” Decepsha exclaimed. “You should be proud of yourself. And we definitely need
to go celebrate.”

Lonnie raised her eyebrow in confusion. “What’s this ‘we’? We’re not friends, Queen of Lies.”

Decepsha stopped in her tracks. Lonnie kept walking for a couple yards, but guilt overtook her just
enough to get her to stop.

“We could be,” Decepsha mumbled. She had started idly playing with her fingers and sighed. “You
know what? It’s fine. Totally cool. I’m sorry I bothered you.” She turned to start slowly stalking
away, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Decepsha looked over her shoulder to see Lonnie.

“What did you have in mind?” Lonnie asked with a smile.

Swift Wind touched down gracefully in the clearing in front of the Crystal Castle. It had been
especially hard to find the castle today, as if the Whispering Woods were being combative. Now, to
seemingly drive the point home, Adora’s rash was acting up again. Not so much a throbbing pain, it
was just making itself known. Adora didn’t know how she knew, but she felt certain that it was
reacting to the castle itself.

Glimmer had to help Adora down from Swift Wind. The pain had made Adora’s balance spotty.
They all stood in the clearing, staring down the castle for a moment. Adora’s weight was being
supported by Glimmer.

“Do you really think Light Hope’s going to be able to help?” Glimmer asked.

“If anyone knows what’s wrong with me, it’s going to be her,” Adora said. She wanted it to sound
reassuring to Glimmer, but in reality Adora was trying to desperately reassure herself too. “She HAS
to know what’s wrong with me,” Adora added.

“She can fix me, then everything will get back on track while I eagerly wait for my girlfriend to
return,” Adora mumbled. The statement was made more as a hope than confidence, and also a little
bit because Adora had been keen to find any excuse to work the fact that she could call Catra her
girlfriend into conversation.

Adora turned to Swift Wind and Glimmer and smiled warmly. “Wait here. It’d be best if I talk to
Light Hope on my own. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the more visitors I bring in with
me, the less inclined she is to be helpful.”

“You sure Adora?” Glimmer asked. The expression on her face didn’t convey any sort of
confidence.

“Don’t worry!” Adora exclaimed. She marched to the door of the Crystal Castle, and used the
password to open it. Adora looked over her shoulder and gave the two a confident nod before
walking into the Castle. The door snapped shut as soon as Adora was inside.

The walk to the main hallway seemed to take forever. Adora was doing her very best to keep her
spirits up, and not let the fact that AS SOON as it seemed that her life was starting to go well “She-
Ra” started fritzing get to her. She’d been fighting that frustration almost since the moment it
happened. After all this time, they were together. Catra loved her. Just about all of Adora’s friends
were on the same side finally.

The rash throbbed, as if reminding Adora of why she was here.

Once Adora was in the main hall, everything lit up around her and the castle seemed to lurch to life.
Light Hope appeared in the middle of the room.

“Greetings, Adora,” the hologram said. “There seems to be something greatly troubling you today.”

“You could say that!” Adora grumbled and rolled up her sleeve. Light Hope disappeared and
reappeared next to Adora, who held her arm out at the purple hologram. Light Hope let out a small
gasp as she ran a digital finger along Adora’s wrist. There was a slight tingling sensation to Light
Hope’s touch.

“I see.”

“It appeared-” Adora started.

“-right after transforming from She-Ra,” Light Hope finished.

Adora pulled her arm back and rolled her sleeve back down. “Yes,” Adora confirmed.

Light Hope strolled away from Adora, seemingly paying her little attention. The hologram appeared
to be lost in thought. She was actually mumbling something to herself.

“You know what it is, don’t you,” Adora inquired. Judging from Light Hope’s behaviour, the
answer seemed obvious.

Slowly, steadily, Light Hope recomposed herself, then turned around to face Adora. “Yes, I do,”
Light Hope answered. “I did not think that this would happen so quickly, but it’s not entirely
unexpected.”

“Okay,” Adora huffed. “So what is it, and how do I get rid of it?”

“It is not that simple,” Light Hope stated. She moved closer to Adora. Her face was the most severe
that Adora had ever seen it. Which was a feat unto itself. “I suppose I may be somewhat to blame as
well. I believed that there would be more time to prepare you, but if it is already starting, then I fear
time may be shorter than I thought.”

“Um, Light Hope, NONE of that made sense!” Adora growled. The last thing she was hoping for
was a bunch of riddles and ancient ramblings on how to cure a She-Ra rash.

“In order for you to understand what is happening to you now, you need to know.”

The main hall went dark, except for Light Hope, who was emitting her own glow, and a faint violet
light that made the ceiling glow. “It is time,” Light Hope said.

“Time for what?” Adora asked, trying her very best to not let how ominous this all looked rattle her.

“It is time you were told...

“...Everything,” Light Hope confirmed.

Glimmer and Swift Wind were standing side by side. They were just a few feet in front of the Crystal
Castle’s entrance, and facing out towards the far edge of the clearing. Glimmer had a sly grin on her
face as she braced most of her weight on her left leg, which was bent out in front of her.

“Are you ready?” Swift Wind asked. His wings were pinned back against his body.

“Whenever you are,” Glimmer shot back.

“Okay. Ready. Set…

“GO!”

Both Glimmer and Swift Wind took off into a sprint. A large boulder, some 50 yards ahead, was the
destination for both of them. Swift Wind charged out in front easily. He was just 10 yards away
when Glimmer appeared in a puff of sparkles on the boulder. Swift Wind pulled up to a trot.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” The majestic unicorn protested.

“No way!” Glimmer chuckled. “You can gallop at like 40 miles per hour! This was the only way to
make it fair.”

“Don’t seem fair,” Swift Wind scoffed.

“Hey, this was your idea. I was perfectly happy to just sit around and wait, but noooooo you wanted
to-” Glimmer stopped talking abruptly at the sound of rustling in the surrounding woods. She jumped
down next to Swift Wind and summoned her staff to her. Swift Wind dug in his hind hooves, ready
to charge at whatever was coming their way.

Razz popped out from behind the bushes. “Dearies! What are you doing here?!” she asked, pulling
her broom from the bush.

Just as fast as it appeared, Glimmer dispatched of the staff and laughed. Swift Wind relaxed his
stance. “You scared us Madame Razz! You’re lucky I had the willpower to wait to see what it was
before charging, or you might have had a horn to the face!” Swift Wind asserted.

“Sorry Dearie. I just thought I heard voices. And for once I was right because here you are!” the old
woman snorted. “What brings the two of you out here? Interested in picking berries?”

“Haha, no Madame Razz, no berries today. We’re here for Adora. She’s in the Crystal Castle right
now,” Glimmer answered. The three began strolling back towards the castle. “Maybe you can help
us, actually. You know a lot about She-Ra,” Glimmer continued as they strolled. “Something’s
wrong with Adora, and we’re worried that it has something to do with her She-Ra powers.”

Madame Razz stopped in her tracks. It took a few feet before Glimmer and Swift Wind realized she
had. They turned back to see Razz, looking more thoughtful and sad than they were used to seeing
her.

“Something is wrong with Adora?” Razzed asked. Her voice was low. “And you think it’s She-Ra’s
fault.” Glimmer nodded at the sagely woman. “Does it look like a blue rash?”

Glimmer and Swift Wind gasped at the same time. “Madame Razz! How did you-”
Before they could continue their conversation, the door to the Crystal Castle slid open. Adora
wandered out. The expression on her face was completely blank and her skin was drained of color.
Everyone rushed over to meet her. Glimmer took Adora’s hands into her own.

“Adora! What did Light Hope say?” Glimmer asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

At first Adora just looked straight ahead, blank eyed. Slowly Adora began to turn to Glimmer, faintly
indicating that she even heard her. What caught Adora’s attention more was when Razz reached up
and clutched Adora’s wrist.

“May I?” Razz gently asked. Adora gave her a soft nod. Razz took Adora’s right arm from
Glimmer’s hand and began rolling up the sleeve as gently as she could. Sight of the rash prompted
Razz to let out a sigh. “It is as I feared.”

They all stared at it for a few seconds before Adora pushed her sleeve back down.

“What happened in there?” Glimmer asked.

There were no words. Adora’s answer consisted entirely of breaking out into sobbing. Glimmer
grabbed her and drew her into a hug. “It’s okay, Adora. We’re going to figure this out,” Glimmer
softly whispered into Adora’s ear.

Razz had already turned around and was marching back towards the woods. “Come come! We have
to head home!”

“But Bright Moon isn’t that way,” Glimmer informed her.

“I didn’t mean Bright Moon.”

Razz scampered through the edge of the woods and scurried to her house. “Come Adora Dearie!”
She called back as she threw her door open. Glimmer, Adora, and Swift Wind were just behind her.
Glimmer was leading Adora by the hand, almost pulling her. The Princess of Power had been in a
sort of shock since emerging from the Crystal Castle. Glimmer desperately needed to know what had
happened, but was reluctant to prod too hard. At least not while they were hustling through the
woods at Razz’s behest.

By the time Adora and Glimmer made it into the house Razz had already seemingly ransacked her
shelves. She was mumbling something while containers and jars were shoved out of the way with
abandon.

“Ah-ha! Here it is!” Razz shouted. She pulled a small ceramic jar off the shelf. To say it looked old
would have been an understatement. The old woman took one look at the two girls standing in her
house. “Come come, sit down!” she commanded as she waved to a long bench along the wall.
Glimmer pulled Adora down onto the bench. Swift Wind was peering into the window next to the
bench. Razz unlocked it to let the unicorn poke his head in.

“Huh, yeah, this place is not horse approved,” Swift Wind mused.

“This old gal doesn’t need much room, Swifty Doll,” Razz chuckled. She tried opening the jar for a
moment before handing it off to Glimmer, who was able to untwist the top with relative ease. It
hissed, as if a vacuum seal was broken.

“What is this stuff?” Glimmer asked. In the jar was a pink gel-like substance.

Razz took the jar back and had Adora pull her sleeve back up. Adora did what was asked of her,
with no protest or resistance. “It’s an ointment, just for this.” Madame Razz scooped a bit out with
her fingers and began rubbing it along Adora’s wrist. “My Mara and I came up with it, for her.”

Almost immediately Adora exhaled a large gasp of air. “Thank you Razz, that feels so much better,”
Adora breathed. Adora gave Glimmer’s hand a good squeeze, as Glimmer had been holding her
hand the entire time.

“This is all I have left. You are lucky I still had even that!” Razz laughed. “I can make more. It’ll
take a little bit of time though.” Adora nodded in acknowledgement.

“You ready to tell us what’s going on?” Swift Wind asked. Him and Glimmer have their eyes fixated
on Adora. “And maybe what we can do to help?”

“Nothing can be done, Swift,” Adora muttered. She was still staring at her wrist, where the ointment
was bubbling slightly the longer it was exposed to air. “There’s no cure for it,” Adora sighed. “It’s…
Stuck like this. And it’s my fault.”

“What?!” Glimmer blurted out.

“Because I’m too distracted, according to Light Hope. Apparently my She-Ra power and I aren’t in
a ‘harmonious alignment’. There are… Things that can be done moving forward. But this can’t be
undone.”

Glimmer gave Adora’s hand a squeeze back. “So, even if you bring yourself into ‘harmonious
alignment’, whatever that even means, you’re going to have that rash forever?”

Adora took a minute to regard her best friend. The longer she stared, the softer her tired smile got. “...
Yes. That’s the gist of it. Really, really sucks, but Light Hope assured me that nothing can be done. I
just-”

“-hogwash,” Razz interjected. Suddenly Razz had the full attention of the room. She adjusted her
thick glasses. There was a sourness on her face that Adora had never seen before. “Dearie, there’s
always something that can be done. You’re at a crossroads. My Mara came to the same one.”

“Her choices are what led her down a darker path,” Adora added. Tears started welling up around
her eyes again. “The price is too steep Razz. I won’t let myself succumb to the same fate.”

Razz sighed. “It is true, my Mara went down a path of destruction. But it’s not because she tried to
find options where there weren’t any. It was because Light Hope fought her every step of the way.

“Whatever you do, do not trust that holographic charlton. Because you still have the ability to
choose, but not to her. The choice is clear to her . All she really cares about is She-Ra, not you.”

For the first time since the morning, Adora seemed to have some life to her. She sat up quickly and
gently grabbed Razz by her shoulder. “Are you telling me that Light Hope is wrong?”

“Everyone has a perspective, Dearie. She thinks she’s right. But she’s blinded by her perspective.
She was created specifically to do what is best for She-Ra. Not Mara, not Adora, She-Ra. It’s her
purpose.
“There’s always something else you can do, Adora Dearie, you just have to figure out what.”

Adora slumped back on the bench. “Where would I even start looking for something to help with a
She-Ra problem, if not Light Hope?” There was silence for a moment while everyone pondered the
question. After a few seconds Adora let out a sigh and closed her eyes. “Madame Razz, what did
Mara do? Light Hope told me everything, except what ultimately happened to Mara.”

The elder woman pulled up a small stool and sat down. It took a good minute for her to answer.

“After stranding us here in Despondos, my Mara tried to find a way to fix what she had done. It was
eating at her soul. It was ripping her mind apart. She went out in search of a wizard named Noah.”
Razz took a break to take in a deep breath. “She never returned. My Mara was lost to time.” Adora
leaned up to pat Razz on the back. For the first time since meeting the old woman, she seemed
genuinely sad.

“That’s a lead though!” Glimmer chirped up.

“What? How?” Adora asked.

“Grand Wizard Noah! He was the founder of Mystacor!” Glimmer exclaimed. “Aunt Casta knows
about ALL the great wizards and sorcerers of Mystacor. She used to tell me stories about them, and
‘Grand Wizard Noah’ was one of them! If Mara found him I’m sure Aunt Casta would know
something about it.”

The bubbling on Adora’s arm had ceased, leaving just a thin glaze over top of the rash. There was
still a great amount of discomfort, but it was far more manageable than without the ointment. Adora
slowly pulled her sleeve back down, trying not to disturb the gel. She climbed up to her feet.

“Not like we have anything to lose!” Adora exclaimed.

“Whoo! Floating island!” Swift Wind celebrated.

Adora leaned down towards Razz, who was still on her stool. “Thank you Razz. I can’t tell you how
much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

Just As Adora went to stand back up Razz grabbed her arm. The sagely woman stared intently at
Glimmer, who quickly got the message. Glimmer teleported outside and pulled Swift Wind out of the
window. Razz got up and closed the window behind him.

Madame Razz jumped up on the stool so she could get closer to looking Adora in the eyes. “I loved
my Mara, Adora Dearie, but I know the damage she caused Etheria. And so did she, until she began
losing herself. She was too obsessed with controlling the power of She-Ra. Light Hope was only
concerned with letting She-Ra control her. Those are two extremes. But they aren’t your only
options. Remember that.”

The door to the Black Garnet chamber slid open. Decepsha made her way into the room. Shadow
Weaver was standing at one of her computer terminals, intently reading what was on the screen.
When Decepsha got to within a few feet of Weaver she knelt down.

“That is unnecessary,” Shadow Weaver remarked, while still reading her computer terminal.
“Oh, um, right,” Decepsha stood back up, and remained there in place, awkwardly waiting for
Shadow Weaver.

After another moment or two, Shadow Weaver finally turned around. “Tell me, Decepsha, do you
have any remaining contacts in Bright Moon?”

Decepsha took a few seconds to ponder. She tapped her lower lip the entire time. “Y-yes, there are
still some people I could get some info from.”

“Good. Then that is your task. Momentum is in the Rebellion’s favor, we must search of any
opportunities. We need to know what they’re doing with that momentum. With Catra and Adora
united, the Rebellion will be more difficult than ever to defeat.”

At the sound of Adora’s name, Decepsha heavily exhaled a breath through her nose. Shadow
Weaver squinted the white eyes of her mask at the master spy. “Is something the matter, Decepsha?”

It hadn’t even been a conscious act. Decepsha had to take a second or two to figure out what
Shadow Weaver was talking about. When she did, her immediate response was to turn bright red.
“Oh! No Shadow Weaver, Ma’am.” She glanced at Shadow Weaver, which wasn’t a good idea for
her confidence. It was persuasion enough to compel her to the truth. “It’s just-”

“-I have read your report on your time in Bright Moon,” Shadow Weaver said, sparing Decepsha the
embarrassment of having to explain it. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“What? Oh! No! No, Force General. Not a problem at all.”

Shadow Weaver strolled up to Decepsha, and placed her hand on Decepsha’s shoulder. Decepsha
was sure it was supposed to be comforting, but it was having the opposite effect. “There is nothing to
be ashamed of. Adora is special,” Shadow Weaver said. She lightly sighed. “She has a way of
worming into the hardest of hearts.

“If it’s going to be an issue-”

“-no!” Decepsha snapped. “Er, no. No Shadow Weaver, I can do this.”

“Very well then. You are to begin immediately.”

“Immediately?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?” Shadow Weaver asked, glaring.

Decepsha scratched the back of her neck. She could feel her cheeks going flush. “It’s just that…
That is, I was going to help Force Captain Lonnie with her orientation, and…” As she talked
Decepsha could feel those pupilless white eyes burrowing into her. “... no. No problems, Shadow
Weaver.”

“Good. You are dismissed,” Shadow Weaver stated. She turned back towards her monitors without
giving Decepsha a chance to say another word. Decepsha did a half bow and quickly scurried out of
the room. The door slammed behind her.

Shadow Weaver continued reading her monitor in the room, alone. After a moment she stopped, and
let out a soft chuckle. “Poor Decepsha. You really thought you could come between them?
Something that no amount of magic or space or time could accomplish? Foolish girl.”

“I do admire the confidence though.”

Twilight in Mystacor was a beautiful sight. Floating high in the sky allowed for the remaining wisps
of daylight to rise around them from all sides. It was getting just dark enough for the street lanterns to
begin flickering on, igniting into flames of soft greens and blues.

The pristine beauty of Mystacor always struck Adora. Being far above the rest of Etheria, the
kingdom remained untouched by battle and war. Adora thought it was a weird sensation to be
jealous of a place.

Adora and Glimmer had barely had time to dismount from Swift Wind before High Sorceress
Castaspella appeared in front of them.

“Glimmer! Adora! Mr. Horsey!” Castaspella called out. She looked ecstatic to see them.

“The name’s Swift Wind… Your.. Highness? Your, Sorceress?” Swift Wind stammered.

“Just ‘Castaspella’ is fine,” she answered while at the same time scooping up Glimmer and Adora
into a hug. “How is my favorite niece and favorite Princess of Power?!”

“We’re doing okay Aunt Casta!” Glimmer struggled to say as she was crushed in the hug. She
finally managed to squirm out of it. “Actually, no. That’s not the truth,” Glimmer huffed.

The sorceress released Adora and gasped. “OH? What’s wrong?! How can your Aunt Casta help?”

Instead of a complicated explanation, Adora opted to simply pull up here sleeve and stick it out
towards Castaspella.

“What on Etheria?!” Castaspella asked in a shout.

“Long story short, the She-Ra in me is acting up. And we’re not sure how to fix it,” Adora lamented.

“Oh,” Castaspella took a long look at the rash. She slowly waved her fingers over it. Adora would
feel the tingling of her magic. “This is powerful magic. I know, it’s She-Ra, duh! But I can… Feel it.
It’s so overwhelming! AH!” Castaspella quickly withdrew her hand from the rash and gave it a good
shake.

“Aunt Casta!” Adora yelped. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!”

“Yes. Don’t worry about me! It was just, wow. That power’s intense. And in a volatile state.”
Castaspella’s everlasting chipperness faded slightly. “I don’t know how I will be able to help, girls.
I’m afraid that kind of magic may be beyond even the wisdom of Mystacor.”

“Maybe not Aunt Casta,” Glimmer said. “You may still be able to help us. We’re hoping that maybe
you had information on the Grand Wizard Noah?” Glimmer asked, pleading face in full effect.

“Noah?” Castaspella cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Adora replied. “We have reason to believe that the last She-Ra may have tried to get his
help when something similar happened to her. We were hoping that maybe he’d had left…
Something about it.”

“Like a journal! Or maybe notes!” Glimmer offered.

 Castaspella scratched her own cheek. “I’m so sorry girls. There’s nothing of Noah’s here.”

“How’s that possible?!” Glimmer exclaimed. “Wasn’t he the founder of Mystacor?”

“Yes, Glimmer dear. But he also studied a lot of dark magic. He was going a little mad when he was
exiled from Mystacor.” Castaspella smirked. “Okay, maybe more than a ‘little’.”

Glimmer let out a deep growl of anguish. She grabbed her own hair and began tugging on it. “That’s
just GREAT! He was our only lead!”

“It’s okay!” Adora assured her. “We’ll just… Think of something else! Who knows, maybe George
and Lance can help. Or maybe your mom will have an idea or two!”

The invocation of Angella caused Castaspella to purse her lips. The sorceress sighed and waver her
hands in the air. A book appeared in a puff of smoke. She began flipping the pages loudly until she
got to the page she wanted.

“Ah-ha! Here it is!” Castaspella announced.

Both girls and Swift Wind gave her confused looks.

“Noah was exiled from Mystacor. But we’ve kept an eye on him ever since he left.”

“Wait,” Glimmer interjected. “How is that possible? Noah would be centuries old by now!”

Castaspella nodded. “Like I said, he was dabbling in dark magic. Immortality was the tip of the
iceberg.” She looked Adora in the eyes and smiled. “I know where he is. But you have to
PROMISE me that you’ll be careful. There’s no telling what mental state he’s even in nowadays.”
Adora and Glimmer nodded excitedly. Castaspella took a deep breath. “He’s on Mystic Isle. A
remote island far off the coast to the east.”

Glimmer jumped into her aunt to hug her. “Thank you so much Aunt Casta! We knew you wouldn’t
let us down!”

“Now hold on, Glimmer! There’s a catch.” Glimmer pulled away from Castaspella enough to face
her while she talked. “Mystic Isle won’t be easy. Noah’s set up the entire island as one big boobytrap
for tresspassers. And what’s more, while his magic is teeming and seeping into every inch of the
island, he also has protection spells all around the island. Meaning you won’t have access to any of
your magic or powers.”

Swift Wind let out a whine. “How will I be able to get there?”

“You won’t,” Castaspella flatly answered. “Only way on or off the island is by a good, old fashioned
boat. Which means you’d have to get a ship to take you there.”

Adora and Glimmer exchanged confident grins. They nodded at each other before Glimmer turned
back to Castaspella. “That’s not going to be a problem Aunt Casta. We are, after all, honorary
pirates.”

Chapter End Notes

lol 'Castaspella'. I just love that name. It's the best, and worst, name!

Good news Glimmer-stans! As you could probably tell this chapter, she has a lot more
presence in the second arc. Especially while we're going through this segment with
Catra and Bow in the Fright Zone, this gives Adora and Glimmer (and Swift Wind)
more time to interact together.

Okay! Chapter 18 next Sunday night, June 30th! (although by the time I get it up it'll
probably say July 1st :p)

Next Time:
"A locked door? HAH! That won't be a problem."
 The Bandit King
Chapter Notes

I am SO sorry about being a day late! Last week was crazy, but I also could have
managed what free time I had better. I obviously didn't get the time to edit like I wanted,
so this may be rough in spots.

But on the bright side, this chapter turned out to be a ton of fun to write.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Inside the Veiled Swans Inn was the Veiled Swans Tavern, the only bar in the only inn in the entire
town. Even with the monopoly, business wasn’t exactly booming. The same seven people were
sitting at the lacquered wooden bar that sat there every night. They were lit only by a single long tube
light that sat buzzing overtop the shelves of alcohol. There were ten tables spaced throughout the
tavern. A couple hazy halogen lights hung, casting barely enough light in the room. Three of the
tables were filled with regulars: one had a middle aged couple; one had a group of three friends; and
one had an elderly man in dirty overalls; all here at the tavern after a hard day’s work in the fields.
Just like always.

Except tonight the entire tavern was buzzing with tense excitement. Hushed whispers, stolen glances.
Everyone wanted to look, but no one wanted to be seen staring. It was the table in the far, dark
corner that had the tavern buzzing. A figure in a hooded cloak sat, leaning back in the chair, sipping
on a cheap fizzy water. While the rest of the tavern didn’t want to make it obvious they were staring,
the hooded figure didn’t have any such qualms. It was near impossible to see the figure’s features
through the gloom of the tavern, but the way the their head turned, it was obvious where they were
watching the tavern regulars.

After a few minutes a second hooded figure entered the room from the doorway that led into the inn.
They made quick strides until they reached their hooded compatriot. There was a brief, hushed
discussion between the two before they both stood and made their way towards the inn. Along the
way they had to pass by the other seated patrons.

Just after the hooded figures passed by the old man in dirty overalls, the man heard a clinking sound.
At his feet was a little sack. The figures seemed to not notice so the old man picked it up.

“Excuse me! I think you lost something!” the old man called out to them.

The original hooded figure, still holding their fizzy water, looked over their shoulder. The old man
briefly had time to see a golden yellow eye wink at him before both figures continued on into the inn.
Confused the man opened the sack, then quickly closed it again and slid it into his overalls pocket.
Best not to be flashing leather bags of gold coins around in a place like this.

The two figures didn’t linger, they made their way quickly up the stairs to the inn and to the room
that they had rented for the night. Just as soon as the door clicked closed Catra threw off her cloak
with plenty of dramatic flair. She let her backpack slide off her onto the ground and had a long,
satisfying stretch.

Bow was less dramatic, but no less enthusiastic about being able to dump his cloak and backpack for
the evening.

“If I had to carry that pack any longer my back would have BROKEN!” Catra whined.

“Hey, you asked me to make sure we were prepared for everything!” Bow shot back. He currently
stretching out his neck, which seemed to bring him a great deal of relief.

Catra let out a chuckle. “You got me there. Honestly I was surprised that we ended up needing the
nets so soon.”

“But that was really heads up thinking!”

“Thanks!” Catra smiled. “A shame that the only thing really lightening our load though is our ever
dwindling food supplies,” Catra remarked as she pulled out a bag. She grabbed a handful of the food
inside and popped it into her mouth. On their first day of journeying, Bow had described it as a sort
of puffed corn. They were coated with an orange powder that Bow had said was cheese dust. When
Catra ask what cheese was Bow began crying uncontrollably, which was cute right up until it almost
got them caught.

One of the side effects of eating them was the orange powder that got all over your fingers. For some
reason Catra got a kick out of it. She licked each finger clean and resealed the bag.

“Maybe while we’re here we can see about getting more food supplies,” Bow suggested as he
peered out the second floor room’s window. At the edge of town was vast swaths of farmland. Logic
dictated that the Horde’s food had to come from somewhere. Even still, being in a town that was for
the most part exceedingly normal, that was surrounded by farming, while being in the middle of
Horde territory was something that Bow was having a hard time adjusting to.

First his friendship with Adora, and now his budding relationships with Catra and Scorpia had
flipped everything Bow thought he knew about the Horde and who was good and who was evil. All
these people were members of the Horde, yet they seemed to be relaxing after a long day of hard
work, just like any normal person would. Although one of them had just became a whole lot richer.

Bow pulled his attention from the window and returned it to the room. It seemed Catra had already
claimed the left cot. She was sitting crossed legged on the bed, with her magicat book and a
notebook open in front of her. This seemed to be becoming a nightly ritual. The previous two nights
ended with Catra reading her book, making notes about things she’ll want to ask Adora when she
gets home and things she hopes the ruins of Half Moon can answer for her. Part of the ritual of the
preceding nights had involved Bow asking questions in an effort to get to know magicats also. Catra
had been more than happy to talk about it. She just seemed genuinely shocked, and touched, that
Bow seemed to really care. Tonight though Bow thought he might try striking up a different line of
questioning.

“So, what was that back there in the tavern?” Bow asked as he kicked off his boots and leaned back
on his cot.

“Would you believe that I just dropped it and was way too lazy to walk back for it?” Catra asked, an
air of hope in her voice. Bow grunted. Catra put her pencil down and sighed. She seemed more keen
on glancing around the room than looking directly as Bow.

“Why am I getting the feeling that we’re not in Rift Hollow just because it’s the most direct route?”
Bow asked, his words dripping with accusation.

Catra took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. “His name is Kelpar. He’s Kyle’s grandfather. Kyle
liked to check up on him when he could, make sure he’s okay. Now that we’re out of the Horde he’s
not going to be able to do that anymore. Thought it’d be good to make sure the old man was taken
care of.”

Out of nowhere Catra was wrapped up in a hug. She half-heartedly squirmed, all the while laughing.

“You big softy you!” Bow chirped.

“Bow what did I tell you? Two hug a day limit!”

“I know,” Bow softly responded.

“And what are you going to do for each time you go over that limit?”

“For each hug over the limit I gotta get you another sushi-I mean, suss-shee roll.”

“How many rolls does this hug make?”

“14,” Bow chuckled. “It IS pronounced sushi, by the way.”

“Yeah, well,” Catra began, her cheeks were going flush, “that’s how Adora told me it was
pronounced. And if that’s what Adora thinks it’s called, then that’s what I’m going to call it.”

Bow let out a healthy laugh as he made his way back to his cot. He pulled the covers back and
slipped in. “Heh, you’re a good girlfriend, Catra of Half Moon.” Catra didn’t have a verbal response
to that. Instead a big, involuntary grin that exposed her sharp canines grew on her face while the rest
of her face turned redder than the tomatoes out in the fields at the edge of town.

It was a little after two in the morning. Rift Hollow was far enough out from the Fright Zone that the
glow of the moons actually shown through. That hazy moonlight poured in through the open
window in Catra and Bow’s room, providing the only source of light while the two slept soundly,
bundled up under the covers.

A few faint clicking noises bounced into the room from the door. On the fourth click the door
creaked open. Three men, all middle aged, wearing dark clothing, and sporting varying lengths of
thinning brown hair quietly swept into the room. One man moved to stand over the left cot, one over
the right cot, while the third stood between them.

“Which one’s her?” the man over the right cot whispered.

“Just do ‘em both. Don’t want to take any chances,” the center man slowly growled. It seemed clear
that he was the leader. The two men next to each cot pulled long, thick, sharp knives out of their
coats. “On three.” the man in the center raised a closed fist. One finger lifted up. Two fingers lifted
up.

Suddenly the room was illuminated by a lamp in the corner of the room, sitting on a table next to a
small chair.

“You really suck at this sneaking thing,” Catra said, perched in the chair.

The covers on the right cot flung up into the man’s face.
“Yeah, REALLY suck at this!” Bow hollered as he hopped to his feet from the right cot to punch the
man just as he was pulling the covers off of him.

Catra immediately flew into action, slamming into the leader in the middle, which sent them both
tumbling over the left cot. The left cot man who was already standing there had to jump out of the
way to not get bowled over. Catra immediately shot a leg out at him, knocking the wind out of him.
She rounded back to the first man and shoved him back to the ground.

“Hey, I know you! You’re the one that led that protest here last year!” Catra exclaimed. “Here to
renegotiate?”

“I’m here to make you pay for what you did to us!” He yelled. “Can’t hide behind a Force General
badge this time!”

The man tried to push Catra off of him, with little success. “Word gets around I see,” Catra said. “I’d
think you’d be happy, I thought you hated being a part of the Horde.”

The left cot man regained himself and charged Catra. She jumped just as he was on top of her. He
slammed into her just right to send her toppling back over the cot.

“We do hate it,” the third man growled. “But we hate you just as much!”

The right cot man was still focused on Bow, and losing. Suddenly there was a banging on the door.
The whole room stopped and turned its attention to the door.

“Hey! What’s going on in there?! This is Horde Security Officer Norn! Open the door this instant!”

Catra didn’t hesitate. She leapt into the air and crashed into both of the men, legs first. They went
stumbling into the wall. She pounced up to her feet and scrambled to collect the few things that had
been unpacked. Within just 40 seconds both her and Bow were able to have their packs strapped to
their backs while still fending off the men. Security Officer Norn gave another warning.

Bow grabbed Catra’s arm and nodded at the window. Catra wasn’t convinced it was a good idea,
but decided to trust Bow. They ran to the window together and leapt. Once outside Bow twisted and
shot the rope arrow into the building. Catra latched onto him and the two swung to the ground with
still considerable momentum, but overall safely.

They wasted no time. Within minutes they were hurrying through fields of corn and other vegetables
at the outskirts of Rift Hollow. They ran for a solid ten minutes, until they were sufficiently far
enough from Rift Hollow so that the village was a small, dark blob against the horizon. Satisfied that
there was enough space between them and the village, the two took a moment to gather themselves.
Bow was buckled over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. Catra was slightly winded, but
recovered quickly.

Fatigue wasn’t bothering Catra, she was in excellent shape, and her magicat body was designed for
speed and distance. No, what was bothering Catra was something else. She crouched down and
snarled angrily at the ground, slamming her claws into the dirt.

“Whoa! Hey, what’s the matter?” Bow huffed between breaths. “We didn’t forget anything did we?”

“No, we didn’t forget anything,” Catra muttered. Her vision was transfixed on the claw marks dug
into the dirt she had just caused. “I know what that was all about.”

“Good! Because those jerks just messed up the most restful sleep we had in three nights and I’d hate
to think that it was for no reason,” Bow remarked. His breath was finally normalizing. He stretched
and loosened up his neck, preparing for the long journey in front of them..

“This is my fault,” Catra mumbled. “I wasn’t exactly nice to Rift Hollow when I was the Force
General.” Catra slid down to her knees and let out a little laugh. “I’m probably really dumb, thinking
I can outrun my past. Put that person behind me.”

A hand appeared on Catra’s shoulder, spurring her to look up at her travelling companion, who was
sporting a giant, oversized grin. “You’re not running from it. You’re walking beyond it. Every day.
Catra, I’m not a fool. I know what kind of person ‘Force Captain Catra’ was. What kind of person
early ‘Force General Catra’ was. She didn’t give old men free money. She didn’t cherish gifts, or
mispronounce things just because it made her think of her girlfriend. She wouldn’t have a girlfriend.
And she certainly wouldn’t be my friend,” Bow finished by extending his hand out. Catra regarded it
for a moment before smiling.

“Just for the record, that was like, a word hug,” Catra said as Bow hoisted her to her feet. “So that
makes 15 suss-shee rolls when we get back.”

Bow let out a big puff of air before laughing. “I’m going to owe Mermista a HUGE favor.”

Rogelio was rummaging around a giant tool cart that came up to his chest. The burly lizard man
made a few grunts.

“Um, I think it had a purple handle?” Kyle answered. He was lying on his back, up to his waist into
the standing control console. A mess of wires hung just above him. Rogelio continued sifting
through the cart drawers for a moment before making an exciting grunting noise and pulled out a tool
that looked somewhat like a purple handled wrench, but with a bendable shaft. He set it in Kyle’s
outstretched arm.

“Thanks Sweetie!” Kyle chirped back. Immediately the sound of metal grinding together echoed out
into the courtyard.

Pinks and pale yellows swept across the morning sky above Dryl. A few clouds were dotted here
and there, but otherwise it was a clear day. Rogelio stared up at the clouds and let out a satisfied snort
of air. Fresh air. That first night in Dryl it had almost been hard to breath. The air smelled “off”. It
took him hours to realize that it was because the air wasn’t drenched in grease and the smell of
overheating machines. By the end of the first night he’d decided that he could get use to this new air.

The standing control console that the boys were working on was at the edge of the main courtyard
nearest to Dryl Castle. At the opposite end was Entrapta, her pigtails extending her up fully some 15
feet into the air. She was working on electronics in a little metal box atop a pole. Scorpia and Emily
stood near her, looking up nervously as the pigtails were balanced on their tips.

“Screwdriver, three eigth inches, flathead,” Entrapta barked out. Scorpia dropped to a crouch and
began sifting through the open toolbox. After a few seconds of unconfidently moving the tools
around in the box, Emily reached down with her pincer and handed the tool to Scorpia.

“Thanks Em,” Scorpia smiled as the robot beeped excitedly. Scorpia rose up and handed the tool to a
strand of hair that carried it the rest of the way. Entrapta continued tinkering for a few minutes, then
closed up the metal box and lowered herself down.
“That’s the last of them! If all goes right this network of sensors that I have deemed the Clack Back
we should be able to monitor Clack’s every move while invisible!” Entrapta was talking fast. Her
excitement could barely be contained.

“Um, ‘Trapta,” Scorpia put up a claw trying to get Entrapta’s attention. She was doing her best mask
the slight nervousness in her tone. “When, exactly was the last time you slept?”

The Princess of Dryl scurried up to Scorpia on her pigtails and excitedly shook her. “Who cares
about sleep! Do you realize how exciting this?! We’re going to be able to track things we can’t see!”
Entrapta released Scorpia and began trekking across the courtyard back to the control console.
Scorpia quickly packed up the toolbox and her and Emily jogged to catch up.

After a few minutes the command console was finished and up and running. Emily was standing
near the edge of the courtyard holding a checkered flag. Little Clack was next to her. Entrapta had
him open, giving him a last minute diagnostic.

“Now Remember, try to make each lap through the courtyard maze different. It won’t work as well if
it’s just having to recognize the same pattern,” Entrapta softly coached Clack. She closed him up and
patted the bot on the top of his dome.

Entrapta took control of the command console. A small map of the courtyard flickered on the side
monitor. Clack was a little red dot on it, sitting patiently at the edge of courtyard. Entrapta gave a
once over of console.

A mini-recorder slid out of her mass of hair. “Clack Back Detection System, Test 1 Log. Everything
seems to be working optimally. Assistant Kyle and I have put in nonstop work since returning home
to Dryl yesterday…”

“Um, Entrapta?” Kyle called out. The purple haired princess turned to look at Kyle, who was
standing with Scorpia and Rogelio a few feet behind her. “Um, we got back to Dryl three days ago.
This is actually the fourth day now.”

The entire crew behind Entrapta smiled hopefully at her. She huffed and returned to her recorder.
“For some reason Assistant Kyle chooses odd times for humor. I do not understand the joke.
Regardless, I have high hopes for this test!” She clicked off the recorder.

“Remember Clack, go when Emily waves you to,” Entrapta called out. “Emily, whenever you are
ready!” she said with an enthusiastic thumbs up.

The robot turned her full attention to her smaller “brother”. Emily unfurled the flag and smoothed it
out. She held it up in the air. Everyone stared with bated breath. Then, the flag dropped.

Clack immediately disappeared. The dot on the monitor showed him moving in a straight line
quickly. Then according to the dot he turned quickly. Entrapta’s eyes were lighting up. Everyone
else had gathered closer, and were growing more and more excited. The red dot zig-zagged across a
lawn, then up another aisle. Then it disappeared from the map.

“WHAT?!” Entrapta growled. She banged on the control console, despite how useless that was. The
dot reappeared after a few seconds, but only remained on the screen for a couple more seconds
before disappearing again. This time, it never came back. Entrapta glared at the monitor, her grip at
the edges of the console was tightening with each second.

Finally, after another two minutes, Clack reappeared, far away from where the dot had last put him.
The little robot looked impressed with himself until he caught sight of Entrapta. Emily came up and
took Clack by the pincer and gently led him away, giving the humans their space.

“All in all though, not a bad first run!” Scorpia said, breaking the silence. She attempted to give two
claws up.

“Not bad?!” Entrapta yelled, still staring at the console monitor.

“That’s what tests are for, right?” Kyle asked. “See how it goes and go on from there?”

“NO, Assistant Kyle! We cannot afford to ‘see how it goes’!” Entrapta barked. “Don’t you get it?
There could be a Horde tank right in front of us. A Horde tank could be sitting at the door of Bright
Moon. They could be rolling through Plumeria as we speak! And we wouldn’t even KNOW!”
Entrapta yelled as she tore up the center of the command console from the ground and flung it
indiscriminately towards the courtyard. A purple mass of hair shot out and knocked over the tool
cart, sending tools everywhere. A heaving Entrapta stomped away.

For a moment, Rogelio, Kyle, and Scorpia stood there, looking bewildered. Scorpia finally took a
deep breath. “Alright,” she said. Scorpia glanced around. “If you two don’t mind,” Scorpia waved at
the wreckage around them. Kyle and Rogelio nodded.

Turned out Entrapta hadn’t gone that far. Near the edge of the courtyards was a patch of grass that
sloped down slightly towards the castle walls. Entrapta was sitting, knees pulled into her chest, arms
wrapped around her knees tightly, on the crest of the hill. Her chin was resting on her knees while
bundles of hair drooped all around her.

Scorpia appeared next to her, holding two fizzy waters. Without actually looking up, Entrapta took
the one that was being handed to her. The scorpion woman sat down in a cross legged position just
next to her. Together they stared straight ahead, taking in the full glory of the plum colored metal
walls that surrounded the castle.

“That’s a good wall. Sturdy looking. I bet there’s some kind of security measure built into it too,
knowing you,” Scorpia remarked. She took a sip of her fizzy water, then made a show of how
refreshing it was by smacking her lips together and letting out a long “aaah”.

“Every segment of wall houses a laser turret, flamethrower, and net launcher,” Entrapta quietly listed
off.

“Hah! Knew it,” Scorpia bumped Entrapta with her shoulder. The pigtailed princess continued
sulking. Scorpia scooted closer. Together they watched the wall for a few minutes.

“My legacy is going to be getting everyone I care about killed,” Entrapta finally muttered. Somehow
Entrapta managed to pull herself into a tighter ball.

The large scorpion woman next to her scooted even closer and gave Entrapta a side hug. “Your
legacy is going to be that of a brilliant woman who changed the course of progress on Etheria.

“And maybe also as the woman who liked shoving guns into walls.”

Despite herself, Entrapta let out a chuckle. Strands of purple hair wrapped themselves around
Scorpia.

“I know how important getting this Clack Trap-”

“-Clack Back.”
“... Clack Back system up and running is. And you’ll figure it out. But not in this condition. You’re
just wearing yourself out.”

“... Has it really been four days now since we got back?” Entrapta wearily asked. Scorpia nodded.
“Really?! Four days home and I haven’t visited Perfuma once?! She is going to be less than pleased!
I need to go see her, right now,” Entrapta started trying to scramble to her feet, but Scorpia held her
in place.

“You’re in no condition for a field trip, ‘Trapta! I know you want to see her. But you’re no use to
her, or us, or your work, in this condition. Perfuma will understand. She knows the monumental task
you have in front of you.” Scorpia lumbered back up to her feet. “What you need right now is some
sleep. Maybe a late morning power nap.” She extended her free claw out. Entrapta took it and was
pulled up with ease.

“Thank you,” Entrapta smiled. The two began strolling back towards the castle. “When we finish the
Clack Back I need to show you all around Etheria now that you’re free from the Horde.”

“Ooh, I’d love that. There was this particularly good finger food that they had at the Princess Prom.
Maybe we can visit wherever those are made,” Scorpia beamed.

“We’ll make it a finger food quest!” Entrapta declared.

Late afternoon light peeked into Mayor Mattis’ office. The window was open, letting in a warm
breeze that rustled the stacks of paper on the desk. Mattis sat, hunched over in his chair, working
diligently at the business of Nitch.

A faint whistling noise caught his attention. He looked up just in time to see an arrow zoom in
through the window and plant itself into the wall. Mattis jumped up and rushed to the window.
Nothing out of the ordinary could be seen. His scanning of the outside was cut short by the sound of
a click that came from the arrow. Mattis wheeled around to see that a piece of paper was hanging
from a compartment on the arrow. The note was short and to the point. Mattis read it twice before
quickly stuffing it into his pocket. He pulled the arrow out of the wall and smirked.

Mattis returned to his desk to finish the paperwork he was in the middle of. About an hour later he
had finished and found himself wandering through the back alleys of his little town. The alleyway
between two metal factories that spilled into another alleyway between the factories and other
buildings behind them was a well worn dirt path, with various debris discarded from the factories
littered about. On the wall in the back alley was a graffiti tag in the shape of a dragon head with the
words “Dragon Smooches was here” haphazardly sprayed below it.

“We didn’t do that, by the way,” a voice behind Mattis said. He whipped around.

“Catra?!” Mattis yelped. “And… Bow, right?”

Bow snorted. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Good to see you Matty,” Catra said. She slowly began approaching the mayor. “I hope it’s good to
see us to. I know a fugitive and a Rebellion soldier probably aren’t the kind of things that you’d be
excited to find in your town when you’re trying to keep it running smoothly.”
It took only a few seconds for Mattis to make his judgement. He ran up to Catra and wrapped his
arms around her. “Gulp! Right, definitely Scorpia’s friend.”

“How’s she doing? She okay?” Mattis immediately asked. Catra took the opportunity to squirm out
of the hug.

“Yeah, she’s not in a Horde jail anymore, she’s going great.”

Mattis nodded. “That’s good to hear.” He couldn’t help but notice that Bow seemed to be glaring at
him. Mattis decided to focus on Catra. “So, I’m guessing you didn’t go through all that trouble just to
pop in and say hi.”

“I need your help,” Catra stated, with all the seriousness she could.

“Or more specifically, I need your Gram’s help.”

Mattis’ house was pretty modest, for the mayor at least. It had faded blue siding, and a gable roof.
Single floor, four bedrooms, wooden floors. Overall a good looking house, although it was showing
its age. Not that Bow and Catra minded. After three days of sleeping on the ground, hiding out in
caves, wading through swamps, and rickety old cots that led to attempted murder, Mattis’ house was
a downright mansion.

At the moment Bow and Catra were sitting together on a pretty comfortable couch in Mattis’ living
room. Mattis’ Gram was relaxing in a big comfy rocking chair, half asleep with crochet needles and
yarn in her lap.

Catra had her book out and was flipping through it with purpose.

“So, we just wait for his Gram to recognize you?” Bow whispered.

“Pretty much,” Catra responded.

“Do you really think she knows how to get into Half Moon? I mean, knowing what magicats are is
one thing, remembering how to get into a secluded kingdom in the mountains is something else
entirely.”

“She knew the Empress’ name. She acted like she was actually familiar with the Empress herself.
She’s our best lead.”

Bow sighed and leaned back. “Ya know, you did tell me the plan. Now that we’re here though, I’m
a little skeptical.”

“Well, there’s always Plan B,” Catra said. She looked up at Bow with a devious grin. “Hiking
through the Scorched Mountains until we find it.”

A chuckle escaped Bow. “For some reason I’m not clamoring to trek through somewhere called the
‘Scorched Mountains’.”

“Nor should you, that place is treacherous, to say the least,” Mattis interjected as he entered the room.
He was carrying a plain metal teapot, with four tea cups stacked up in his other hand. They were set
out on the coffee table and one by one, Mattis carefully filled each up with a very floral smelling tea.
It caught Catra’s nose immediately, giving her the urge to open her eyes just as wide as she could.

Catra took one of the full cups and gave it a sniff. “What IS that?” She took a few cautious slurps
before drinking the rest of it.

“Mistdew Tea,” Mattis answered. He carefully handed one of the cups to his gram. “It helps with
mental clarity. And if you need my Gram here to remember anything about magicats, she’s going to
need to be as focused as possible.”

“Did she ever say anything to you about them?” Catra asked, taking a few more sips of tea.

“She said a lot of things,” Mattis sighed. “Always thought most of it was gibberish.”

Mattis’ Gram spent the next twenty minutes slowly sipping her tea between bouts of crocheting.
Catra was doing her best to be patient, but judging from how many times Bow had to put his hand
on her knee to get her to stop bouncing it, she wasn’t being very successful at it. She had to admit
though, that tea was as advertised. Her mind felt crisp, clear. In this state the risk of Catra’s plan
suddenly seemed so severe. If they got captured. If Shadow Weaver got her hands on her or Bow.
Catra shuddered. This plan had to work. She didn’t know what she was going to do if it didn’t.

Finally, once the tea was gone, and Gram seemed to be crocheting at a steady, confident pace, Mattis
knelt down next to her. “Hey, Gram?” Mattis was able to get his Gram’s attention easily.

Gram looked up at her grandson and gave him a warm smile. “Matty, you’re home early today. Is
everything alright?” Her voice was soft, but broke every few words.

“Yes Gram, everything’s fine. In fact, I have friends over.” Mattis directed her attention to Bow and
Catra. Gram gasped at the sight of Catra.

“A magicat!” Gram yelped. She started to attempt to climb out of her chair. She was so excited, she
was making it difficult for herself until Mattis helped her. The elder woman shuffled over to Catra
and ran her hand down the catgirl’s face. “You look just like her, except you don’t have her lime
green eyes. They were a sight to behold.”

Catra collected Gram’s hand from her face and clasped it between her hands. “Gram, my name is
Catra. I need your help.”

“Oh dear me, I don’t know how these old bones could help anyone.”

“I’m looking for Half Moon. We have to find a way in. Please, can you think of anything?” Catra
softly asked. Gram scrunched up her face, appearing to be lost in thought. After a moment she began
to stumble. Bow and Catra caught her and guided her to sit between them. Gram leaned back on the
couch and buried her head into the back of it. “Gram, please!” Catra pleaded. “I need your help!”

“You need to teleport into Half Moon, young Catra,” Gram mumbled.

“What?” Catra twisted around so that she was kneeling over Gram on the couch. “No, that’s no
good. The teleporter system was destroyed!”

“No…. The Glenmar one was…. Intentionally disabled. The rest… Still.... Wor-” Gram said as she
trailed off to sleep.

“Can we wake her back up?” Catra asked.

“Won’t help,” Mattis said. He had wandered over to his window and began peering out it, seemingly
lost in deep thought. “If you wake her up now she’ll be even more disoriented than usual. We need
to let her rest.”

Throwing her hands up over her face, Catra flopped back down onto the couch. “DAMMIT!” she
huffed. “NOW what? I really didn’t want to actually have to wander around the Scorched Mountains
aimlessly.”

“We may not have to!” Bow said. “Catra, you heard her, most of the teleporter system is still
working, including the one in Half Moon! So all we have to do is go to this Glenmar, FIND the
teleporter station, and fix it.” Bow jumped up and stood proudly. “It’s a good thing you brought the
Rebellion’s Chief Technician and Weapons Master with you!”

Catra smirked at Bow through her spread fingers over her face. “You know technically that’s
Entrapta again now, right?”

It seemed as if Bow had been punched. “Yeah, well, I guess you’re just going to have to settle for
number two.”

“Hey.” Catra scrambled up to her feet and gave Bow a playful punch on the arm. “You know I’m
just giving you a hard time, right? I really, really appreciate you being here with me.” Catra raised
her hand up slightly over her head. Bow was almost on the verge of tears as he enthusiastically high
fived Catra. “So now we just need to figure out HOW to get to the teleporter station in Glenmar.”

“What does your book say?” Bow asked.

“I don’t think Adora knows. It just says that the Whispering Woods and Glenmar stations were
buried far underground.” Catra scooped up the book, and started flipping through it, just in case she
missed something.

“I may know,” Mattis said after a moment. He was still staring out the window. With a heavy sigh he
turned around. Catra snapped her book shut so that she could give her full attention. “I’m sure, when
you were still Force General, you may have heard about a group of bandits that were causing
problems in Glenmar.”

“Yeah. We never were able to catch most of them. The couple that we did catch just kept going on
about how ‘the Bandit King will make us pay’!”

Bow got a laugh out of that. “The Bandit King??” Catra started laughing with him.

Mattis sighed. “That wasn’t my idea! That was a drunk joke that someone said that stuck.”

Suddenly Bow and Catra stopped laughing.

“Wait,” Catra narrowed her eyes and stared intently at Mattis. “YOU’RE the Bandit King?!” Mattis
nodded. “But, you’re a government official. WHY?”

“The same reason you’re standing here in my living room as a fugitive! Catra, most of us live in the
Horde because we don’t have a choice. But Glenmar. They LOVE being in the Horde. A town of
cowards. You think I have any loyalty to the Horde? After everything they’ve done to my people?”

“Your people?” Catra inquired.

“Did Scorpia tell you about why my family was banished?”

“Yeah, your family told her about what the Horde really did to the Scorpio clan.”
“Here’s what not even Scorpia knows though. Why my family would even know what the Horde
did. Truth is, I’m Scorpia’s cousin. I’m only a quarter Scorpio, but I’ve seen what they did first hand.
My grandfather only has one leg, because he tried running away when the Horde arrived. The noble
class of the Scorpios mostly got spared, put up in lavish houses to placate them. The rest of us
weren’t so lucky. We’re a subclass to the Horde, not worthy of respect.” Mattis started rubbing the
small of his back. He appeared to be on the verge of tears. “Obviously, only being a quarter, I don’t
have most of the Scorpio traits. I did have a tail though. My parents made the decision when I was
very young. They thought that without it I could pass as a normal human. Have something of a
normal life.” Mattis’ eyes narrowed. “I still remember. Removing a tail isn’t something you go to a
clinic for. No. That’s back alley work. Not much in the way of anesthesia there.”

Mattis was cut off from his seeming rambling when Catra grabbed him by the shoulder. “I’m sorry,”
Catra murmured. Mattis patted Catra’s hand and cleared his throat.

“Anyway. Yes, I’m the ‘Bandit King’. Which means, I know all the underground passages under
Glenmar. At the end of one of them is a door, painted pitch black, with no locks, no handles. We
tried blowing it up once, to see what was inside. C4 had no affect on it. If there’s a teleporter station
under Glenmar, I’m guessing it’d be behind that door.”

“Well I guess we’re going to Glenmar then,” Catra grinned.

Out of nowhere Bow slammed into Mattis with a powerful hug. “You’re her cousin ?! That is just
the BEST news!”

At the outskirts of the town of Glenmar was a small park, or at least, what passed for a park in the
Horde. It was a patch of worn out grass with a single bench, a small water fountain, and large
boulder with the face of Hordak chiseled into it.

Water in the fountain shimmered under the moonlight. It was late at night, only a couple hours before
dawn. Mattis, Catra, and Bow quietly crept into the park. It was the easiest part of being around
Glenmar.

“We had to suspend our runs,” Mattis lowly spoke as they made their way to the fountain. “The
Horde security presence was getting too hot around here.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Catra mumbled.

“Hey, you were just doing your job. No hard feelings,” Mattis quipped back. The got to the fountain.
In the middle was a small statue of what looked like a dancing bull. Water spilled out of its mouth.
Mattis leaned over the fountain and grabbed one of the bull’s horns. Pulling the horning made a small
clicking sound.

Catra leaned over the fountain and glanced into the water. “Okay, what did that do?”

Mattis grinned and made his way over to the giant boulder. There was a tiny sliver of a crack in the
boulder that hadn’t been there before. He pulled at it, revealing a stairwell that led down. They
stepped inside the stairwell, making sure to close the door behind them. Once they did everything
went pitch black until Bow and Mattis clicked on flashlights.

“Ow, I could see better without those,” Catra grumbled.

“Sorry Catra, not all of us are so lucky,” Bow shot back.

The stairs went down a good twenty feet under ground. At the bottom was a small chamber that led
into a stone paved passage. Mattis chuckled. “A fugitive, bandit, and rebel go wandering in the
sewers. Got the makings of a good joke there.” Bow and Catra laughed as they followed Mattis into
the tunnels. “Fun fact, back before the Horde, or Rebellion, Glenmar was a town full of
moonshiners. These tunnels were how they transported their illicit goods around and out of the
town.”

“Wait,” Catra stopped in her tracks. “These are the moonshine tunnels?”

“Yeah, why?” Mattis asked.

Suddenly Catra grabbed both Mattis and Bow. “Turn ‘em off! Turn ‘em off!” she barked. They both
fumbled around with their lights as Catra pulled them back around the corner into the stairwell
chamber. They stood in the pitch black, silent, with Catra’s hands over both Bow’s and Mattis’
mouths, for what felt like two minutes. They couldn’t see it, but Catra’s ears were twitching wildly in
all directions, until finally settling on one. A light could be faintly made out, whatever was causing it
was still a couple hallways away.

“Is someone there?” A voice called out. “This is Horde Security, if you’re there I demand you show
yourself!”

Catra finally let their mouths go. “Here’s a fun fact for you,” Catra muttered, “I’m about to get
caught by people that are here under my order. Lonnie and Rogelio figured out that this was
probably how the bandits were avoiding capture, so I authorized a security presence in the tunnels.”

“I really wish you mentioned that before we set out,” Mattis sighed.

“How was I supposed to know which tunnels we were going to be in?”

“Catra, how many sets of tunnels do you think run under a town?” Bow asked.

“I don’t know! I’m not a city planner, Bow!” Catra growled. “Okay, there should only be around
four guards here. Where’s the door?”

“Far north end of the town. Less than ten minutes away, if you know where you’re going down
here,” Mattis answered. “Luckily for us, I do.”

The light was getting considerably brighter. It had to be just around the corner. The Horde soldier
called out another warning. Catra could hear the crackle of the powered up stun baton.

“I’m going to go say hi to our friend,” Catra whispered. “Bow, be prepared to back me up. Mattis, as
soon as we get around this one I want you to make a run for the door. We’ll follow you.” The two
boys nodded, which only Catra could see.

The Horde solder was in the hallway right in front of the stairwell chamber. Light filled the hallway.
Catra snorted in a deep breath through her nose, then casually stepped out into the tunnel. “Hey
what’s up?!” Catra said in the more chipper voice she could muster.

“Er, Force General?” the solder stammered. They were covered head to toe in Horde armor. The
soldier lowered their weapon at the sight of Catra. “Wait, you’re not the-” the soldier began, but their
hesitation had been enough for Catra’s superior reflexes to get the jump on them. She yanked the
baton from the soldier’s hands and kicked out, sending the soldier stumbling back. Catra jammed the
baton into the soldier’s stomach. A few zaps later and the soldier collapsed onto the floor.
“Now!” Catra yelled out. Mattis and Bow ran out of the tunnel. Mattis had his light pointed directly
forward while Bow was carrying his bow with an arrow at the ready. Catra, still clutching the stun
baton, followed.

They zigged and zagged and jogged through a maze of tunnels. For a few minutes it seemed like
they would be in the clear. Then a soldier appeared out of a side tunnel. Bow instinctively raised his
bow and shot it. The arrow exploded into a net just in front of the soldier, taking them down, but not
in time to stop them from hitting the alarm button on their walkie talkie. A siren began screaming out,
bouncing off all the walls of the maze. The group pushed on as fast as they could. Finally they came
to the small hallway that led to the dead end room that housed the door.

Catra adjusted the setting on the stun baton. “I’ll hold them off while you figure out how to get
through that door,” Catra said as she ran back to the edge of the small hallway, and hunkered down.

"A locked door? HAH! That won't be a problem." Bow slipped off his backpack and began
rummaging through it. After a moment he fished out a multitool. Mattis was shining his light on the
door. It glistened in the light. A black slab that sparkled. Bow ran his hand across it. “What the?”

“I did mention that it had no locks or handles,” Mattis offered.

“But I figured it’d have something. A panel, a keypad, maybe even just something that could have
been pried off to see the circuitry underneath. This is just a solid sheet of metal built into a wall!”
Bow felt around the wall itself. Hoping for a hidden switch. Or lever. Or anything really. He gave
the wall itself a good push. “We could blow up the wall itself maybe, but even that seems really
sturdy.”

“We tried blowtorching through it once. That’s no ordinary rock there,” Mattis said.

“Um, Catra?!” Bow yelled out. Catra scampered back.

“How’s it going?” she excitedly asked. Bow simply pointed at the metal door.

“You want the good news or bad news first?” Bow asked.

“Bad news?”

“I have NO idea how to unlock this thing. There’s nothing to hack, nothing to pick, nothing to
dismantle. Apparently we can’t blow our way through it and we can’t burn our way through it.
NONE of that seems normal!”

Catra sighed. “And what’s the good news?!”

“There isn’t any! I was hoping to think of something on the fly but I couldn’t!” Bow grumbled.

“This is NOT how this trip ends!” Catra said with a scowl. She made her way over to the door and
glared at it. “You stupid door, let us in!” she growled as she slammed her fist into it. “Huh?!” Catra
gasped. While pressed against the door, the area beneath Catra’s fist began faintly glowing orange.
Catra quickly pulled it away.

“Well that’s new,” Mattis said.

Bow grabbed Catra’s hand and pulled it until her hand was pressed against the door. The door
around her hand glowed orange and vibrated. Then the entire door seemed to shimmer and melt
away, revealing a room on the other side that was lit up with blow glowing lights. The three glanced
at each other then rushed through. The door reformed behind them.
“Awesome, I got us in!” Bow quipped. Catra glared at him. He smirked back. “What? I’m
technically right.”

The room was circular, with a large platform surrounded by pillars in the center of it. The pillars
were covered in glyphs from an old language that were glowing blue. The wall was lined with the
same kind of glyphs and glowed. Just next to the platform was a raised console.

Cut wires at the bottom of the console immediately caught Bow’s eye. “This has to be why this
station went down.” He knelt down and began examining and tinkering.

“Gram said that the station was taken down intentionally,” Mattis said. Him and Catra were idly
wandering around the room. “Why on Etheria would they want to do that?” he wondered.

“To save Bright Moon,” Catra answered. Bow stopped working and stood up. Catra gave him a sad
smile then returned to looking around the room. “This system was an expressway between the two
kingdoms. When it was obvious that the battle for Half Moon was lost, the Empresses wanted to
make sure that the Horde couldn’t use this to invade Bright Moon so one of their last orders were to
make sure the system was taken down. This did the trick.”

To add to the drama of Catra’s statement, as soon as she finished it Bow pressed a button on the
console, and the entire teleporter lit up and began making a whirring noise.

“They could have just destroyed the whole thing, but they didn’t,” Bow began. “I think that whoever
did it was hoping that someday someone would come along looking for Half Moon. Someone who
could get into this room. Someone who was looking for their home,” Bow said as he waved his hand
at the teleporter.

Catra stopped and looked up at the teleporter. The tips of the pillars were glowing yellow. “Home,”
Catra said, breathless.

Just then Bow appeared next to her. “Catra of Half Moon, it’s time to go home,” he said, smiling
wide. Bow extended his hand out from his side. After a moment Catra took his hand into her own.
Together they climbed up onto the teleporter platform. “Hey Mattis, care to do the honors?”

Mattis nodded and made his way to the console. “Also,” Bow called out, “the screen up on the
console should let you scan your hand into the system. This way you can get back in here if you
need to.”

“Thanks Bow,” Mattis said. He pressed his hand to the console. He felt a tingling warmth under his
hand for a few seconds before the word “success” popped up on the screen.

“And Mattis,” Catra yelled from the platform, “when you get home you’ll find something on your
coffee table.” Mattis cocked his head at her and raised an eyebrow. “Guard schedules and
deployment maps for all the Horde soldiers in the area. And also, some floor plans for some of the
outposts.”

Catra smiled to herself. “You’re right, most of us that grew up in the Horde didn’t do so by choice.
It’s easy to lose hope that there’d ever be anything else. I think those kids could use a folk hero. And
what could be better than a bandit, that’s also a king?”

“Thank you. And when you get back to the Rebellion, let them know that there are people here
rooting for them. Fighting for the same cause,” Mattis said. “Say hi to Scorpia for me!” Bow and
Catra nodded at him. With the press of a few buttons Catra and Bow disappeared in a swirl of golden
light.
Clack excitedly sat at the edge of the court yard. The morning light sparkled on his shiny exterior.
Emily was rubbing him down with a towel, buffing out any smudges. Just to the robots’ left was the
rebuilt standing control console. Entrapta was at the helm, her hands and one tendril working the
console while another tendril was holding a glass of fizzy water. Her audience was once again
Scorpia, Rogelio, and Kyle.

“Clack Back Detection System, Test 4 Log,” Entrapta began dictating into her recorder. “After a
particularly promising third test last night, I am excited for the prospect of today’s test. The nap that I
was forced to take lasted six hours, which is weird because I thought I set an alarm for one hour, but
now my alarm clock seems to be missing. I must investigate that further. Luckily while I was asleep
Assistant Kyle came up with some promising formulas that led to a particularly disastrous second
test, but the direction of those formulas were vital in where we’ve gotten to now. Assistant Kyle
continues to prove his value.”

Everyone, including Kyle, especially Kyle, waited patiently for the next inevitable statement that
would undermine Entrapta’s compliment. She glanced back at her audience, then clicked the
recorder off.

“Emily!” Entrapta hollered. “Is Clack ready?” Emily gave something approximating a thumbs up
with her pincers. Entrapta turned back to her audience. She smiled at the sight of Kyle, who was
almost in tears. “Everyone ready?” The whole group nodded. Entrapta turned back to the console.
“Any time, Emily!”

The robot pulled out her flag again and wasted no time waving it. Clack shot off, turning invisible
immediately. Again he was represented by a red dot on the screen. The dot plowed forward, then
turned sharply. The red dot suddenly reversed course but zig zagged around its original path. The red
dot took a couple more erratic laps. With each one the expression on Entrapta’s face brightened.
Finally the red dot zoomed at Entrapta’s position. According to the screen, the dot came to a stop just
a couple feet directly in front of the console. Entrapta slowly made her way around and reached her
arm out. Her hand touched firmly against metal as Clack reappeared.

“It worked!” Scorpia screamed. She charged at Entrapta, who was just standing there, staring at
Clack with a look of shock on her face. Scorpia slammed into her and hoisted her into the air.
Scorpia kept a tight hold of Entrapta as she lowered her back to the ground, just in time for Kyle and
Rogelio to envelope them in a group hug. Even Emily and Clack joined in on the group hug.
Entrapta was in the center of the hug, tears streaming down her face.

“We did it,” Entrapta mumbled. Her hair slithered through cracks in the hug and wrapped themselves
around everyone they could. “We did it,” Entrapta repeated. “We actually did it.

“We’re going to be able to save everyone.”

The teleporter had delivered Bow and Catra to a room similar to the Glenmar station, only this
room’s walls were infinitely nicer. Beyond the teleporter station was a spiral staircase that went up
for a while. Catra was scampering up the staircase with ease, but Bow had fallen behind.

“Come on, slowpoke!” Catra shot at How.

“Right… Right behind you Catra,” Bow stammered. He did his best to keep up with his overly
excited friend.

At the top of the stairs was another door. It was rather ornate, with gold laced carvings of cats and
decorative spirals. A few wisps of light slithered through the door, illuminating all the dust in the air.

“Ready?” Bow asked. Catra nodded enthusiastically and threw the doors open. Catra scurried into
the center of what looked to be a throne room. Her mouth was slightly agape as the impressive sight.
The ceiling was some twenty feet up. At one end was two thrones atop a marbled dais that was
butted up against the wall. Behind the thrones was a stained glass window that rose up to the ceiling.
It was cracked in a few places, but still intact. It seemed to be some sort of cat goddess. Catra seemed
mesmerized by it until Bow started lightly tapping her on the shoulder.

“Uuuum, Catra?” Bow said. She turned to look at her friend, who was staring at the wall. Catra
followed his line of sight to a giant painting, hanging on the far wall by the throne room doors. “Is
that… The royal family?”

It took Catra a moment to respond to Bow, she was too transfixed on the painting. “Who else would
have their picture hanging in the throne room?” The painting was that of a family. On the right,
holding their bundled kitten, was a dark furred magicat with hints of calico coloring on her neck. She
had a striking mane of gold hair that was pinned under a crown. Her left eye was a golden yellow,
and her right one a bright turquoise blue. The figure on the left was slightly taller, with neat, swept
back shoulder length dark hair behind her tiara. She had bright orange fur, and vibrant lime green
eyes. Only their kitten’s face could be seen through the bundle of blankets. A tiny little thing, orange
furred, dark haired, and a face covered in freckles.

Both of them stood there, jaws hanging down, staring intently at the painting. “You, see it, right?”
Bow asked.

“Yeah,” Catra simply answered.

Eventually Bow wandered out of the half opened throne room doors. They led into a brilliant foyer.
By the looks of it, at one time there were front walls made of glass, but the majority of them were
shattered, and scattered on the ground. Just beyond remains of the front glass was what looked like a
balcony that ran the entire length of the front of the building they were in. Bow excitedly made his
way to it.

Catra remained inside the throne room. She had finally pulled herself away from the painting. She
knew what Bow had been talking about. It was obvious. At the same time though, impossible. Catra
stared at the palm of her hand. She couldn’t be…. Could she? Catra started to look around the rest of
the throne room. More paintings, more magicats. The high ceiling was dotted with hanging light
fixtures. Perhaps the most curious thing about the throne room though was a pedestal just a few feet
in front of the throne dais. Whereas the rest of the throne room was a mix of light blue and black
marbling and gold leafing and rich blue gems of various hues, the pedestal was a simple, gray, metal
shaft with a monitor attached to the top of it.

It had grabbed Catra’s attention. She made her way over to it. There was a single button on the top of
the monitor. To her surprise, pressing it turned the monitor on. It was a handprint reader. Catra gave
her hand another look, and placed her hand on it.
 Bow was just about to the balcony when he heard the throne room door slam shut. He spun around
and began running back. As he did he couldn’t help but notice that the lights in the foyer were
beginning to flick on. “Catra!”

Inside the throne room Catra was beginning to panic. Both the main door and the side door leading
to the teleporter had locked themselves shut. All the lights in the room blinked on at once, basking it
in brilliant colors. Catra kept stepping back from the pedestal until she tripped over the dais, falling
clumsily onto the steps. She pushed herself up to a sitting position.

After a moment of hearing as the building seemed to churn to life, a hologram flickered on. The
figure was standing a few feet in front of Catra. The hologram was that of a magicat, and seemingly
more sophisticated than Light Hope. This hologram was in full color, and barely flickered at all. The
hologram looked just like the orange magicat from the painting. She looked just like Catra, but a little
taller, and with shorter hair. The hologram cracked its digital neck and lazily opened its eyelids,
revealing her lime green eyes. She took one look as Catra and gasped. “My little C’yra? Is that
you?!”

Chapter End Notes

Yeah, so, the "big" twist with Catra wasn't really a surprise to anyone I'm assuming. I
mean, the theories about Catra being royalty has been RAMPANT in the fandom since
like day one. Looking forward to being able to put my own spin on Half Moon and the
magicats next time. ;)

But, maybe hopefully, that Mattis reveal WAS a surprise?

Chapter 19 coming this Sunday night, July 7th. Gonna try real hard to be on time this
time.

Next Time:
"Great, now we’re just openly lying to our allies?”
 A Mystacor Makeshift
Chapter Notes

Well, I tried to get it done on time. Failed, obviously. Kind of in a bad loop right now
for time. Gonna try to get the next chapter ready just as soon as possible.

But at least, this was a nice, long chapter. And like always, please feel free to point out
any errors!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The Dragon’s Daughter 9 bolted across the sea, hovering a few feet above the water surface.
Glimmer as atop the mast of the boat, clutching it with one hand. She was scanning the horizon
ahead, mostly empty, except for, “there!” Glimmer yelled down, pointing just slightly to the
northwest. Sea Hawk adjusted the wheel.

Adora was standing at the front edge of the boat, staring intently at the direction Glimmer had
adjusted them to. Just coming over the horizon was what looked like an island of rolling hills and
forests. The sight made Adora perk up. They had left Salineas hours ago and while Adora knew that
Mystic Isle was far out of the way, every minute that passed was filled with a dim pain, like pins
poking all over her wrist. Only Razz’s ointment was able to dull it, and that jar was almost empty.

“Not trying to be a jerk, Adora, but all the pacing isn’t helping anybody ,” Mermista remarked from
the bench built into the side of the boat wall. Mermista was leaning back, her arms hanging over the
boat.

“Right. You’re right. Sorry,” Adora said. She turned from the front of the boat and sat next to
Mermista. Both Mermista and Frosta shot bemused smirks as Adora as she sat there, leg bouncing
wildly. “UGH!” Adora groaned.

“Pretty sure that’s supposed to be my line,” Mermista quipped. Adora gave her a sad apologetic face.
“Girl it’s fine ! If my powers were doing that I’d be pretty irritable too.”

“More irritable, you mean,” Frosta said, a sly grin on her face.

“Irritable is my brand,” Mermista laughed.

“Is that why you hang around him so much? To keep you on brand?” Frosta chuckled as she pointed
at Sea Hawk.

“You know it!” Mermista yelped back, laughing heartily.

Sea Hawk perked up at seeing Frosta point. “Oh? Do you need something young Frosta?!”

“Nah Sea Hawk, just saying hi!”

“Ah yes, hello to you!” the pirate chirped.

Just then Glimmer popped in next to Sea Hawk. “Alright, we’re heading directly for Mystic Isle.
Should be there pretty soon,” Glimmer informed her captain.
“Excellent! Er, good work crew!” Sea Hawk yelled. “It seems we are nearly at our destination, and
then our REAL ADVENTURE can begin!” Sea Hawk jumped from behind the wheel to the center
of the ship, leaving Glimmer scrambling to take the helm. “This success calls for a song! Something
catchy, upbeat! Something-ACK!” Sea Hawk was cut off by a sudden, forceful wave crashing into
him from overhead.

“Nope! No. NO!” Mermista glared from her seat. “We are not singing. Not while I still have my
power and we’re literally surrounded by water.”

High waves were on either side of the boat, keeping up with the pace of the Dragon’s Daughter 9.
Sea Hawk gulped. “And when exactly are your powers supposed to stop?”

“Hopefully not yet!” Glimmer yelled, voice clearly panicked. Everyone turned their attention
forward. The island was close, just a couple minutes away. Before that though they’d have to get
through the whirlpools that had formed between them and the island.

“When did those happen?!” Adora asked as she jumped from her seat.

Glimmer spun the wheel, swerving safely around one of the whirlpools. “Just now!” Glimmer
barked. “They must be some of those magical defenses Aunt Casta was talking about!”

Mermista staggered to her feet, fighting the stark motions of the boat. She held her hand out to give a
little test, then smiled. “Hey Frosta, you ready to get our princess on?”

The young princess hopped up. The rocking of the boat sent her staggering into Mermista. Clutching
onto the Princess of Salineas, Frosta grinned, “let’s do this!”

“Hey Glimmer! Keep the ship going straight!” Mermista yelled over the roar of the whirlpools all
around them. “And keep that throttle up!” Mermista held her arms out toward the front of the boat
and began concentrating hard. A bit in front of them a sheet of water began to arc up, forming a
ramp. Frosta shot her hands forward, freezing the ramp into place. Glimmer did as she was told and
put as much throttle as she could into the ship. It zoomed up the ramp and went sailing off it.

The Dragon’s Daughter 9 was soaring through the air, safely over all the whirlpools in the sea. Their
trajectory was a sandy beach at the edge of the island. A great idea was quickly turning into a
harrowing one as they began their descent.

“Um, Mermista dear!” Sea Hawk yelped. He was clinging onto the center mast for dear life.
“Perhaps summoning some soft water to land on wouldn’t be too much trouble?!”

Frosta, Adora, and Mermista, were all holding desperately onto the side of the boat. Frosta reached
out and grabbed Mermista by the waistband in an attempt to hold her steady while she concentrated.
She spent a good thirty seconds straining.

“UGH, it’s not good! We must be in that super annoying anti-magic barrier!” Mermista huffed.

“We must be! I can’t teleport either,” Glimmer screamed. She was holding tight to the wheel to brace
herself.

While still trying to brace against the wall, Adora pulled her sleeve back a little and gave her wrist a
look. The blue part of the rash was still pulsating. She could feel it. The power. It was still there.
Adora pulled out the sword.

“FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!” Adora yelled. Bright rainbow tinted light enveloped her.
She-Ra wasted no time. As soon as the light dissipated she hopped over the edge of the boat and
clutched each side of the front with her massive hands. The ground rapidly approached and She-Ra
braced for impact. Her feet slammed down onto the sand, sending sharp pains coursing up her entire
body that made her eyes shut. The momentum of the fall forced She-Ra to slide back in the sand,
each foot digging their own ditches.

After a couple yards She-Ra was able to force herself to a stop. Every muscle in her ached as she
opened her eyes. The boat was still in her arms, being held up, minor dents under where her hands
were gripping it. With as much ease as possible she set the boat down. She-Ra dropped to her hands
and knees and tried sucking in air.

The rest of the crew carefully and clumsily climbed out of the boat.

“Hey no fair! Why do you still get She-Ra?” Mermista huffed.

“She did just save our butts,” Frosta added. “I, for one, am thankful that She-Ra doesn’t seem to
listen to any sort of laws of magic.”

A moment later and She-Ra could feel her muscles easing. She climbed up to her feet with a hop and
smiled at the two princesses in front of her. “She-Ra’s powers run on their own sets of rules. Most
magic is the harnessing of something. The power of your runestones, the energy of nature. I think
that’s what the island’s barrier is doing, cutting off your ability to tap into that energy.” She-Ra held
up her sword. The runestone gem inlaid on the hilt sparkled in the afternoon light. “Whereas my
power is self-sufficient.”

“Well look at you,” Mermisa said. “You’re a regular Mystacor scholar now, Adora.”

The snarky comment was met with a shrug. She-Ra resheathed her sword. “I’ve had to do a lot of
research, trying to find other options.” She-Ra turned and looked toward the island in front of them.
Beyond the small beach were some minor hills that fed into thick forest. A spiky mountain at the
center of the island could be seen beyond the trees. “You know, just in case this all turns out to be a
wild goose chase.”

Glimmer was the last out of the boat. Her and Sea Hawk were accessing its condition. She gave the
side a few slaps. “We got so lucky! Just some minor cosmetic damage.”

Sea Hawk sighed. “Yes, alas. She was a good ship, but she shall keep us warm tonight.”

“What?!” Glimmer smacked the pirate in the arm. “DO NOT set our only way home on fire Sea
Hawk! This ship will sail again!”

“Maybe, just to be safe, we should make sure he doesn’t have any matches,” Mermista suggested.

The Captain of the Dragon’s Daughter 9 gave a slight bow. “You are more than welcome to search
me, my majestic Mermista.”

“GAUUUUUUUH,” Mermista grunted at the top of her lungs. “On second thought, let’s just take
his word for it.”

A few minutes later the party was ready. Without magic they would have to rely on their regular
weapons. Glimmer had the Staff of Micah. Frosta had brought two impressively sized daggers that
she kept referring to as her “Ice Picks”. Mermista had her “Trident of Sea-Ra”, a suped up weapon
that she had badgered Bow into making for her. Sea Hawk had his yellow laser sword strapped to
his side. He was also carrying a backpack full of supplies. They had no idea how long this would
take, or what to expect, so Glimmer had listened to her inner Bow and packed for as many
contingencies as she could think of. She-Ra, of course, had the Sword of Protection, and was also
carrying a backpack.

Being in her She-Ra form was the only time Adora felt relief. As She-Ra, there was no rash, no pain.
As She-Ra she was fine. Better than fine. Almost every time she changed back from She-Ra though
the rash had grown in intensity and discomfort. Because of that Adora had been hoping to put off
using She-Ra if she was able to. Now that she was She-Ra though, she figured staying that way
would be the easiest way to get through the island.

“Everyone ready?” She-Ra asked. She got confirmation from the whole party so they set out towards
the center of the island.

Mystic Isle seemed to be a series of rings. The outer ring, surrounding the entire island, was a beach.
The next ring was thick forests that encircled the jagged mountains in the center. She-Ra’s party was
making their way through those forests. Dense and undisturbed, there wasn’t even the hint of a path
along the forest floor.

That wasn’t stopping Frosta, who seemed to take great pleasure from slashing and tearing a way
through with her Ice Picks.

“Isn’t this exciting?!” Frosta exclaimed with glee. Using the Ice Picks, she plowed through a bush
that had been in their way. “I’m so happy Spinnerella and Netossa didn’t mind covering my shift at
the valley.”

“Oh yeah. This is just, what’s the word for exhilarating, but awful,” Mermista moaned.

“Aw, where’s your sense of adventure?” Glimmer asked.

“Left it on the boat, with my powers,” Mermista coolly responded.

“Fear not! I brought enough adventure for all of us!” Sea Hawk cried out. His yellow laser sword
tore through a tiny, thin tree. “I am with you, little Frosta!” he added. Sea Hawk and Frosta
scampered forward, slashing a path through the underbrush. Mermista groaned, but followed closely.

Glimmer grabbed She-Ra by the wrist. Gradually she slowed their pace so that they were lagging
behind. “What did you mean by ‘a wild goose chase’?” Glimmer asked a hushed voice. “Adora this
is going to work. We’re going to get you better.”

“Thanks Glim,” She-Ra said. She was smiling, but it was a heavy smile, the kind that didn’t convey
any actual happiness. “This is a long shot though. Mara went looking for Noah, but she disappeared
after that. There’s a chance she never even found him. Light Hope doesn’t even know what became
of her.”

“Didn’t Razz tell us not to trust everything Light Hope says?” Glimmer flatly asked.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“-Then let’s just go see,” Glimmer said before allowing She-Ra to finish her though. Glimmer picked
up their pace to catch up with the rest. “IF it turns out this Noah is a dead end, then we’ll just find
another solution,” Glimmer smiled. They caught up to Mermista pretty easily who was casually
following the path that was being cut for them.

Up ahead Sea Hawk and Frosta had reached what looked like a moss covered boulder. They hopped
up on it at the same time, and raised their weapons in triumph.

“Ah-HAH!” Sea Hawk exclaimed. “This forest is no match for the mighty Sea Hawk, and…”

“... The deadly Winter’s Bane!” Frosta yelled on cue. After their momentary cheer, Frosta lowered
her weapons as Mermista, Glimmer, and She-Ra caught up to them. “Honestly I was expecting
more. Glimmer you said Mystic Isle was going to be full of danger!”

Glimmer scoffed. “What about the whirlpools?”

“Those weren’t actually on the island,” Frosta shot back with a smirk, which got a glaring smile back
from Glimmer. Frosta opened her mouth to make a follow-up statement, but a rumbling from out of
nowhere stopped her. Suddenly her and Sea Hawk were thrown from the boulder as it began to raise
up out of the ground. “I take it back! I take it back!” Frosta screamed. Glimmer helped her to her feet
as the mossy boulder seemingly began to crack in half. It opened like a clamshell, revealing a pair of
large red eyes with glossy pupils. The closest thing to a head that it had was a stretched out sheet of
skin towards the back of the shell where the eyes sat, as well as a mouth that was nothing but pointy
teeth and saliva. Six massive tentacles extruded from the sides of the creature. At the sight of the
party it let out a wet roar as its tentacles writhed around.

She-Ra leapt into the air, Sword of Protection arcing over her head. The creature shot out a tentacle
in her direction, forcing She-Ra to twist in mid-air to avoid it. A second tentacle grabbed her out of
mid-air and slammed her into the ground. She laid there motionless.

Quickly recovering from the emergence of the creature, Sea Hawk leapt to his feet. He charged at the
creature, who shot a tentacle out at him. Sea Hawk hopped to the side and slashed at the tentacle
with his laser sword, leaving a singed scratch mark. The creature roared out and flailed its tentacle,
hitting Sea Hawk and sending him flying into a tree. He collapsed onto the ground in a heap. The
same tentacle rose up over him, and began to swing down at the prone pirate. Before it could reach
him though it was jabbed with the Trident of Sea-Ra. Mermista was standing over Sea Hawk, her
legs spread for balance, the muscles in her arms tensing as her hands tightened their grip around the
trident. The tentacle was still pushing down with great force, but Mermista dug her feet in and held.
Slowly she slid a hand up to a button on the trident shaft. It was one of the new features that Bow
had added to the Trident of Sea-Ra. Mermista pressed it, and a jolt of electricity shot out,
electrocuting the tentacle. The creature reflexively retracted its tentacles and gave out another angry
roar.

Mermista knelt down and helped Sea Hawk to his feet. “Still with us, Pirate?” she asked with a
smirk.

Still buckled over, hands pressed against just above his knees, Sea Hawk looked up at Mermista and
shot a confident smile that was only betrayed by the dirt covering his chin. “This rock clam, thing, is
a worthy foe, but no match for the Hero of Salineas” Sea Hawk exclaimed. Against her conscious
desire, Mermista couldn’t help but crack a wide grin.

On the other side of the monster Glimmer and Frosta were faring a little better. A tentacle swung
wildly at Glimmer but she was able to hop over the swing and deliver a hearty whack with the Staff
of Micah. As the tentacle winced from that hit Frosta jumped at it and delivered a flurry of strikes
with her Ice Picks. Frosta was so distracted that she hadn’t noticed a second tentacle flying at her.
Luckily Glimmer had been keeping track, and leapt to intercept the second tentacle, flailing angrily at
it with her staff.
Both tentacles recoiled at the barrage, giving Frosta and Glimmer time to regroup.

“I didn’t even SEE that one!” Frosta cried.

Glimmer let out a small laugh. “Have to keep your head on a swivel with this thing!”

Frosta sighed and looked down at her daggers. “I’m sorry. I’m more of a liability than anything right
now,” Frosta mumbled. Her posture sagged at the idea. More than anything Frosta wanted to prove
herself useful. She wanted to show Glimmer that she was a worthy member of the Alliance, not
someone that always had to be saved. She didn’t want to admit it, but without her powers Frosta felt
lost. Everyone else seemed to be so capable of handling themselves, with or without their abilities.

A gentle hand from Glimmer snapped Frosta’s head up. “Hey, you’re doing great. Look, this is
crazy. I’ve never had to fight a monster without my powers before and I have no idea how we’re
supposed to stop this thing. We just have to stick together,” Glimmer said with an encouraging smile.

The rousing speech lifted the Ice Princess. She gave Glimmer a stern nod, and the two charged at
rock clam.

She-Ra’s eyes shot open. They were bright blue, even brighter than normal, glowing and pupiless.
The Princess of Power sat up from where she had been slammed down. A faint golden aura radiated
around her as she stood up with ease. To her left, the Princess of Salineas, along with that pirate of
hers, were battling the left tentacles of the rock clam. On her right, the Princesses of Bright Moon
and Kingdom of Snows were attacking the rock clam’s right side. She-Ra stared straight at the rock
clam, its bulging eyes moving wildly to keep track of everything on both sides.

Confidently She-Ra marched forward towards the clam. A tentacle shot out at her, but she deftly side
stepped it. Within a few strides She-Ra was at the core of the rock clam. She looked it directly in the
eyes and placed her hand on the top of the creature’s shell. As soon as the clam felt She-Ra’s touch,
its tentacles began retracting, much to everyone else’s surprise. The rock clam seemed transfixed
with She-Ra’s eyes, unable to take its own off of hers. Slowly the rock clam recurled its tentacles and
lowered itself back into the ground, returning to its slumber.

“Nice trick. Whhyyy didn’t you just lead with that?” Mermista asked. Everyone was gathering
around She-Ra.

“Because Adora is an idiot,” She-Ra said, not bothering to look back at the party. “Come, Noah’s
cottage is close, just over that ridge up ahead.” She-Ra climbed over the now sleeping rock clam and
began walking on.

Behind her the party stood, stunned by She-Ra’s words. Glimmer knew what exactly what her best
friend sounded like, in and out of She-Ra form. The person who just spoke sounded nothing like
Adora. There was more command in the voice, a louder boom. An echo as if it was coming from
somewhere else entirely.

“How do you know where Noah’s cottage is?” Glimmer called out. “Adora, wait!”

She-Ra stopped. She turned to look intensely at Glimmer. Slowly the aura around her faded, and her
pupils returned to her. It seemed as if she just realized what she was standing next to. She-Ra jumped
back and pulled her sword back out. “AAH! Wha- What happened? Where’d that tentacle clam
thing go?!”

Everyone started looking at each other. Finally Glimmer took a step forward. “Um, you lulled it to
sleep,” Glimmer said. She-Ra tilted her head as she looked at Glimmer. She appeared clearly
confused. “And then you said Noah’s cottage is just over that ridge.”

“I… I did?” She-Ra looked back at the ridge just a few dozen yards in front of them. “I don’t
remember any of that,” She-Ra muttered. Glimmer and Mermista appeared on either side of her.
They each grabbed one of She-Ra hands.

“Well, whatever that was, should probably get you to Noah as soon as we can,” Glimmer said in soft
tones.

The party made its way through the rest of the forest to the ridge. Just on the other side, where She-
Ra had said, in a low valley between where the forest ended and the base of the mountain began,
was a wooden cottage surrounded by a robust garden. From the front door was a cobblestone
walkway that lead up to the ridge where they were. Glimmer seemed excited to have found it. On the
other hand, She-Ra was still a little worried and confused about the apparent episode she had just
experienced. Now more than ever, she hoped the Grand Wizard Noah would be of some help.

Following Glimmer, the party made their way down the side of the valley along the cobblestone
path. Just before they reached the gardens though there was another rumbling.

“Oooh, not again!” Frosta huffed.

All around them the cobblestones of the path rose into the air and flew towards a point just at the
edge of the garden, between the party and the cottage. The cobblestones seemed to fuse together to
form a ten foot rock creature, vaguely in the shape of a human, with glowing yellow eyes, jagged
teeth, and stone clubs for hands.

When it spoke, the stone creature’s voice was deep, its words ground together like stones grinding
into each other. “She-Ra,” it growled. “You were warned!” With that the rock creature swung its
heavy fists forward. The party scattered as the fists slammed into the ground, shaking it.

“Wait!” She-Ra called out.

The rock creature fixed immediately on her voice and began lumbering over to her. She-Ra pulled
out her sword, preparing for a fight. “I told you never to come back here!” the creature roared as it
swung again. She-Ra jumped back and drove her sword into one of the creature’s arms. She pulled
to the left hard, tearing out a chunk of its arm. The creature cried out as the cobblestones readjusted
to reform the arm, but a little smaller. Frosta and Sea Hawk took the opportunity to attack the
creature from behind. Frosta slid across the ground, striking the creature in the legs. Sea Hawk
hopped over her and slashed his laser sword across the back of the rock creature. It spun around to
see it’s new assailants. When it did Mermista drove her trident into the creature and sent out an
electric wave from it, blowing a hole in the creature’s chest. The creature swung out it’s arm at
Mermista, but was met with the Sword or Protection, lopping off the whole thing from the elbow to
hand. At the same time Glimmer crashed into the rock creature’s face, driving the sharp end of the
Staff of Micah into the creature’s eye, which sent the monster crashing to the ground, where it
scattered back into cobblestone.

There were only a couple seconds to celebrate though, as the cobblestones began pulling themselves
together again, reforming the same terrifying creature. “I’m not going to let you near me She-Ra!”
the stone beast growled.

“Wait!” She-Ra yelled again. “Please wait!” She was jogging at the rock creature with her arms out,
showing that she was unarmed. The Sword of Protection was safely away in its sheath.

The creature swung with its arm, forcing She-Ra to stumble backwards to avoid it. “NO! Not again!
Not this time!”

That’s when She-Ra realized what was happening. She hopped up and tried approaching the rock
creature again. “Please wait! I’m not Mara!” When it heard the name, the rock creature backed off
just a bit. “I’m not,” She-Ra assured him.

Knowing words wouldn’t do it, She-Ra slowly walked further towards the rock creature. As she did
so she transformed back into Adora. The overwhelming pain made her stumble forward to the
ground and grab her forearm. Without even looking Adora could tell; the rash had spread its way up
to her elbow. It too some effort for Adora to climb back to her feet. “See? Not Mara.”

At that the rock creature collapsed into a pile. The cobblestones skittered across the ground back into
their positions.

“No, you’re certainly not,” a voice croaked from the door of the cottage. Standing there was a man,
thin on hair but long on beard, both of which were well on their way to graying, but surprisingly still
maintained some of their original brown. The lines and creases of his face created a busy tapestry of
time and stories. His eyes were sunken, with a glint of green in mostly gray. His clothes were plain, a
shirt that may have been white ages ago, and dark trousers. Clearly he wasn’t expecting guests.

“Grand Wizard Noah?” Glimmer asked. She had made her way to Adora, helping her friend keep
her balance as she adjusted to the pain of her arm.

The old man chuckled, which turned into a cough. “‘Grand Wizard’. Bah, haven’t heard that in
years.” He turned back to the door and looked over his shoulder. “Well come in, no sense in standing
around out here in the hot day.”

With the entire party piled inside, Noah’s cottage was a packed house. It was small, some could say
“quaint” even. A few rooms towards the back with a main living area in the front. In the middle of
the living area was a fire pit for cooking and heat. A cluttered desk sat under a round, grimey
window. Walls were lined with books, bottles of who knows what, jars, and an array of mystical
artifacts. The group had packed in around the fire pit, where Noah had been roasting a vegetable
stew for lunch.

Adora explained her time as She-Ra and her current predicament, with everyone adding bits of
details or commentary where they could. Noah enjoyed his stew as the story was recounted. Adora
was finished before the stew was, so they were forced to sit and wait and watch as he continued
eating. Finally the last slurps of broth were had and Noah put the bowl down. Remnants of stew
were all over his beard. Adora looked around quickly and offered him what she assumed was a wash
cloth of some kind.

The wizard stared at the outstretched gesture. “What do I need that for?” Noah asked. Adora
awkwardly retracted the cloth and set it on a stand near the fire pit.

After having to wait through a series of post-meal stretches, Noah let out a chuckle. “So her little
Razzberry is still kicking around but she ain’t. HAH, ain’t that some irony.”

“Razzberry?” Adora asked.

“Yeah, what Mara used to call that wife of hers. If she’s outlived Mara, then maybe there is some
decency in the world, as fractured as it may be.”

“Sounds like you and Mara weren’t friends,” Glimmer interjected.

Noah held up one of his arms, there was what looked like scars running all up until they disappeared
under his shirt sleeve except the scars were an ashy black color. “This, was her going away present.
Well this and getting me kicked out of Mystacor.”

“You were kicked out because you started practicing dark magic!” Glimmer argued.

“And who do you think made me do that ?” Noah fired back.

“Wait, Mara was in Mystacor?” Adora interjected.

The old wizard took a deep breath. “Yes, Mara helped me build Mystacor. No longer having access
to the First Ones, she turned to magic. It was great, for a time, working on her problem. Building a
place where people with magic could feel safe. But fixing her problem was taking too long. Mara
wanted to do good, she really did. All the trouble and pain she caused the world. She always wanted
desperately to fix it. That kind of thing takes power. And Power had a price. Mara was never afraid,
no matter what the price was, even when she should have been. It’s what did her in, in the end. And
what undid me. I tried to help her get what she needed to put it all back together. I remember Etheria.
The old Etheria. Of course I wanted to help undo that damage. Took me too long to see the damage
it was doing to her.”

“Was She-Ra the cause?” Adora asked. Her voice was weak, hollow. It was a question she didn’t
want to ask. “Razz said that she left her to come find you to help with her She-Ra powers.”

“Ah yes, your rash. Yeah, that was part of it. And what she had done was part of it. Working
together, tearing her apart.”

“She came to you looking for a cure,” Adora claimed.

Noah leaned back in his rickety wooden chair. “A cure?”

“Yes, please, we have to find some way to stop it!” Glimmer pleaded.

“Stop it? That ain’t the same as a cure. Of course we could stop it. There’s always-” Noah started.
Before he could Adora jumped up and towered over him. It was so startling Noah almost toppled
over in his chair. “-er, nevermind.”

“What? What is it?” Glimmer asked.

There was a moment of silence as Noah and Adora intensely stared at each other. “Can Noah and I
have a moment, please,” Adora stated, not breaking eye contact with Noah.

“But…” Glimmer whimpered.

“Please?” Adora restarted. The party begrudgingly filed out of cottage. Adora and Noah continued
their staring contest for another moment before Noah broke into a husky giggle.

“They don’t know, do they? Maybe there’s a little more ‘Mara’ in you than I thought,” Noah
chuckled.

“I am nothing like Mara,” Adora insisted.

“Then why the secrets? Shouldn’t they know?”

“If you can fix this then they won’t need to know,” Adora retorted.

Noah sat back up in his chair. Adora still hadn’t broken eye contact. The afternoon light poked
through the grim of the window, highlighting the edges of her hair.

“Looks like you’re in luck,” Noah finally said, throwing up his hands.

“Really?!” Adora excitedly asked.

“There was a spell that we had worked on together. It didn’t work. Needed someone who really
cared about her was the problem, and by then all she had was me, she had lost track of what
happened to Razz. She thought it was other reasons. Blamed me. She never was any good at
accepting reality as it was if it didn’t serve her.” Noah held his arm back up as an offer of evidence.

“So tell me, Miss Adora, anyone here care deeply for you?”

Adora sat down on the chair next to Noah. She was smiling ear to ear. “My best friend, Glimmer.
We love each other. We’d do anything to help each other. She came here without hesitation.” The
blonde princess took a pause. “Why do we need Glimmer for the spell?”

“You see now, She-Ra’s a lot of power, isn’t it? The whole problem is how much of a strain it is on
the body to house that much power. What the spell does is it’ll temporarily connect your heart to
Glimmer’s, and she’ll share that burden while the spell re-sorts the power of She-Ra to in a way that
your body can handle it.”

“It won’t hurt her, will it?”

“No,” Noah said with a grin. “If it works, you should both be fine.”

“ If it works?”

“This is magic!” Noah grinned wildly. “It’s not magic if there isn’t any risk!”

Adora and Glimmer were both lying on their backs in the middle of Noah’s living area. The stuff that
needed to be moved to make room had been pushed against the wall. They were opposite of each
other, with their heads meeting in the center of a circle that had been drawn on the floor.

Sea Hawk and Frosta were helping Noah mix a concoction together in his cauldron. It seemed to be
going well, judging from how much all three of them seemed to be cackling.

Mermista was sitting on a chair just outside the circle near Adora and Glimmer’s heads. “So remind
me again why we’re trusting the wizard that was banished for using dark magic?” Mermista moaned.

“To be honest?” Adora looked directly at Mermista and gave a soft smile. “Because I’m desperate.”

“This is going to work,” Glimmer added, voice full of confidence.

Adora reached up over her head and gave Glimmer’s shoulder a squeeze. “Thank you, Glim, for
doing this.”

“What are friends for? I know you’d do the exact same if our roles were reversed.”
Just then Mermista crouched over them. “Ugh, this is just too cute. I may throw up.”

The three girls shared a laugh.

“Hey, Mermista?” Adora said when they calmed down.

“Yo.”

Adora gave a glance over at the cauldron. Noah was vigorously stirring while Sea Hawk and Frosta
were having fun grossing each other out with the various magical ingredients in Noah’s stock. “Does
Sea Hawk know how you feel about him? Like, how you really feel?” Adora asked.

“HAH!” Mermista laughed. “Wow Adora. Don’t tell me you’re that kind of person. In a relationship
for one week and think you have love all figured out.”

It was a fair accusation. Adora hummed at it. Her hands were interlocked together and resting on her
stomach. Underneath them was her jacket’s belt buckle, turquoise blue and an oval just like the
runestone in the Sword of Protection. Adora was sure it was an intentional design decision on
Catra’s part.

“No,” Adora smiled, “not quite like that. More, someone who’s been through a lot in this last week.
And even though this is promising, there’s still a lot of dangers and questions ahead. It’s been a
reminder that I don’t know exactly how long I have. She-Ra is no promise of longevity. Just the
opposite. I just say this, as someone who wished she told Catra how she felt about her years ago, and
regrets all the time I lost that I could have been with her.”

The reaction Adora hadn’t been expecting was for Mermista to begin rubbing her shoulder. “Don’t
worry, we’re not going to let you go anywhere,” Mermista mumbled.

Soon Noah appeared over the girls. Mermista hopped up to get out of the way. “Everyone ready?”
the wizard asked. Glimmer and Adora both nodded. “Good. All you need to do is lie there. I handle
the rest. Well, first drink this,” Noah said, holding out two cups. Adora and Glimmer sat up and
drank it. Their immediately desire was to barf it back up.

“What WAS that?” Glimmer hissed.

“Potion,” Noah responded. “Gonna help the magic run through you.”

Frosta took the cups from the two as they laid back down. Noah knelt between them as Sea Hawk,
Mermisa, and Frosta respectfully took cover behind the firepit area.

Noah began reciting words that Glimmer did not understand at all. Somehow Adora knew that it was
the First Ones language. He recited the same line a few times. At first nothing seemed to be
happening. Then, during the fourth repetition Noah’s eyes went white and began glowing. A
swirling wind kicked up inside the cottage, centered on Glimmer and Adora. The chalk drawn circle
began glowing, and soon both Glimmer and Adora began sparkling. Noah moved onto a new verse.
This one was longer, he was speaking louder, and it caused the swirling winds to pick up. The
sparkles on Adora and Glimmer began lifting into the air and swirling together into a glowing ball in
the center of the circle, just over their heads. Noah rose his hands up as light began shooting out of
the chalk circle. Soon the entire room was flooded with light as Noah screamed another verse.

Then it all abruptly came to a stop. The wind, the light, the glowing. Everything went startling still.
Everyone slowly opened their eyes. Frosta, Sea Hawk and Mermista came out from hiding. Noah
was sitting on the ground, leaning back against a shelf. He was drenched with sweat and panting.
“Can… I.. Get some water,” Noah asked, voice hoarse. Sea Hawk scurried to the sink to oblige.

Adora opened her eyes. She felt a little different. Sitting up and seeing her legs and arms made her
realize what it was. “Huh. The spell seems to have changed me into my She-Ra form,” She-Ra said,
climbing to her feet.

Glimmer blinked her eyes open and sat up slowly. “Ugh, my head.”

“Okay otherwise?” Noah asked between chugs of water.

“Well it’s kind of hard to tell really. My powers being suppressed has been uncomfortable this whole
time,” Glimmer responded. Noah snapped his fingers and chugged more water. Glimmer looked at
him, then teleported to the other side of the cottage. “That feels sooooo good!” Glimmer exclaimed.

Mermista and Frosta glanced at each other then at the sink area. Quickly a blob of water and a
snowball were hurtling through the air. Both girls ducked, leaving the water and snow to slam into
Sea Hawk. Frosta, Glimmer, and Mermisa were laughing hysterically at the sight. Sea Hawk just let
out a little sigh.

“Here,” Mermista said with a chuckle, catching Sea Hawk’s attention. She used her magic to flick
most of the water off him, and began dabbing a towel on his face to get the last bit of moisture.

“Thank you, Princess,” Sea Hawk said with a smile.

“Hey,” Mermista said, smiling back, “we ‘get’ each other, right?” she asked as she finished cleaning
Sea Hawk’s face. He nodded with a big smile and a little hum. Mermista gave his shoulder a warm
squeeze as she smiled brightly. “Good.”

Glimmer teleported back to the circle. She-Ra had transformed back into Adora. She had her back to
Glimmer.

“Adora?” Glimmer was worried, she could hear the distinct sniffles of Adora crying. Before she
could say anything else though Adora spun around. Tears were streaming down her face, and she
was grinning from ear to ear. She held up her wrist. It was clean. “It worked?!” Glimmer gasped.

“It worked!” Adora confirmed as the best friends slammed into a hug. They were quickly engulfed
by a group hug from Frosta, Sea Hawk, and Mermista.

Adora contorted herself so that she could look down at Noah, who was still relaxing on the ground.
“Thank you,” she softly said.

Noah raised his cup at her. “Just do me a favor? Don’t tell anyone that I’m actually not crazy. It’ll
ruin the whole secluded island thing.”

An unexpected bonus to being a Force Captain was that the training rooms available to them were
far superior to the ones for cadets and low ranking soldiers. Lonnie was currently utilizing one to
work on her combat prowess. There were two robots, set to melee attack, that she was fighting with
a bow staff. Despite the higher setting, Lonnie was making short work of them. They did make her
evade and perform some creative dodges, but all in all she was owning the room.
One of the robots was completely taken down, and sitting in the corner, dejected. Lonnie had the
other robot back on it’s heels, or, metal slivers as the case may be. She leapt into the air and slammed
her staff into the weak point sensor on the robot’s head. It beeped, signaling that the robot was
“dead”. Lonnie sensed something else in the room. She pushed off the robot, sending her through the
air. She landed, and spun in place, swinging the bow staff out. It came to a rest just inches from
Decepsha’s chin.

The spy was standing, both arms behind her back, posture in a tight stance, leaning back slightly to
avoid the bow staff. She gave it a look then turned her attention to Lonnie.

“Evening, Force Captain,” Decepsha said with a smirk.

“Heey, Queen of Lies, you’re back!” Lonnie declared. Decepsha bristled a little at the title, but did
her best to hide it. “Haven’t seen you in a few days, I thought you were going to give me a hand
with orientation?”

Decepsha freed one of her hands and rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry, assignment came up. I’m
here now though!”

Lonnie shrugged. “All caught up. Don’t have another orientation class until Friday.”

“Well, I’ll help you with that then!” Decepsha offered.

“If you’re here,” Lonnie flatly stated.

“I’ll make sure I am,” Decepsha responded. “But! Speaking of my last assignment! I was able to pick
some of these up.” From behind her back, Decepsha produced a small green box. Lonnie stared at it,
looking confused.

“A box. Coooooooool,” Lonnie said.

“Haha, no, not the box itself!” Decepsha answered. She popped the box opened and pulled out a red
oblong object with a brown tip. She held it up to Lonnie’s face. “Go on, try it.”

At first Lonnie was skeptical. She gave it a whiff. Smelled pleasant enough. She took an
experimental bite. After a couple chews her face lit up. “What is THAT?”

“They’re called chocolate covered strawberries,” Decepsha beamed. “Bright Moon actually does
have a few perks.” She handed Lonnie the rest of the half eaten strawberry. Lonnie wasted no time
devouring it. Decepsha pulled out another one out. “Adora turned me onto them. Honestly one of her
best discoveries.”

Despite the sweetness of the fruit, a sour face washed over Lonnie. She pushed the strawberry back
at Decepsha. “Of course,” Lonnie scoffed. “This is about Adora. Always about Adora,” the Force
Captain grumbled.

“What? No. Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought her up, it wasn’t important. I just wanted to share them
with you!” Decepsha pleaded, attempting to hand the fruit back to Decepsha.

Lonnie just folded her arms. “Whatever you say, Queen of L-”

“I’M NOT!” Decepsha screamed, cutting Lonnie off. She shut her eyes and let out a deep, angry
sigh. “I’m not. Lying. I’m not. I… I just wanted to...” Decepshas was finding it hard to finish her
sentence.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to. Lonnie took the chocolate covered strawberry. “Cheers, then,”
Lonnie said, faint smile coming back on her face as she popped the fruit into her mouth.

A soft smile formed on Decepsha’s face. “Cheers.

“Oh, also, I don’t think you’re supposed to eat the green part.”

Glimmer and Adora had returned to Bright Moon late that night. The following morning they learned
the good news of Entrapta’s breakthrough with what she was calling her Clack Back System. They
spent the day going over the logistics of how and where to deploy it. The valley would be first,
followed by rollouts to all the free kingdoms of Etheria.

In spite of a full day of meetings, and planning, and war stuff, and missing Catra, Adora went to bed
in high spirits. It was the first pain free day Adora had in almost a week. She turned into She-Ra
twice over the course of the day. Once just as another test, and once for the heck of it. As her head
hit the pillow, Adora could feel consciousness slipping away immediately.

What felt like only seconds after laying down, Adora was forcefully lifted out of bed. Something was
hoisting her off the ground by her shirt. Between the darkness and the blur of her sleepy vision it
took her a moment to realize what was happening. She gasped when she finally saw the figure
holding her in the air.

“Sh- She-Ra?!” Adora stuttered.

The Princess of Power stood there, her fists balled into Adora’s shirt, glaring at the blonde in front of
her. She growled and threw Adora into the armoire, toppling it over.

“How dare you!” She-Ra barked as she stalked towards Adora. Just as Adora was able to climb to
her feet She-Ra slammed a boot into Adora’s ribs, knocking her back.

“This is impossible!” Adora screamed at her and held out her hand. The Sword of Protection didn’t
come to her. Instead She-Ra pulled it from the sheath on her back . Adora gulped and backed up
until she hit the wall. “She-Ra? Is this the spell?!”

“This is about the spell, ” She-Ra stated. “You really thought you could just, put me in a box,
and play with me whenever you saw fit?!”

“You’re a part of me! This is my body, I’m the one in control!” Adora yelled back.

“Keep denying this all you want, Adora. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to confront it.
Confront me,” She-Ra said with a calmness that chilled Adora to the bone. Without warning She-
Ra charged Adora, driving the Sword of Protection directly into her stomach.
Intense pain woke Adora up. She tried sitting up but the pain was so bad she more just rolled out of
bed, and flopped onto the ground. After a moment, the worst of the pain passed, just leaving a low
hum of discomfort. Adora looked down. On her sword hand, the rash had returned. It covered her
wrist, and had created gashes all the way up her arm to her shoulder. Adora had to use the bed for
leverage in climbing to her feet. As silently as she could she began getting dressed.

“... and it seemed to work,” Adora mumbled. “For a little while, at least.” Adora was sitting on the
bench in Madame Razz’s little house, her legs pulled into her chest. Razz was stoking a strong fire
for warmth and light. “I’m so sorry to bother you at this hour. I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

The elderly woman continued poking at the fire, getting it going properly. She had a somber,
completely out of character expression on her face. “I was able to make more of that ointment. Won’t
cure, but what could it hurt?”

“Thank you, it helped a lot,” Adora said. Razz left the fire and made her way to one of her shelves.
She fetched another jar, and grabbed a stool, and sat down next to the bench where Adora was. She
took Adora’s arm, there was no resistance, and began slathering the ointment over the worst parts of
the rash.

“You gave me a gift too, Dearie,” Razz said, all the while focusing on applying the ointment. Adora
perked up. “You told me more about what happened to my Mara. Noah. Dark magic. Mystacor. I
never knew anything about what became of her.” Razz stopped. She seemed to be lost in deep
thought, staring at nothing in particular. “I can’t say I’m happy to hear the path she went down. But
good to know, nonetheless!” Razz chirped, some of her chipperness returning.

Adora sighed heavily. “It was another warning. Of MY fate if I don’t choose the right path.” Tears
began streaming down Adora’s face. “I think there may be only one path left for me.” With a sob,
Adora’s eyes fell shut. “I think Light Hope may actually be right.”

“Only if you let her be,” Razz scoffed. Adora opened her eyes to the feeling of a towel brushing
away tears. Razz was staring at her, her hopeful eyes magnified twice as large through her glasses.
“Adora, Dearie. I’m right. Light Hope is right. Noah’s right. And we’re all wrong. The point is, it
doesn’t matter what any of us say, or think. All that matters is what you’re willing to do. To fight for.
Noah’s spell didn’t work, but Etheria is a big place. ‘Give up’ can’t be your only option.”

Razz gave Adora’s shoulder a squeeze. “Please tell me it won’t be.”

“It won’t,” Adora replied, smiling for the first time since arriving. “I have a returning girlfriend to
look forward to. I’ll keep looking Madame Razz. But I won’t let what happened to Mara happen to
me. She pushed too hard, and became something of a monster.”

A few strands of hair had fallen onto Adora’s face. Razz brushed them aside. “You won’t. I can see
it in your eyes, Dearie. There are so many ways you are like the Mara I knew. But so many in which
you are different. She, for all her good parts, always had a hard time not putting her own interests
before the interests of others. In the end, she even put her own needs over my own, and left me here,
while she spiraled into, as you put it, a monster.

“You’re a different person than my Mara, Dearie,” Razz patted Adora on the cheek.
With the ointment working, and pep talk received, Adora sat up straight on the bench and pulled
herself together. “Only question is, where to start.” Both Razz and Adora sat there stroking their
chins for a moment. Razz perked up first.

“You said Noah told you that Mara was still in Mystacor after he was banished.”

Adora jumped up from the bench. “MAYBE, she kept working on solutions that he didn’t know
about. Maybe there’s something there. At least it may give me an idea of what to do next.”

About an hour later, as the moons hung brightly in the night sky, Adora left Razz’s. She wasn’t sure
if she should go back to Bright Moon, or head right to Mystacor, but at the moment she thought that
the walk through the woods from Razz’s would help clear her mind, if nothing else.

Suddenly there was a light whistling noise. Seconds later Adora collapsed onto the ground, a dart
sticking out of her neck. From behind a tree a few dozen yards away, Decepsha emerged, and
slithered her way over to the prone Adora.

Decepsha stood over her, shaking her head. “Really Adora? Walking around by yourself in the
middle of the night? You really make this too easy.”

As Decepsha was gloating, Adora began to faintly glow, which cut the gloating short.

There was a brilliant flash of light that lit up the forest. When it dissipated, Decepsha looked up to
see She-Ra rising to her feet.

“That’s new,” Decepsha remarked. She-Ra started lumbering at her. “A-Adora?” she gulped.

“No,” She-Ra responded. In an instant one of She-Ra’s fists slammed into Decepsha’s face, sending
her soaring through the air. Decepsha landed on her back hard. Her hands shot up to cover the
intense pain on her face. Her nose was a bloody mess.

Sh-She-Ra?

Before Decepsha could process what had happened she felt She-Ra’s hand closing around her neck.
The Princess of Power lifted her into the air, and pulled her free arm back, ready to strike.

She-Ra stop!

Stay out of this.

Decepsha flailed wildly to no avail. Her fingers were tugging at She-Ra’s hand, in a desperate
attempt to get oxygen. It was obvious that She-Ra wanted to slam that other fist into her, but she was
hesitating for some reason.

No She-Ra we can’t do this!

She-Ra glared at Decepsha. “But she is our enemy,” She-Ra stated out loud. Decepsha looked at
her with confusion.

Yes. But… She was more than that. She was a friend. Someone I, we, cared about. She was our first
kiss.

I don’t care about those things. Those are human feelings. They’re just distractions.

Well I’m human and I still do. And we’re in MY body, so put.. Her…

“Down!” She-Ra screamed. Her hand withdrew from Decepsha’s neck, allowing her to fall to the
ground. She-Ra stumbled backwards and transformed back into Adora. As soon as her head stopped
spinning, Adora rushed over to check on Decepsha.

Upon seeing Adora, Decepsha scrambled to her feet and jumped back, slamming against a tree.
“Adora, what the hell was that?!”

The blonde gave her a long, sad smile. “Trouble,” she responded. “It’s under control for now. But
you better go, if you don’t want to spend your time in jail.”

Decepsha smirked at her. “You’re, letting me go?”

“Not if you keep that tone up,” Adora chuckled back. Decepsha didn’t waste time, she turned to
leave immediately. “Hey!” Adora called out for her, stopping Decepsha in her tracks. She turned and
was surprised to find Adora had closed the gap between them. “Can I ask you a question?” Adora
asked the spy. She nodded in return.

“Am I too trusting?”

The question got a laugh out of Decepsha. “I don’t know, Adora. Maybe?” The princess in front of
her nodded and let out a long sigh. “Look,” Decepsha added, “You always saw the best in people,
even when there probably wasn’t really any, you found it.” Decepsha found it hard to stare at Adora,
so she wistfully looked around the forest. “I think that’s why I fell for you. You saw a version of me
that didn’t exist, but I kind of wanted it to.”

“It’s never too late to be that person,” Adora responded. She had that face. A warm face that seemed
to radiate light. Her big eyes full of hope and wonder. Bright smile that promised a better tomorrow.

“Hmm, maybe,” Decesha chuckled. “I’d have to find somebody worth changing for.” Decepsha
closed her eyes. A small smile grew on her face. “Maybe I already have.” She turned to leave, but
stopped briefly. “Watch you back, Adora. This is still a war.” With that, Decepsha slid away into the
shadows of the forest.

Adora simply watched. The forest seemed to calm down after Decepsha’s exit.

She’s a member of the Horde. I thought we wanted to save Etheria?

Aren’t the Horde Etherians too? Except Hordak of course.

We can’t save everyone, Adora.

Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. She-Ra, I don’t want to keep fighting like this. Adora looked down at
her arm, it was a mess of scabs and pulsating veins. Look at what you’re doing to me.

I… Don’t actually have any control over that. I’m sorry. I’m stuck on this ride, same as you.

What are we going to do?

Go to Mystacor. I wasn’t with her the whole time, but I know where Mara kept her journals. The
ones she didn’t want anyone else to read.

Mystacor in the early morning was a quiet place. It seemed sorcerers and wizards enjoyed their
nights, and saw little value in mornings. Only a handful of guards were roaming the grounds. Adora
found it easy to gain access to the Historical Library, a giant maze-like vault that housed the ancient
wisdom of Mystacor. She wasn’t sure what had given her more authority, being She-Ra or being
Castaspella’s favorite non-biological niece.

She-Ra guided Adora through the maze made out of piles and shelves and stacks of books and
scrolls along with hundreds of other ancient artifacts. It took over twenty minutes before they got to
the very back of the vault. She-Ra instructed Adora to push a shelf that was butted up against the
wall out of the way.

“Okay, now what?” Adora asked, as she ran her hand over the solid stone.

Hold the sword up to it.

Adora did as she was told. The runestone on the sword began to glow, and part of the stone
dissolved into a doorway. A long spiral staircase led another two stories down. There Adora found
Mara’s private vault. Books, books, and more books. Some half finished metal contraptions were
strewn across a big table in the center. On the wall was a mount that seemed designed for the Sword
of Protection. And on the wall across from it was an old painting, faded and chipping. Nevertheless,
it made Adora smile.

“Razz,” Adora remarked, looking at the portrait of a much younger woman that even then had the
thickest glasses in all of Etheria.

There was no denying that Mara was misguided in many things. Until the very end though, she
did love that woman. In a way it drove all her actions. Much like that cat drives you.

“I suppose those are just ‘human distractions’ too,” Adora grumbled. She-Ra was sure that they
were. Adora cracked open a massive book that had been written by Mara at She-Ra’s
encouragement. It turned out to be her spell book. She flipped for dozens of pages, reading notes and
experiments that all seemed to be working on the same problem Adora was going through. They all
ended in failure according to the book. After flipping a particular page, Adora couldn’t help but
notice the handwriting had suddenly, and sharply degraded.

That’s where we were separated.

She never found a solution.

Maybe on the pages ahead. But she never found one while I was consciously still with her. It was
obvious that she was always going to try to find a way to control me. I am NOT a thing you can
control and abuse.

Adora laughed out loud. “No, you’re the mighty Princess of Power.”

No. You’re the Princess of Power, my vessel. I am She-Ra, the Goddess of Protection. It is my
duty to protect Etheria. At all costs.
For a while Adora continued flipping, trying her best to ignore the willful goddess that crankily
occupied her head. The remaining pages in the spellbook painted a picture of a woman growing
increasingly desperate, and slowly losing her grasp on sanity. With each turn of the page Adora’s
heart sank a little more. After a while, the pages seemed to be mostly just gibberish, the rantings of a
crazy person.

Until the last two pages. The penmanship, while still showing hints of erratic scrawling, was much
more contained. Not to the extent of the beginning of the book, but definitely an improvement.
Adora took a moment to examine the penmanship before reading on. The first line of the second to
last page began, “It has been a long time, but I have found my way back to Mystacor.”

“Mara left, then came back some years later it seems,” Adora mused.

From the looks of it, she found some relief during that time.

The rest of the page were notes about the changes to Mystacor that she felt she should keep track of.
Interesting, but not relevant at the moment. Then Adora saw the last page. A spell. The last spell in
the book. Titled simply, “the Answer”. Adora’s eyes went wide.

She read the spell, a rather simple thing, only a couple necessary components, along with all the
notes Mara had made to it. After reading it, Adora looked up. She was stone faced.

That…

“Maybe we read it wrong,” Adora said quickly. She looked back down and reread the spell three
more times.

Then it all clicked. Adora backed up until her back hit the wall behind her. She slowly slid down it.
Sitting at the base of the wall, Adora curled her knees up to her chest. “She really did become a
monster.”

Noah said that she didn’t care about the price.

Tears formed in Adora’s eyes, followed quickly by uncontrollable sobbing. Adora sat there in the
basement for a good ten minutes, alone, crying her heart out. Eventually her body didn’t have
anything else to give her.

Adora… I’m sorry. If there was a way I could help us, I would. But this is beyond my control.

“I know.” Adora looked up towards the table the book was on. “It all makes sense now.

“I can’t let myself turn into a monster like her. I won’t,” Adora sniffled. “I can’t use that spell. If I use
it… No, that price is too high. But if I don’t…

“Either way I’d become a monster.”

What are you saying then?

“I’m saying…

“I’m saying, that right now, I really want to see my girlfriend…

“...I just want to see the love of my life again.”

I’ll help any way I can.

“Thank you.” Adora sat there in Mara’s vault. Thinking. Deciding. Accepting. Planning. She knew
what she wanted. Now that she had found Mara’s vault, she knew her options. Her and She-Ra were
willing to do what they could to make those two things work in tandem for as long as they could.

“Adora?” a voice cut through the quiet, starling Adora. She looked up to see Castaspella standing by
the stairs.

“Aunt Casta!” Adora got to her feet and met Castapella with a hug.

“The guards told me you were in the vaults. What is this place?” Castaspella asked as she returned
Adora’s hug. “I never knew this even existed.”

“This is the Vault of Mara. She was the previous She-Ra. She hid this here, centuries ago,” Adora
answered, determined to be as chipper as she could be for her favorite, and to her knowledge, only,
aunt. “I was hoping to find something to help me.”

Castaspella pulled back to look at Adora. She frowned at the sight, which was confusing to Adora.
She was wearing one of her trademark long sleeved white shirts and her jacket. The rash on her arm
wasn’t visible.

“Your predicament isn’t getting any better,” Castaspella stated. The head sorceress took her fingers
and gently grazed them against Adora’s neck. To Adora’s surprise, the touch stung.

Once Adora realized that the rash had spread again, Adora sighed. “No Aunt Casta, no luck. But,”
Adora began. She made sure to make eye contact with Castaspella. There was a look of sadness in
her aunt’s eyes. Nevertheless, Adora pushed on. “There’s actually something you could hopefully
help me with.”

It was late afternoon when Adora returned to Bright Moon. Just as she was crossing the bridge into
the main castle, Glimmer popped in right next to her and assaulted her with a hug.

“THERE YOU ARE!” Glimmer yelled. “I was so worried!” Glimmer released the hug. Her face
was a whirlpool of concern and anger. Immediately Glimmer grabbed Adora’s arm and pulled the
sleeve up. The princess of Bright Moon let out a sigh of relief as she stared at Adora’s bare, blemish
free skin. “When you weren’t here this morning I was so worried that the rash had come back.”

Adora gave her best friend another hug. “I’m sorry I worried you Glim. After everything, I just
needed to get some air. And then Razz found me, and then she asked me for help getting some stuff
for a potion, so I went to Mystacor, and you know Aunt Casta! Took me all morning before I could
get away!” Adora brightly smiled.

Glimmer nodded at the story. Then her head cocked to the side. “Where did the necklace come
from? It’s really pretty!”

The necklace in question was around Adora’s neck. It was a thick gold chain connected to a marble
pendant on it. In the center of the pendant a large, deep blue gem was inlaid. It seemed to be faintly
glowing. Adora played with the chain.

“Oh this? Aunt Casta gave it to me,” Adora replied.

 I don’t like this.

Why? That’s technically the truth. She did give it to us.

After you asked her to make it for you.

“No fair!” Glimmer huffed.

Adora grabbed Glimmer’s arm and they began walking into the castle together. “Well if you ask
really nice, maybe Aunt Casta will get you one too.”

Glimmer laughed at the idea. “So, everything’s fine?” she asked as they walked.

“Everything’s terrific.”

Great, now we’re just openly lying to our allies?

Chapter End Notes

lol when I was outline this chapter, I had concerns about it having enough feel like a
'full' chapter.... 10,000 words later! Was a lot of fun to be able to get Mermista and
Sea Hawk some scenes.

Okay, Going to try my hardest to get the next chapter done on time. Hell, I'd like to get
it done early. We'll see. So, Chapter 20 should be up sometime next weekend, July 13th
or 14th.

Next time:
"Of course you don't deserve it."
 The Kingdom of Half Moon
Chapter Notes

Hiiiiiii. Okay, I'm so sorry for skipping last week. I'll get to the apologizing and begging
for forgiveness, but first, I have some exciting news to share!

First of all, JACKETS HAS FAN ART! Legendgrass made a lovely piece of fan art for
me! Make sure to check it out and give them all the love and support! I love it so much
https://www.deviantart.com/legendgrass/art/Jackets-805994134

Second of all, Jackets has an editor! WoburnHouse was a doll and offered to teach me
how to use commas help me edit Jackets. This is the first chapter, and while you won't
see the difference, trust me, it helped this chapter immensely! He's going back and doing
all the previous chapters now, and I shall update them as I get time.

Not that this chapter needed help with size. Word wise, it's officially THE LONGEST
chapter so far, even beating out Chapter 10 - By Royal Invite!

I apologize for missing last week's update. Part of it was how big and at times unwieldy
this chapter was, but a lot of it was external sources. I don't like/want to play the pity
card, so I'll try not to, but let's just say that I'll won't be sad to see July end. Things are
settling down, and hopefully I can get back on something of a regular schedule for
again.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Catra sat there on the steps to the thrones, her jaw hanging open at the sight of the hologram in front
of her. She was so much better defined than anything the Horde had developed, and unlike that
pesky custodian of the Crystal Castle, Light Hope, she was in full color and infinitely more stable.
Since turning on she hadn’t flickered even once. Catra would have noticed since she has been unable
to take her eyes off it. This person looked so real. So lifelike. Catra scurried up the stairs a bit when
the hologram took a few steps towards her.

“Little C’yra, it IS you, isn’t?!” the hologram asked, full of enthusiasm.

“N-no. I think you have me mistaken. My name’s Catra,” she stammered. Those lime green eyes
were intense to stare at. It hit Catra that she had never had to look into a magicat’s eyes before. The
sudden thought that this may be what others felt when looking at her popped into her head. She
couldn’t help but think about all the times Adora had willingly, and apparently happily, met her gaze
with ease.

The hologram closed in on Catra quickly. Secretly, Catra appreciated that it moved like a normal
human, or magicat, and didn’t glide like Light Hope did. The hologram knelt down on the steps next
to Catra, and smiled. She gazed intently into Catra’s eyes.

“No. That may be a name that they gave you, but you ARE my little C’yra,” the hologram said. Its
hand reached up to Catra’s cheek. To her shock, Catra felt the touch. Not skin, or fur, but something.
A sort of solid warmth. Catra could feel it pressing into her cheek. After a few seconds Catra jumped
to her feet and fled farther up the stairs, all the way up to the thrones.
“What the hell?! I’m not your little ANYTHING! You’re not even real!” Catra yelled. “You’re…
You’re… What even ARE you?”

“My apologies,” the hologram said, rising to her feet. The hologram adjusted her top, a sleek black
tank top that had gold trim. “You must be so confused.

“Yes, it is true, you are technically not ‘mine’. I am a digital light sentient AI developed by the
original Mira’Dea. The flesh and blood one. Your mother.”

“The Empress of Half Moon is not my mother,” Catra was quick to correct her. “I’m not an Empris.
I’m not royalty.” Catra gripped the armrest of one of the thrones, as she was talking her claws were
digging farther and farther into it. “I’m just a nobody. A leftover.”

Mira’Dea smiled. “You are the Empris, young Catra.” The AI began slowly climbing up the stairs.
“They can change your name. They can take your childhood memories. They cannot take your
birthright.” The digital light version of Mira’Dea reached the top of the steps. Catra was pressed
against the throne.

“How? What makes you think that I’m the Empris of Half Moon?” Catra asked. Her voice was
starting to crack.

“You mean, besides the fact that you look almost just like me, just like my little C’yra did? Or the
fact that you have your mother C’yra’s exact eyes? The reason that I have no doubt is because I’m
here.”

Catra tilted her head. “What?”

“The pad worked for you, it’s only programmed to work for the royal family. You were able to
restart Half Moon Castle, and turn my program on. You ARE the lost Empris, C’yra the 2nd,” Mira
said. There was a softness in her voice that was overwhelming Catra. She hadn’t been able to look
Mira in the eyes in minutes. Instead, Catra focused on her own hands. Specifically the hand she had
put on the monitor. The hand that had made it work.

“I… I’m the…” Catra lifted her head. Inviting green eyes were shining at her.

It was too much. “... Mom?” Catra’s voice broke as tears began pouring out of her. The recreation of
Mira’Dea threw her arms around Catra, pulling her into an actual hug. It was a weird sensation.
There was plenty of solidness, plenty of warmth. Best Catra could equate it to was being hugged by
a happy thought. Mira wrapped her arms tightly around her.

“Yes, my beautiful daughter, I’m here,” Mira whispered into Catra’s pinned down ears. “I just wish I
was really here for you. This version of me is all I can give you. Not enough, but I’ll help you in
every way I can.”

The hug lasted a couple of minutes, as Catra worked through her reservoir of tears. Finally, they
separated. Mira took her daughter’s hands into the indistinct warmth of her own. “An imperfect
family reunion, I’m sure,” Mira said.

“You’re based on my mother, your creator?”

Mira giggled. “More than ‘based’. I am a full brain scan of the real Mira’Dea. I have all her
memories, feelings, thoughts, brain patterns. I’m a 99.9% accurate recreation of her. For all intents
and purposes, I am her. Her mind at least.” Mira ran her fingers down Catra’s face. “I’m sorry, this
was the best that I could do.”
Despite her bloodshot eyes, and tear-stained cheeks, Catra was smiling. “Are you kidding? I get to
talk to my mom.”

“I want to know everything! Here, let me get a look at you!” Mira took a few steps back. “What are
you? 21? 22?”

“Hah, still 20, we’re still a few months from my 21st.”

“An entire childhood. All your teens. I want to hear about it all!” Mira rushed up and grabbed
Catra’s arms.

The request didn’t seem to sit well with Catra. Somehow her body found more tears.

“Oh,” Mira said. “Oh no, I’m sorry, my little C’y-Catra. What’s wrong?”

Catra dropped to her knees and buried her sobbing face into her hands. “Everything’s wrong. Mom.
You don’t understand,” Catra’s voice was cracked, full of hiccups, broken up by sniffles. “I’ve done
horrible things! Awful things, in the name of the people that did THIS!” Catra growled as she waved
her arms about. Mira dropped to a knee to match her daughter. A warm sensation passed through
Catra’s shoulder as Mira gently rubbed it. “Your daughter’s a complete screw up who’s only really
good at hurting people.” It wasn’t possible, but Catra was trying to squeeze her eyes shut even
tighter.

“I don’t believe any of that,” Mira assured Catra. “Come.” The digital representation of the Empress
of Half Moon led her daughter down the stairs by the hand. Once they got into the middle of the
throne room, Mira placed her hands on either side of Catra’s face. “I do not believe that you’re any
of those things. But you don’t have to argue your point, one way or the other. If you let me, I can see
that life that you’re apparently so ashamed of. All you have to do is say yes.”

There wasn’t a verbal answer. Catra simply nodded her head. She reclosed her eyes. Suddenly there
was a rush, almost like a shock, but not quite. It was like someone had rewound her entire life back
and replayed the entire thing in the span of a second. The jolt that went through Catra made her
stumble back and fall down, landing on her backside. She sat up and clutched her head, which was
throbbing. It took her a minute to regather herself. Catra’s entire life was a slideshow that had been
dumped into a pile on the floor. Slowly but surely, she was able to put herself back in order.

As Catra was able to regain focus, a sudden dread hit her. Did her mom hate her now? Just as she
found her, was it going to be all over that quickly? “I’m so sorry,” Catra mumbled under her breath.

Shadow blocked the light over Catra. She slowly lifted her head to see Mira’Dea standing over her, a
huge smile on her face. “What on Etheria for, my sweet child?” Mira asked. She extended her hand
out. To Catra’s surprise the hologram was able to grip her hand firmly enough to pull her to her feet.

“You saw, didn’t you?” Catra asked, just inches from her mom.

Mira softly smiled at her daughter and caressed her cheek. “I saw everything. But what I didn’t see is
anything I should be mad at. What I saw was a young girl, struggling to survive in a hellish
upbringing, fighting for every scrap she could get.” Mira hugged Catra again. “The Horde went out
of their way to control and manipulate you. Yet here you are, standing in your birthplace, having
gotten here because of friends from the Rebellion,” Mira laughed. “MY Rebellion, that C’yra,
Micah, and I worked so hard to get going. Speaking of which, that Bow fella is trying to hack
through the door’s locks.”

“He’s just worried about me,” Catra chuckled.

“See?” Mira asked, giving Catra’s cheek a small pat. “You have friends that worry. I even saw a
girlfriend in there,” Mira slyly said.

Catra had a spontaneous coughing fit as her entire face went red. “How-How much did you see?
Exactly?”

“Don’t worry,” Mira said, strolling over towards the big doors in the throne room. “I skipped over all
the parts that I really did not want to see. But you know what I did see?” Mira asked. She had
reached the door. Before opening she turned around to look at Catra, who just shrugged as a
response to Mira’s question. “I saw how happy this Adora makes you. And how much she cares
about you.” A smug little smirk grew on Mira’s face. Catra knew that look well, she’d seen it many
times in the mirror. “And you thought you had something to be ashamed of.”

Just as she finished her statement, Mira snapped her digital fingers. The doors to the throne room
flew open. Bow could be seen just off to the side of the door. His hands were fiddling inside the
opened control panel. There was a screwdriver in his mouth.

At the sight of Mira’Dea, Bow spit out the screwdriver and jumped back. “What the?!” he shouted.

“Hello, Mr. Bow,” Mira cheerfully greeted the bewildered archer. Catra made her way up to Mira
and gave the digital light construct a side hug. They both got a giggle out of Bow’s exasperated
expression.

“Bow, I’d like you to meet Mira’Dea, one of the Empresses of Half Moon. And my mother.”

“Wait,” Bow was rubbing his temples with his hands. “Okay, hold on…”

“Oh, he is adorable, isn’t he?” Mira said. She pulled Bow into the throne room with them.

When Mira’Dea let Bow go he stared at his hands. “Um. No offense, your Majesty, but why do you
feel like that?” Catra couldn’t help but laugh at Bow’s question.

The Empress was more forgiving. “Because, sadly, I am not the original Mira’Dea. I am a digital
light sentient AI, built by the original Mira’Dea.”

“Wow!” Bow gasped, staring intently at Mira. He reached his hand out and tapped her on the
shoulder. “You’re… so much more impressive than Light Hope. Makes sense, I guess. Even with
her self-maintenance, she is over a 1,000 years old.”

“Yes, the original Mira’Dea outdid herself. For all intents and purposes, except for the physical form,
I am her.

“Enough about me, though!” Mira’Dea announced. “How about a tour of your castle, Catra?”

The idea slammed into Catra, who was only now just really starting to grasp the ramifications of
what she was. “ My castle?”

“Well yes, you are the Empris of Half Moon, and the heir to the throne. And the last living member
of the royal family,” Mira’Dea rattled off. Mira’s expression changed instantly to something far more
somber. “On second thought, that may not be as fun as I first thought. Nobody’s been here since the
Battle of Half Moon, all those many years ago. Half Moon has sat, a decaying graveyard to the
fallen. An entire civilization lies here, strewn in the streets. Buried under the rubble of their homes.”

“That’s awful,” Bow groaned.

“I want to see it.” Both Bow and Mira’Dea turned to Catra. Her hands were balled into fists, eyes
unfocused, seemingly staring off into nothing. Her jaw clenched as a look of resolve grew on her
face. “Half Moon. The Horde. The fall of the First Rebellion. The Battle of Half Moon. That was
how I was born. Me, Catra. Not C’yra the Second, not the Empris, not the daughter of Mira’Dea and
C’yra. This whole kingdom sits, suspended in the moment Catra was born.

“I want to see.

“... I need to see it.”

As Catra stood there, Mira’Dea made her way over to her daughter. For the first time, Catra found it
easy to gaze into those intense green eyes. She offered her mom a soft smile. “If I’m going to figure
out how to move forward from my past, I need to see it. All of it.”

Mira’Dea had only known her daughter for a couple of minutes, and had only gotten to experience
Catra’s life as a massive data dump that, even with her supercomputer brain, she had barely enough
time to take in. Even so, the look of resolve on Catra’s face was convincing. She nodded, and led
them out into the foyer.

“This was where guests that arrived at Half Moon Castle would first be greeted. It’s empty now, but
long ago there would have been dozens of people here at any given time. Along with plenty of
guards and service staff.”

“Come, this way,” Mira’Dea commanded. Off to the side of the room was a stairwell that curved up.
“This was the main entrance to the rest of the castle. My old workshop, C’yra’s laboratory, kitchens,
dining halls, you name it.”

“Wait, the throne room is on the bottom floor of the castle?” Bow inquired.

“Indeed! You’ll find that, due to the nature of Half Moon, our sense of verticality and placement is a
little different,” Mira said with a smile.

Bow and Catra squinted at her. “The nature of Half Moon?” Catra asked.

Mira let out a chuckle. “Oh! You came in through the teleporters didn’t you?” She got nods of
confirmation from both. “Well then! Let’s explore the castle, and then I do believe it will be time to
properly introduce you to the Kingdom of Half Moon.”

“Wow,” Scorpia gasped. “I didn’t know trees got that big!”

It was a bright day in Plumeria. Scorpia, Kyle, and Rogelio were near the entrance to the main
community of Plumeria, situated under the shadow of the vast Heart Blossom Tree. They were
wearing uniforms similar to their old ones, but now in a gradient of dark purple instead of red, and
lacking any kind of insignias.

The sight of the towering magenta plant was striking to the ex-Horde squad. “You and me both,”
Kyle whispered. “I’ve read about nature, but seeing it up close and in person…” Kyle had to crane
his neck to see the top branches. “... It’s breathtaking.” Rogelio grunted something quietly and
simply slid his arm around one of Kyle’s, pulling them closer together.
All around them, the community of Plumeria was bustling with the work of the day. Farming,
gardening, bartering. A gaggle of children ran past Scorpia, all giggling incessantly as a blue ball
bounced ahead of them. One of the kids stopped and turned. The little one was staring at Scorpia,
and slowly wandered her way back towards the scorpion woman. In turn Scorpia knelt down to
greet the child.

“Hiya!” Scorpia bellowed. The kid reached for Scorpia’s claw with her left hand. Scorpia played
along, and extended it out to the kid. “My name is Scorpia. What’s your name?”

“...Murna,” the little one said, stroking Scorpia’s claw. “Where’s your hand?”

“This is my hand,” Scorpia beamed. She slowly opened her claw. Murna gasped at it.

“How do you do stuff with it?” the little girl squeaked.

Scorpia gave her a big smile. “Well, it took some time growing up, but now I can use it for just about
everything. I don’t even have to think about it.”

Little Murna gave Scorpia a gap-toothed smile. “Maybe someday I can be like that, too!” she
exclaimed. She held up her right arm; the forearm was only half the size of a normal one and the
fingers on that hand were seemingly pushed and forced together, forming a sort of hook shape.

“Of course you will!” Scorpia exuberantly said. “You’re going to be able to do anything you want!”
Scorpia held her claw up, and Murna gave her a high five. “Now, you should probably go catch up
with your friends,” Scorpia said, running her claw softly along Murna’s shoulders. “But first, could
you possibly point us to the market?” Murna pointed slightly to the east, then ran off, waving as she
left. The Dryl group waved back.

Just to the east of Plumeria’s community square was the market; a long walkway with tables and
stalls and carts lined up on either side. There people could buy or barter for all kinds of goods.
Clothes, jewelry, supplies, trinkets, just about everything. Towards the far end was where all the
food venders seemed to group. Just past the vendors were a series of low, round tables surrounded
by cushions, making a sort of unofficial food court.

The group from Dryl strolled through the market until they got to cart they were looking for, a food
stall near the end of the row. The front was a lavender and blue painted stand with a long counter
with platters of small pastries. The sign on the stall read “Pâtisserie Petit”. Behind the stall a short
woman with blue hair that was tied back into a bun was working the counter while a huskier woman
with lime green hair was working in the kitchen area and a lavender-haired person was mixing
various syrups to concoct different flavors of fizzy water.

Scorpia stood patiently behind a customer at the stand in front of her. When they were done she
walked up to the counter and was greeted with a warm smile from the blue-haired girl. “Hi! My
name is Ayla, how can I help you today?” she chirped.

“Oooh, I have no idea! What’s good?” Scorpia asked.

Kyle popped from behind Scorpia. “I remember seeing something like that at the victory
celebration!” Kyle said as he pointed at a little triangle pastry that had a dollop of jelly sticking out
the top.

“Oh, yes! Our jelly tarts. They are quite popular!” Ayla joyfully claimed.

“I concur, they are very tasty,” Entrapta said, suddenly appearing behind the Dryl Squad.
Ayla jumped back and gasped. The two in the kitchen looked up at the commotion and also gasped.

“Y-Your Majesty!” the green-haired woman shrieked.

Entrapta smiled at them. “Hello, Laudia. Ayla, Allum,” she said with a nod.

All three bowed low. “Princess Entrapta! We heard you returned from the Horde,” Ayla said. “We
were unaware that you’d be coming to Plumeria.”

“Hah,” Scorpia bellowed out. “Entrapta’s here for business and pleasure,” Scorpia boasted. Entrapta
turned a deep red.

Allum, the lavender-haired one, cocked their head to the side. “Peculiar,” they remarked. Entrapta
quickly shook it off and returned to her jovial demeanor. Allum, along with the rest, gulped hard.
“Princess Entrapta… Did you come here to take us back to Dryl?”

“What?” Entrapta yelped. “Not at all. Of course, you are always free to return if you desired to, but
no, the reason we’re here is so possibly arrange for a daily shipment of your sweets and fizzy drinks.
Paid shipments, of course. And I’d handle setting up the transportation.” The trio breathed a sigh of
relief.

“That sounds doable, your Highness,” Laudia said.

“Excellent!” Entrapta proclaimed. “I’ll let Scorpia, Assistant Kyle, and Rogelio here to work out the
details of the shipments. I have… business with-”

“-Princess Perfuma!” Ayla gasped.

At the name, Entrapta’s eyes grew wide, almost as wide as her smile. She spun around on her
pigtails. Perfuma was standing just a handful of yards away.

“Hello everyONE!” Perfuma yelped as Entrapta scurried along on her pigtails and pounced on
Perfuma, finding her lips in seconds.

The Dryl team watched with amused satisfaction at the sight of their friend’s happiness. Their
attention was caught by the sound of glass shattering on the ground. Scorpia turned around to see
three very exasperated faces. A broken fizzy drink bottle lay at Allum’s feet.

“She does have a heart!” Allum breathed.

Laudia leaned in with a smirk. “Looks like I win the bet.”

Allum sighed. “Fiiine. I’ll take all your chores for a week.”

“Deal.”

Locked arm in arm, Entrapta and Perfuma strolled away from the Pâtisserie Petit. They talked about
their week since the Second Battle of Bright Moon on the way. Once they got out of the bustle of the
market, Entrapta was able to focus a little more.

“Plumeria is quite lovely,” Entrapta noted, her head resting on Perfuma’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” the princess giggled. “I hope this is your first of many visits to my kingdom.”

“Of course,” Entrapta said with a light, happy sigh. Pretty soon they came to their destination. A
crate in the Plumeria Community Square. There were Dryl logos plastered on the sides.
“Is this it? The Clack Back system?”

Entrapta bounced along forward and embraced the crate. “Yes! It shouldn’t take that long to set it
up.” Entrapta began pacing around, surveying the forest around the village. “This should be
particularly easy. We’ll just mount them to the trees, that’ll save time.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Perfuma’s cheery face sudden had a look of horror on it.

“What?” Entrapta asked back, not understanding Perfuma’s reaction.

Perfuma took a deep breath. “Entrapta, Dear, mounting involves nails and hammers and whatnot
correct?” Perfuma asked. Entrapta gave a nod, still not understanding the problem. “We are not
mounting anything to the trees.”

It took a moment for Entrapta to process. Her mouth hung slightly open. “But… That would be the
fastest and most efficient way.”

“It’s barbaric!” Perfuma huffed. “Could you just as easily drive a nail through a person?”

“... Trees aren’t people,” Entrapta stammered.

“They can still feel, though! They can feel pain!”

Entrapta stared intently at a tree for a few seconds, then back at Perfuma. “N-no. It is a tree. They
aren’t sentient creatures.”

“Says you,” Perfuma was glaring at Entrapta.

“Yes. Yes, that is what I just said,” Entrapta was examining her girlfriend. At some point she had
become displeased, and was now seemingly downright frustrated. Entrapta had barely an idea why.

This wasn’t the first time. On the day that they got back to Dryl, they had spent the afternoon
together. It was the only time before now Entrapta had been able to see Perfuma. Entrapta
remembered them cuddling together and talking. She remembered Perfuma off-handedly asking her
about her zodiac sign. A wonderful question. Entrapta was ecstatic to show Perfuma her presentation
proving the absurdity of horoscopes. For some reason, Perfuma didn’t seem to approve of the
presentation. Entrapta didn’t understand the tears.

Mounts were something else that Perfuma didn’t approve of, apparently. “I suppose we can install
poles for the system. It’ll take more work, and a little more time,” Entrapta was stroking her chin as
she brainstormed on the fly.

“And be an eyesore,” Perfuma added, her arms were folded. She freed one of them to wave around
at the village. “Look around, Entrapta. We are at one with nature here. We add to it where we can.
We build our buildings and set our tents in accordance with the trees and plants around us. We do
not build giant towers, or poles, that will be blots on that harmonious landscape.”

“Uuuuh,” Entrapta said, mouth agape. “I do not understand, that is the only other efficient solution. If
we waited to develop something else it would take too long, leaving Plumeria unprotected.”

“No poles.”

“Okay, then we will do the mounting then.”

No mounting!”
“You’re mad,” Entrapta said, voice breaking. “I-I do not know what I did.”

Perfuma buried her head in her hands. “No, of course you don’t. All you can see are problems you
can throw machines at!”

“Machines are useful!” Entrapta defended herself. She wanted to move closer to Perfuma, but was
afraid of approaching her at the moment. “I just want to get this defense system up as quickly as
possible! Using the trees for mounts would let us get them up today! Plumeria would be protected!”

“No. Mounts .” Perfuma spit out through gritted teeth. “We’re not putting the system up until we can
figure out a way to do it without hurting the trees or ruining the harmony of Plumeria!”

“But… But..” Entrapta was sputtering. “That would take days! No, mounting is how it needs to be
installed.”

The Princess of Plumeria shot Entrapta an ice cold stare. “We. Are. Not. Mounting. Anything,” she
said with an eerie calm. Then she inhaled in a deep breath. “No, it’s fine. You know what? Plumeria
has builders, just leave it here and they will take a look at it. And if they can’t figure it out I’ll just ask
Bow for help when he gets back.”

Entrapta had no idea how to respond. She started about a dozen sentences in her head, but they all
fell apart. She could feel the tears beginning to well up in the corner of her eyes.

“I think you should go,” Perfuma said, perfectly calm, after an awkwardly silent moment.

“I’m… I’m…” Entrapta kept saying. She gave up trying to say anything with a little huff, and a
whimper. “Okay,” she finally was able to whisper. Entrapta began skulking away. She stopped to
look back at Perfuma, who had her back turned to Entrapta. She began to reach a hand out, but
pulled it back and thought better of it.

Perfuma gave it a couple minutes to make sure that Entrapta was gone before burying her head into
her hands and sobbing.

Much of Castle Half Moon was deserted. There weren’t even any signs of battle. Just emptiness.
Which wasn’t unexpected, just creepy. Mira’Dea had led them through the first few floors quickly.
They were mostly staff quarters and areas for cooking and cleaning and other boring yet vital things
for a castle to function. There was a floor that just consisted of ballrooms, during which both Bow
and Catra recounted their misadventures at royal engagements. Mira couldn’t help but laugh at the
fact that “that time I drugged and captured you, Bow,” was met with such amusement between the
two. The second to top floor was some of the empresses’ personal rooms. C’yra’s lab, where she
kept up with her magical studies, was fascinating. A lot of time was spent in Mira’Dea’s workshop,
where the digital version of Mira’Dea and Bow geeked out about all the tech that was strewn about.

It was the top floor that proved a challenge. As soon as they got out of the stairwell and into the
hallway, it was obvious. Decayed bodies were everywhere. At this point they were mostly just a few
bones in rusted armor and disintegrating fabric. There was a variety of armor in various states of
disrepair; sleek blue Half Moon armor, dark grey armor with the unmistakable Horde logos, and also,
“this looks like what Bright Moon guards wear,” Bow breathed as he knelt down over one of the
dead.
“Yes,” Mira’Dea answered him. “Word got to them too late, but Bright Moon sent a contingent
nevertheless to aid us.” Mira’Dea knelt down next to Bow and gently placed a hand on the armor.
Her eyes fell shut. “They fought valiantly. Gave their lives trying to protect the treasure of Half
Moon,” Mira’Dea sighed.

Catra was carefully walking along the hallway, avoiding stepping on anyone. She was clutching her
own arms tightly, trying desperately to wrap herself in a hug. From the pattern of bodies, it seemed
like the fighting had been heading towards the end of the hall. Catra wandered down, towards the
obvious destination, a door near the end of the hall, where the most bodies were gathered.

Every step took all of Catra’s will. Soldiers and civilians, draped in the flag of her heritage. Soldiers,
bearing the crest of a kingdom that Catra had spent the last year and a half trying to conquer. And the
soldiers that, until a week ago, bore the same crest that Catra had served under all her life. All lay at
her feet.

Once Catra reached the door, there was a build up of bodies. They caught Catra’s eyes, making her
gasp. Then one particular detail caught her attention. Her hands flew up over her mouth. Suddenly,
her chest felt like the heaviest object on Etheria. Mira’Dea and Bow appeared to either side of Catra.
They both followed her line of sight to the floor. Bow gasped along with her.

Mira’Dea knelt down and picked up what Catra and Bow were looking at. Mira sighed. “My tiara,”
she whispered. The digital construct looked down. Her eyes narrowed. “That’s… the real me.” Mira
looked at the door that was in front of her, which was slightly ajar. “I don’t have Mira’Dea’s
memories of this. Obviously, she never had time to download them into me.” Mira let out a little
chuckle. “It’s not a surprise, though, that she’d make her stand here.”

“You said there was treasure in there, right?” Bow asked.

“Treasure?” Catra lifted her head up. She stormed toward the door, with a scowl on her face.
Mira’Dea reached out to grab her arm but Catra dodged it.

“Daughter, wait!” Mira’Dea called out.

“What kind of treasure,” asked Catra as she threw the door open. “Is so important that you’d
sacrifice….” Catra trailed off at the sight of the room.

“... Everything…” Catra mumbled. She wandered into the center of the room, slowly looking
around. “This isn’t a treasure room,” Catra said to herself. Her eyes were wide, a sad scowl started
forming as pieces started falling into place in her mind. The picture they were forming didn’t fit her
reality, though. Part of the territory of growing up under the tutelage of a dark sorceress was that one
had to accept that corners of your mind would always be murky. This shouldn’t have been an
instance of that.

The room around her was a decent size. Next to the door on either side were dressers were once
painted white with drawers that were in the colors of the rainbow. Along the wall to the left of the
door was a window with shreds of a curtain that fluttered in the breeze. The far wall from that was a
closet as well as a giant bin full of toys and plush animals, all now covered in moss and mold.
Directly across from the door was a bed, low enough for a child, but large and plush and with a
canopy whose drapes were tattered, and covered in rainbows and unicorns.

Catra crept over to the bed and gently slid aside the tatters of the drapes. An unkempt bed, that years
ago would have looked like the softest thing in all of Etheria. On the bed was a plush unicorn doll.
There was something about it that stirred Catra’s stomach. She picked it up and turned it over and
over in her hands. Her head throbbed at the sight of the stuffed unicorn. It was almost as if there was
an outline of the unicorn in Catra’s mind. Not an image, but the ghost of one. That didn’t make
sense.

Slowly, Catra turned around and trained her puffy eyes on Mira’Dea, who was standing in the
middle of the room. Bow stood by the door, looking crestfallen.

“You said treasure…” Catra said, her voice was beginning to crack. She was doing everything she
could to hold her face together.

Mira’Dea smiled at her. Not a happy one, but a smile nonetheless. “To C’yra and I, there was no
greater treasure in all of Etheria than you,” Mira softly spoke.

“This can’t be my room,” Catra squeaked. Her eyes fell shut as her brow furrowed and her jaw
clenched. She slowly shook her head. “There’s no crib. This isn’t a baby’s room,” she breathed
through choked back tears.

“You were six when Half Moon fell, my dear,” Mira offered.

Catra's eyes went wide open. "B-but I... I don't," she muttered between gasping breaths, "I don't
remember any of this." She held her head in her hands as wordless thoughts raced through her mind,
ever out of reach. She squeezed her eyes shut as a sharp, burning pain threatened to split her skull in
half with each heartbeat.

Why can't I remember?

Amidst that hauntingly familiar pain, Catra didn’t see the figure approaching her.

"Catra, what's wro--WHOA!"

It wasn't intentional, but a few days away from the Fright Zone could not undo more than a decade
of Horde training. She swiped at the voice with her claws and jumped back, teeth bared, hissing.
Catra's eyes darted around the room until they focused on--

Mira'Dea's right arm shimmered shapelessly before turning back to normal. Catra forgot to breathe
when those piercing green eyes met her own. For an AI, she never expected those eyes could hold
such hurt. It reminded her of greyish blue eyes and that picnic on the hill and--

Oh, no.

A haggard breath escaped her throat before turning into a whimper. Her ears flattened against her
head and her tail fell limp. Catra's eyes fell to her shaking feet, afraid to look at Bow and Mira'Dea
any more. She didn't know what hurt more, her headache or the look in her mother's eyes.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Echoes of Shadow Weaver’s voice rang in Catra’s aching head. Impudent. A disappointment. No
matter how much she fought, how far she ran, the lessons of that witch always seemed to find her.

Then it hit her.

A sneaking suspicion blossomed into horrid realisation. The pain. That biting, piercing pain that
would burn her inside and out. She had known it when she was a scared little girl and she had
known it when she became a woman. Her tail tightly wrapped itself around her waist as shaking fists
clutched her chest, trying oh so desperately to not fall apart.
It didn't work.

Catra collapsed to her knees and let out a deep, guttural scream that shook her entire body.

Within seconds, Mira’Dea and Bow were by her side, hugging her shoulders, caressing her forearms.
Catra started sobbing as she fell into Mira’Dea’s embrace.

“She took it,” Catra said between sobs. “Shadow Weaver took my childhood.”

They sat there, in Catra’s old room, for almost half an hour before Catra could pull herself back
together. During that whole time, Mira’Dea continued hugging her daughter, and Bow kept a tight
grip on one of Catra’s hands. Once Catra was calmed down Bow fished a spare rag out of his pack
and offered it to Catra.

“Come,” Mira’Dea said, rising to her feet and offering her hands to both Bow and Catra. She hoisted
them up, which Bow still found to be an odd sensation. “All this is the past. You’re the ruler of Half
Moon, desolate as it may be. How would you like to see your kingdom?” Catra nodded at the
question.

As they left the room, Bow lingered at the door, staring at the mass of remains. He was pulled out of
a seeming trance by the touch of Catra’s hand on his shoulder. “I know, Bow,” Catra assured him.
“We will deal with that, I promise.” Bow nodded and followed.

The trio slowly made their way to another spiral stairwell that led up to the roof. Mira’Dea tapped
into the castle’s network and opened the door at the top. Bow and Catra filed out onto the roof,
which was a lush garden reserved for royal family. It was overgrown, but it was easy to see what it
used to be. It wasn’t what caught their attention, however. Bow and Catra’s jaws dropped at the sight
beyond the rooftop garden.

The Kingdom of Half Moon. Nestled in a valley that ran through the center of the Scorched
Mountains. A vast shelf jutted out from the mountain, hanging over more than two thirds of the
kingdom, creating a sort of roof over Half Moon. The kingdom was built from the valley up, and
from the shelf down. High towers that rose from the ground and connected to the shelf above littered
the landscape. Walkways and bridges between these pillars were still mostly intact.

Mira walked them to the edge of the roof. She gestured down at the southern part of the valley,
where the buildings were smaller, and there was an entire mile long row of statues, crumbling as they
stood. “See down there? That used to be the arts district. And over there?” Mira pointed to the far
side of the valley, where buildings were dense. “That was our industrial zone, where most of the
power of Half Moon came from. And you can see off in the valley, in the part where the light hits?
Farmland for miles.” Mira’Dea was standing behind Catra, holding her arms, resting her chin on
Catra’s shoulder. “Close your eyes,” Mira commanded. Catra listened. Mira waved a hand and a
holographic projection started building itself in front of them. It took less than a minute to complete.
Bow gasped at the sight.

“Open those eyes, Catra.” Catra opened them. What she saw left her breathless. “Do you see it, my
daughter?” Mira whispered into her ear. “Do you see our kingdom?”

“Yes,” Catra breathed.

In front of her, the holographic projection was creating an overlay, of what the Kingdom of Half
Moon looked like in its prime. The pillars sparkled with lights, as did the city below. Small, personal
sized vehicles zipped through the air. The far valley were full of cattle. The arts district looked as if a
rainbow had exploded all over it.
“It’s beautiful,” Catra stammered. Tears were pouring out of her. “If only this was what it still looked
like.”

“Half Moon was built. It can be rebuilt,” Mira’Dea assured her. “BUT!” she quickly chirped. She
rushed them over to the far side of the roof. With the snap of Mira’s fingers, there was a loud noise
below them, as if gears were grinding to life and pistons started up. “Half Moon still has some things
to offer,” Mira’Dea smiled.

At the base of the castle a large portion of the ground slid open. A platform slowly rose up. Sitting on
the platform was a skiff, three times as large as a regular skiff. Dark blue with gold trim, it was an
enclosed vessel, with a weather deck, and sleek, diamond-shaped windows on the side. It was
curved, almost beak shaped, with an impressive engine in the back.

“What is THAT?!” Catra asked, her eyes going wide.

“The Royal Transport,” Mira’Dea boasted. “Fast, sturdy. Besides the weather deck, there’s two
decks below, including living quarters and a full kitchen. She may need a once-over, you know, after
sitting around for 14 years. But like the rest of the kingdom, she’s all yours.”

Catra smiled at Mira’Dea. In that moment, digital or no, she was just overjoyed to be standing there,
next to her mother. “I’m so glad I got to meet you. Even in this form. I’m not going to forget any of
this.”

“Well, you’re not done yet,” Mira said. Catra gave her a confused look. Mira gave another smile and
walked to the center of the roof, where a shaft rose up all the way to the shelf above. Bow and Catra
followed her. “There is still one more thing you have to do to fully take your place as the ruler of
Half Moon.”

All the readthroughs of “Historian” Adora’s book was paying off. It only took Catra a few seconds
to guess. “The Sun Gems,” Catra said.

“Correct.” Mira’Dea looked up. “There’s an Upper Half Moon, up on top of the shelf. Mostly
farmland. Some suburban communities. And the Sun Tower. A glistening white structure.” Mira
stopped to take a deep breath, which was just a pantomime as she didn’t actually require oxygen.
“When the Horde invaded, C’yra made sure to seal the Sun Gems away. The Sun Tower is a First
Ones structure, able to withstand all kinds of attacks. They’ve been there, waiting for you ever since.

“I cannot leave the castle, obviously. And Bow won’t be able to enter the tower. Only you, my dear
Catra. You must do this on your own.”

“I don’t want to leave you, mom,” Catra sniffled.

Mira gave her daughter a tight hug. “I will always be here. Whenever you need me. In your heart,
and here in this castle. As long as you’re on castle grounds, I’m at your beck and call.” Very
reluctantly, Mira’Dea separated from Catra, but was still holding a hand. “Go, my child. Go claim
your birthright.”

It took awhile for Catra to let go. Eventually she was able to, and her and Bow climbed onto the
elevator in the glass shaft. The door slid shut and the elevator shot into the air. As they ascended,
they could see Mira’Dea waving as they left. Catra gave her a little wave back.

“I know, it’s pretty silly to care that much. She’s not even the real version of her,” Catra sighed. Her
head was pressed against the glass of the elevator.

Bow hugged her from behind. “She seemed pretty real to me. I’m glad you got to meet your mom,”
Bow said. He let out a little laugh. “I’m pretty sure I owe you like ten suss-shees just from today.”

That got a chuckle out of Catra, who continued staring down at the rapidly shrinking castle. “Why
don’t we just make today a free day,” she mused. Bow hugged her tighter.

The Sun Tower wasn’t hard to find. It rose into the air, sparkling in the daylight. The trek to it only
took an hour from the elevator, taking them mostly through what was once farmland.

At the base of the tower was a set of giant double doors with First Ones symbols engraved on them.
Bow craned his neck up. He let out a long whistling noise. “This thing’s gotta be over 300 feet,
easily.”

“I better hope there’s an elevator or something,” Catra cracked. As she approached the door, she
couldn’t help but notice the lack of doorknobs. “I guess I just use my hand again?” Catra guessed.

“Probably!”

Catra stalked to the door. It was hard to explain, but she could already feel the energy coming from
the tower. Catra slowly pressed one hand on the door. It flashed a blinding white light, then creaked
open.

“You got this!” Bow shouted from a few yards back. Catra spun around and marched back to Bow.
To his surprise she slammed into him with a hug.

“I didn’t ask you to come with me,” Catra whispered. “You didn’t have to come, there was nothing
in this for you.” Catra squeezed him tighter. “I don’t think I could have done any of this without you.
Thank you, Bow.”

Bow was firmly hugging her back. “I couldn’t let my friend face all this alone,” Bow responded.
They pulled apart after a moment. Bow simply gave Catra a thumbs-up. She nodded back and turned
to face the door. “I’ll be here when you’re done!”

Slowly, Catra made her way inside the tower. As soon as she did the door behind her loudly
slammed shut. “Figures,” she grumbled.

Inside the tower, daylight funneled down from what appeared to be an opening in the ceiling. A solid
beam of light hit straight down, illuminating a round platform, emblazoned with the royal Half Moon
sigil, in the center of the room. Statues of magicats, draped in ornate robes, lay around the edges of
the ten foot wide platform. Catra shrugged and stepped into the light. The second that her body was
engulfed by the beam of light, the platform suddenly shot straight up into the sky. Knocked off her
feet by the force of the ascension, Catra held on for dear life as she hurtled towards the roof. When
the platform was within ten feet of the ceiling, it slowed its ascent, gently sliding through the opening
in the ceiling as it locked in place, creating a solid, smooth surface on the roof of the tower.

Once it stopped, Catra climbed to her feet. From here, atop the Sun Tower, on the top shelf of Half
Moon, Catra could see almost all of the Scorched Mountains around them, and even farther. To the
east she could see Horde territory. The Fright Zone was little more than a faint blip on the horizon.
To the west was the coastline, and Octopus Cove, the Horde’s seaport.

Around Catra stood four pillars that curved up and met in the center of the roof. She only had a
moment to regard them before they began to glow. Suddenly, light shot out from their sides and
curved to the next one, creating a canopy of light. There was no way out. Catra’s panic reflexes
kicked in. She raced over to the wall of light and tried slashing at it. Her claws bounced off, leaving
no marks.

A twinkling sound filled Catra’s ears. She turned back to the center of the roof. Radiating from the
center top of the bell dome to the platform below was another shaft of light, only about two feet
wide. Inside the shaft of light, hovering about four feet off the ground, were two round yellow jewels
that were each about the size of a strawberry. They caught Catra’s eye. She stalked over to them,
almost in a trance. For a second, Catra thought she heard voices coming from the gems, calling to
her, beckoning her. Her hand hovered inches from the shaft of light.

“They really are quite lovely, aren’t they?” a voice behind Catra said.

Catra whipped around. In front of her, a few yards away stood a magicat, dark furred except for a
hint of calico coloring around her neck, peeking out from the robes she was wearing. Her striking
blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail. Gold and turquoise eyes stared intensely at Catra, softened
only by the smile on her face.

“My sweet child, I’ve waited so long for you to return,” the woman said. She appeared
disconcertingly real.

“Empress C’yra!” Catra gasped.

The Empress grunted. “That is no way to address your mother, little Catra.”

“You know my name,” Catra remarked.

“Hah!” C’yra laughed. “The moment you walked into this tower, I knew everything,” she smiled
and made her way over to Catra. “I am so happy to see you, my daughter.”

“Are… are you another hologram?”

C’yra popped her tongue at the question. “Ppft. You mean like that thing your mother was always
working on in the castle? Mira’Data?”

The name made Catra snort a big laugh. “That’s not what she calls herself!”

“I am not referring to it with your mother’s name. Do you know how many royal functions Mira
tried to get out of by using that thing? Would have fooled just about anyone else, but I know what
my wife feels like!” C’yra exclaimed with a bellowing laugh. She could see that her daughter was
confused. C’yra placed a hand on Catra’s cheek.

“No, little Catra, I’m… Well, I guess the best way to describe it is ‘a spirit’. I am C’yra, just no
longer attached to my body.”

Catra stumbled back. “You’re a ghost?!”

“Sort of.” C’yra waved her arm around at the canopy of light. “The Sun Tower is a nexus, a point
between planes of existence. Where the reality of the living meets the reality of what comes after,”
C’yra smirked.

“How are you here, though?” Catra asked. She tried clearing her scratchy throat, to little effect. Catra
hadn’t noticed it at first, but as C’yra’s voice was softening, it was becoming more obvious; the slight
reverb in C’yra’s voice.
“The Sun Gems are tethering me to this place,” C’yra said. “Listen, my daughter. Can you hear
them?” Catra’s eyes began twitching, searching for the sound. At first she couldn’t hear anything.
“You won’t hear them with your ears,” C’yra informed her, having noticed Catra’s growing
frustration. Catra didn’t know what to do with that at first. She stopped trying to listen, then she
heard it.

Whispers. Echoes of conversations. Indistinct, but there had to be hundreds of voices. Coming from
inside Catra’s mind. She turned slowly to face the Sun Gems, and the whispers intensified. “The Sun
Gems must have a host. They demand it. Since there was no one to inherit their power, I remain
bound to them.”

“So, you’re stuck here,” Catra remarked. She was having trouble taking her eyes off of the Sun
Gems.

“Until I am able to pass them onto a new host. To the rightful heir of Half Moon,” C’yra said. “And
here you are,” she added with a smile.

It felt like a cue. Catra turned back to look into those eyes, the perfect match to her own. “I am
happy, though. It has afforded me the chance to meet my daughter.”

C’yra approached her daughter, despite years of solitude, she looked delighted to finally be here in
this moment. Catra fell into her mother’s outstretched arms. “Mom!” she squeaked.

Turned out that embracing a ghost felt alarmingly like embracing a flesh and blood person. C’yra
gave her a tight squeeze, then pulled back so look her daughter in the eyes. Her thumb slid across
Catra’s cheek, wiping away an errant tear. “I am so proud that you made it this far,” C’yra said. “It is
time now,” C’yra nodded at her daughter.

“For what?” Catra asked, eyebrow raised.

“For you to take your rightful place. Empress of Half Moon, Bearer of the Sun Gems.”

Catra squeezed C’yra’s forearms. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for it, mom,” Catra sniffled. “You’ve
seen my past. I don’t know if I deserve all this.”

The Empress began petting her daughter’s hair. “Oh, my dear, of course you don’t deserve it.” Catra
pulled away quickly and gave C’yra a sad, intense stare.

“I mean, I was hoping for a little reassurance, but I guess honesty is good, too,” Catra murmured.

“You misunderstand me, child,” C’yra said. Suddenly, both Catra and C’yra were floating up into
the air. The room was giving away entirely to blinding white nothingness. “ Nobody deserves this
kind of power. I sure didn’t. For as wonderful as your Adora may be, has she really done anything to
deserve such power? To be able to summon the power of the gods at will?" Catra lost track of C’yra
in the light, but after a few seconds, felt her hands grip Catra’s shoulders. “No, my precious child.
No one truly deserves this. Some of us get it hoisted upon us, while others take it by force. It matters
not in the end. What matters is what you do with this power. I see your heart, my darling daughter.
You’re going to do great things.”

C’yra slid around and took Catra by the hands. “Are you ready?” Catra, teary-eyed, nodded
confidently. “This power is yours now. Use it well. The world is in your hands.” C’yra choked back
a sniffle and stroked Catra’s cheek again. Catra leaned into the touch. “It couldn’t ask for a better
protector.”

At that moment Catra began floating away from C’yra and into the shaft of light. Catra could feel the
energy pulsing through her body, unlike anything she ever felt before. Suddenly it felt like every inch
of her was on fire. She couldn’t see anything around her except blinding light. It got so intense that
she needed to force her eyes closed. She felt a rush of air. Instantly it intensified, like she was caught
in a cyclone. Catra reached out to grab something, anything, but all she found was air. Then, just as
suddenly as it began, it was over.

The floor was beneath her knees. Catra stumbled to her feet as she forced her eyes open. She didn’t
feel any different. C’yra was clapping enthusiastically.

“My Catra!” C’yra said with a little gasp.

“Did... it work?” Catra asked as she rubbed her eyes to wipe away the crust. C’yra waved her hand
and something of a mirror appeared in front of Catra. The sight made Catra gasp. She could barely
believe that she was looking at herself. Catra was now wearing a sleeveless, black top with a sash
that extended halfway down to her knees. Making a ring around her collar, and running down the
center of her top, as well as down each side around where her shoulders were, was gold piping.
Catra’s pants were sleek and black and toeless just as she liked it, but with gold piping around her
ankles that gave the impression of a boot. On each of her arms were golden bracers that almost
reached her elbow. Set into the part of the bracers that sat over each hand were the Sun Gems.

And then there was the hair. Catra instinctively reached for it. It was a shoulder length bob. Her
bushy sideburns extended it a little lower in the front, and it gradually rose to just a little over the
shoulder in the back. “Is the hair part of the uniform or something?” Catra asked.

“No, my dear, your hair was just a mess,” quipped C’yra.

“Moooom!” Catra chuckled.

The two embraced as the canopy of light faded away. “You’re free, my daughter. Free to do
whatever you desire. I just need you to complete one final task for me first,” C’yra said. Catra pulled
away to look her mother in the eyes. “It’s time for me to rest. Time for Half Moon to rest.” C’yra
smiled at Catra. “Do you understand?” Catra’s eyelids fell shut as she nodded.

“I’m never going to see you again, am I?” Catra asked.

“That I got to see you at all is a blessing,” C’yra said. “And we’ll always be with you, my beautiful
daughter, in here,” C’yra said, placing her hand over Catra’s heart. Catra softly whimpered as she
pulled her mom in for what she knew would be their last embrace.

“I love you, mom,” Catra breathed.

“Your mother and I love you, dear Catra. We’re so proud of you,” C’yra replied.

Catra held on to her mother for as long as she could. And then a little longer. Finally, they separated.
C’yra patted Catra on the shoulder. “Go on, then,” C’yra said, melancholy smile on her face. Catra
made her way over to the edge of the roof. There was a little wall surrounding it. She looked down.
From here one could see almost the entirety of Half Moon. It was quite the sight.

“Time to rest,” Catra said under her breath. She knew what her mom meant, what she needed to do.
It was just that she had no idea how to. But as soon as she wanted it, the answer crystallized in her
mind. Catra held out both of her arms. The Sun Gems began to glow. Swirls of goldens sparkles
began spinning about her. Suddenly, Catra’s eyes shone. Catra concentrated hard. At first, she
wasn’t sure if it was working. After a moment, though, she saw it.

Down below, on the roadway leading up to the tower, Bow was sitting down and tinkering with one
of his arrows. He stopped when something caught the corner of his eye. Bow looked over, towards
where a few sets of armor and remains had been. They had begun glowing gold. Slowly, they were
rising into the air, disintegrating into golden flakes that dissipated in the breeze.

Bow jumped up. “What the?!” he yelped. All around him the same thing was happening. It was
happening all around the entire kingdom. Civilians and soldiers of all sides flaked into a brilliant
scene of golden sparkles on the breeze that swept through Half Moon. Carried off, finally at rest.

It was all over after a few minutes. Catra could feel the gems power down as the task was completed.
It was a rush.

“My darling daughter, take care of yourself,” C’yra said from behind Catra. Her voice was more
ethereal than before.

Catra spun around to find that she was alone on the roof. A small smile grew on her face as a few
tears rolled down her face. “Goodbye, Mom.”

A few minutes later, Catra emerged from the tower. Bow was rushing towards her, but stopped
suddenly. “Whoa! Catra!”

“Like it?” Catra asked, playing with her hair.

“You look regal!” Bow mused. “What just happened? That was you, wasn’t it?” Catra nodded and
held up one of her arms, showing off one of the Sun Gems. “They’re all at peace now,” Bow said, a
look of contentment on his face. Catra shook her head.

“Not quite all of them,” Catra informed him. “There were some cases that I thought needed special
attention.”

“A burial worthy of royalty,” Bow added. Catra nodded.

“Bow, I have, an awful favor to ask of you,” Catra said.

“I already know, Catra,” Bow replied, a sly grin on his face. “Of course I’ll help! Anything for the
Empress of Half Moon.”

It was almost midnight. Moonlight lazily flooded into Perfuma’s bedroom. It was a peaceful night,
the sounds of bugs and birds created a soft symphony just outside. It was all interrupted by a loud
“CLANG”.

Perfuma shot up in her bed, a round, plush pad on the floor. It took her a little bit to get her bearings.
Slowly, her eyes focused and she remembered why she was awake in the first place. She slipped out
of the covers and found a robe to wrap around her nightgown before she went outside.

At first, nothing outside seemed out of place. She let herself adjust to the sounds and smells of nature
around her. That’s when she heard what was out of place. Perfuma looked up at the trees around her.

“Entrapta?” Perfuma called out, cocking her head to the side.

“Oh!” Entrapta yelped. She was hanging from a branch, suspended by her pigtails. She quickly
made her way down the tree and slinked over to Perfuma. “I’m sorry! I was trying not to wake
anyone.”

The Princess of Plumeria gave her a quick glance before returning her gaze to where Entrapta had
been up in the trees. “What are you doing?”

Right!” Entrapta said with enthusiasm. She spun around to look up at the trees as well. “Assistant
Kyle and I were trying to figure out another way to install the Clack Backs. That’s when we came up
with our solution. Birds live in trees. They build nests in them and they’re able to do so without
hurting anything. So we developed a sort of ‘nest’ for the Clack Back sensors to sit in. They’re fairly
secure. I do have some concerns about how well they’ll hold up to winds, but we’ll keep working on
them and improving them now that I know that they can successfully be set up.”

“They even look like bird nests,” Perfuma giggled.

“That was Assistant Kyle’s idea. I did not see the need, but he suggested it, and he has been on a
proverbial roll as of late, so I thought I should listen to him.” Entrapta paused as she took a deep
breath.

“There is no telling when Bow is returning, and it was vital that we ensured Plumeria's defense
systems would be fully operational as soon as possible,” Entrapta sighed.

Entrapta could feel Perfuma staring at her. She could also feel all the blood rushing to her face at the
same time.

“You found another way,” Perfuma said with a smile.

“Er, yes,” Entrapta answered. “It was made clear that the first two options weren’t viable, so we had
to come up with another.”

Perfuma took one of Entrapta’s hands. “Come,” she said, and led Entrapta back to her cabin at the
base of the Heart Blossom tree. It was a modest home for a princess, certainly no castle.

“Tea?” Perfuma asked as they entered. Entrapta nodded at the question. Perfuma led them into her
kitchen. She left the Princess of Dryl by a high table to the side of the kitchen and began stoking a
fire to boil water. Much of the kitchen space was given to a long wall of various spices and herbs.
There was an entire section of different tea leaves. Perfuma made her way over and began putting
together the tea blend she wanted.

“I’m sorry,” Entrapta said. She was leaning her elbows on the high table, and staring at it as her eyes
seemingly unfocused. “I couldn’t understand what was upsetting you earlier. I tried. I wasn’t able to
when I needed to.”

Two cups were set on the table. “I’m sorry, too,” Perfuma smiled. She began pouring the steaming
water into the cups. “I know it was hard for you to understand, and I wasn’t doing anything to help
you understand why it was so important to me. I just wanted you to. That was unfair.” Perfuma
dunked tea infusers into the cups for them to steep. Her smile faded as she concentrated on steeping
the tea. “It can be... challenging sometimes.”

Entrapta had straightened back up, and was wrapping her arms around herself. “I know.” she
mumbled.

After another minute the tea was ready, and they took their first sips at that same time.

“That is tasty,” Entrapta said as she continued drinking it. Perfuma smiled at her as she enjoyed her
tea.
Despite doing her very best to focus on the tea, Entrapta found herself unable to. “I am sorry,” she
sighed. “I… I knew I would ruin this eventually. I tried my very best, but the inevitability of this
outcome was always fairly high. I… I….” Entrapta was trying her best to stifle her tears. A few still
found their way down her cheeks. Perfuma came to her side and began caressing her shoulders.

“You didn’t ruin anything, ‘Trapta.” Perfuma gave her a wide grin. “Yes, we did have our first fight,
but it doesn’t need to be our last.”

“It doesn’t?” Entrapta sniffled.

“No! I don’t want it to be,” Perfuma said. She slid her arms over Entrapta’s shoulders. “Truth is, I
love you, Entrapta.”

“I love you, too,” Entrapta stammered as Perfuma leaned in to kiss her. Their lips met, and Entrapta
suddenly couldn’t remember any of her worries. Perfuma gently nipped Entrapta’s lip and giggled
into another kiss. She began pulling at Entrapta, leading them away from the table. Entrapta wasn’t
paying attention to where she was being led, all she could focus on were Perfuma’s lips, and the
sweet smell of flowers.

Suddenly, Perfuma separated them. She was grinning widely. That’s when Entrapta realized where
they were.

“Your bedroom?” Entrapta asked, her voice husky from lack of air.

“Is that okay?”

“... Absolutely,” Entrapta replied. She pulled Perfuma into her and began pulling at the tie holding
her robe closed. In a few seconds it was on the floor as the two continued passionately kissing.
Perfuma’s hands were sliding their way down from Entrapta’s back, appreciating all the taut muscles
along the way. Once she got down to the waist she eagerly tugged Entrapta’s top out of her overalls.
Entrapta slid her gloves off as Perfuma pulled her out of her shirt. The quick motion
discombobulated Entrapta briefly. Just long enough for Perfuma to tackle her down onto her bed.
They both giggled uncontrollably as the rest of their clothes quickly found their way to the floor.

Entrapta was flat on her back. Perfuma hovered over her as they continued kissing, their tongues
dancing together as hands continued to explore. Eventually, Perfuma moved from Entrapta’s mouth
and began kissing down her cheek and slowly down her neck. She spent some time at Entrapta’s
collarbone, as every kiss, every suckle, made the Princess of Dryl gasp a little harder. Soon enough,
though, she made her way to Entrapta’s breasts, and gave each of them plenty of attention.

The purple-haired princess was squeaking underneath her and writhing, which encouraged her on.
Kisses down Entrapta’s abdomen led to playfully running fingers through her purple bush. Pretty
soon, Perfuma was nestling herself between Entrapta’s legs, spreading them wide. She playfully
traced a path up Entrapta’s inner thighs with her fingers while she kissed around her legs
sporadically.

Perfuma was finally at her destination. With a giggle, she gave a good lick up the length of
Entrapta’s crevice, eliciting the hardest gasp yet. With another giggle, Perfuma lowered her mouth
onto Entrapta’s clit and began sucking and flicking her tongue. Two of Perfuma’s fingers began
playing at Entrapta’s entrance, and slowly pushed themselves inside.

Every suckle, every nibble, every push, every prod sent waves of ecstasy through Entrapta’s body.
Perfuma was fingering her at a healthy speed, while her tongue continued working on that plump
clit. Slowly, Entrapta began grinding her pelvis into Perfuma’s mouth. The Flower Princess met the
rhythm as she felt one of Entrapta’s hands digging into her hair.

Fingers gradually quickened their pace as tongues got more and more playful. It wasn’t long before
Entrapta screamed out, overtaken with her orgasm. Her entire body felt like it was exploding. The
entire world was melting away, leaving only that tongue. Entrapta rode the wonderful violence of her
orgasm as it continued rumbling through her body, until finally it passed.

“Cutie pie,” Perfuma airily breathed as she made her way back up Entrapta’s body. She hovered
over her spent girlfriend, admiring how lovely she looked in the moonlight. Suddenly, those intense
red eyes shot open.

With one swift motion Perfuma was on her back. Entrapta was attacking her neck with such
enthusiasm, Perfuma briefly wondered if she had been secretly dating a vampire. The thought didn’t
last long, as it quickly became difficult for any thoughts to last as Entrapta bit down on Perfuma’s
collarbone, driving her completely wild. At the same time, Entrapta’s hands found their way down to
Perfuma’s breasts. Entrapta was enjoying all the little noises that playing with Perfuma’s nipples
pushed out of her mouth. Soon, Entrapta moved her mouth down to join the fun.

With her mouth taking over at Perfuma’s breasts, Entrapta’s hands were free to move on. She
playfully slid her right hand down Perfuma’s stomach, all the way down to her penis. She let her
fingers playfully dance around along her shaft, which seemed to be the right move.

Satisfied that Perfuma’s nipples were plump and raw enough, Entrapta began kissing her way down.
Entrapta reached her penis and gently kissed her way down the shaft, then licked her way back up it.
This forced a heavy moan out of Perfuma, so Entrapta did it again. She kept planting sloppy kisses
along it for a bit as her hand played with Perfuma’s base. After another lick up, Entrapta began
suckling on Perfuma’s head in a gentle up and down motion. Her hand slid along the shaft in rhythm.
A couple minutes later, Entrapta slid more of the penis into her mouth, and wrapped her tongue
around it. She began bobbing up and down, each time forcing another gasp out of her girlfriend.

Perfuma didn’t last much longer. Pretty soon, she began convulsing as Entrapta’s lips slid smoothly
along the shaft. Perfuma’s orgasm rumbled through her body, shaking her entire core. Once it
passed, Entrapta pulled the dick out of her mouth, and gave it a few extra teasing licks, which elicited
a few husky giggles as her legs twitched violently.

Entrapta flicked her tongue over the penis’ head. She noted how Perfuma’s legs convulsed around
her. “Involuntary spasms. Fascinating,” she murmured.

“Do you enjoy toying with my body?” Perfuma asked, still panting. Entrapta crawled up to kiss her
girlfriend on the mouth.

“I enjoy learning about your body,” Entrapta responded. She settled into Perfuma’s arms as they
continued lazily pecking at each other’s mouths.

“You love me?” Entrapta asked, voice husky and exhausted.

“I do,” Perfuma smiled. “You love me?”

“I do.”

“Stay the night?” Perfuma asked through more kisses.

“Okay,” Entrapta smiled.

Sometime around three in the morning, Entrapta emerged from Perfuma’s cabin. She had wrapped
herself in Perfuma’s robe. Confident that she had left her girlfriend fast asleep, Entrapta strolled away
from the cabin to one of the nearby trees.

Two giant roots extended from the base of the massive tree making something of a nook. Entrapta
knelt down and sat, facing the tree. She ran her hand over one of the roots. Yep, definitely wood.

“You can feel things, apparently,” Entrapta mumbled to the tree. She gave the root a gentle squeeze.
“Can you feel that?” she asked.

No response.

Entrapta snorted in a deep breath through her nose. “I don’t understand how that works. But for all
my intellect, there’s a lot of things I seemingly don’t understand.” Entrapta’s eyes fell mostly closed
as she took another deep breath in. “In the morning I get to wake up next to Perfuma. I don’t know
what I’ve done to earn this. I’m terrified that when I awaken, I’m going to be alone, and find out that
this was all a dream.

“...For a time I was fully expecting all this to blow up in my face, and I was willing to write it off as
another failed experiment. But I can’t any longer. Failure is no longer an acceptable outcome.

“But I don’t know how to make it, make us, succeed…

“... I have to figure it out. I will.”

Over the next few days, Catra and Bow remained in Half Moon. Bow spent a lot of his time working
on the royal transport, which Catra renamed “Clawdeen”, after she found a historical record of an old
family pet. Catra, on the other hand, spent a lot of time exploring the kingdom. She used Adora’s
book as something of a tour guide. It was remarkably accurate. Catra couldn’t help but feel some
sense of pride for her girlfriend.

Bow joined Catra occasionally, but with his focus on the repairs, Catra spent most of her time alone.
She was okay with that, as it gave her a chance to practice some of the other benefits of inheriting the
Sun Gems. Her reflexes were even sharper, as was her stamina and sense of balance. When she
summoned the power of the runestones, she found that her strength had increased. What she was
most excited about, though, was that when she was actively drawing power from the Sun Gems, her
razor sharp claws would glow yellow and grow three times as long.

One of her favorite finds in the kingdom was an old clothing shop with a back room full of
mannequins that she repurposed as training dummies. She had set them up in the street in front of the
shop, making a sort of training course.

Catra was making short work of a mannequin when Bow found her. He announced his presence by
shooting one of the mannequins to Catra’s right. She stopped and turned to greet the archer with a
smile.

“Hey, bud,” Catra said as she made her way up the hill to where he was standing. “What’s up?”
“Nevermind that, were your claws glowing? And huge?!” Bow asked, a face full of astonishment.

“Yup,” Catra smoothly answered. “These runestones have all kinds of perks.

“So, anyway, what’s up?” Catra asked again before Bow could follow up his question. It wasn’t that
Catra didn’t appreciate all of Bow’s support, but being the constant center of attention while in Half
Moon was starting to make Catra uneasy. She loved finding the home of her people; learning about
where she came from. It had been over a week now, though, and Catra found herself missing Adora
immensely. She was also concerned about how Scorpia, Kyle, and Rogelio were fitting in to their
new environment. Catra had set out looking for her home, but she was beginning to realize that she
had found it, and she was getting anxious to get back to it.

“Clawdeen’s almost fixed. She should be ready by tomorrow,” Bow boasted. He turned and
beckoned Catra to follow. She quickly ran and grabbed her book, then followed.

“Great news! And the teleporter?”

“Still unable to reach Bright Moon,” Bow answered. “Works fine on our end. My guess is that after
the fall of Half Moon, they shut everything down on their end, for security purposes.”

“Makes sense,” Catra nodded. “Where we going, by the way?”

“Back to Clawdeen, I have a surprise for you!” Bow chirped. When the impressive ship came into
view he quickened his pace. He scurried up the ramp to the top deck and through the doorway
leading into the ship’s superstructure where the bridge was housed.

Catra was right behind him. “What’s so import…” Catra trailed off as she entered the bridge. In the
middle of the bridge Bow was standing with his arms pointing out to the side. They were pointing at
Mira’Dea, standing right next to him. “...ant. Mom?! I thought you couldn’t leave the castle?”

“Surprise!” Bow yelled.

The shout made Mira jump slightly, but her giant grin held nevertheless. “Bow and I have been
working on extending my network to the Royal Tra- I’m sorry, to Clawdeen. So now I can exist
here, too. Everywhere the ship goes, I go!” Mira’Dea beamed. Catra wasted no time hugging Mira.

“It’s good to see you again,” Mira’Dea remarked. She held Catra at arm’s length for a moment. “And
look at you! Sweetie, you look fantastic!” Mira made a little humming noise. “You got to see her,
didn’t you?.”

“Yeah,” Catra confirmed. “It was brief, but I was happy I was able to meet her at all.”

“Your mother was an amazing woman,” Mira said. She was staring off to the side, a wistful
expression on her face. “As is her daughter.”

The compliment made Catra blush. “Moooom!” she huffed. “We talked about you. She called you
Mira’Data,” Catra quipped.

Mira’Dea bristled. “I always hated that name. She never did like me that much. I understand, I
suppose. It’s just a little hard. I love C’yra, deeply. I’m an exact recreation of the flesh and blood
Mira’Dea, just without the flesh. And blood. I can’t help but love her, just as the original Mira’Dea
loved her. I try to take solace in that I know that she loved the other me very much.” Catra consoled
her digital mother by giving her a tight squeeze.

Suddenly, the two magicats quickly pulled away from each other. “Did you hear that?” they both
 said in unison.

Bow sighed. “You know I didn’t,” he huffed.

All three of them made their way onto the weather deck. “There it was again,” Catra remarked.
“Someone’s calling for us. Sounds like it’s coming from the castle.” Mira’Dea held up her hand
towards the castle. Lines of coding began scrolling over her eyes.

“Someone is in the throne room. It appears to be a human male. Seems like he came through the
teleporter,” Mira’Dea informed them.

Catra and Bow looked at each other. “Mom, wait here,” Catra said as they jogged down the onramp
and back to the castle. They found Mattis wandering around in the foyer.

“There you two are!” Mattis said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Good to see you, Matty,” Catra said. Bow made a grunting noise that could have been construed as
an agreement. “Welcome to Half Moon!” Catra continued.

Mattis took a look around, his eyes growing wide as he took the impressive architecture in. “Thanks.
Wish I was here just for fun,” Mattis said. He was met with confused looks. “Thanks to all that info
you left me we’ve been able to keep an eye on the Horde.

“Something’s up. Don’t know what exactly, but there’s been a lot of troop movement lately. It
appears that they’re directing most of their squadrons to the northern part of the Fright Zone.”

Bow and Catra briefly exchanged meaningful glances before nodding at each other. Then Catra
turned back to Mattis and flashed a sly, little smile that exposed one of her canines. “Well, sounds
like vacation’s over.”

Chapter End Notes

Hehehe.

Okay, like I said, things should be settling down for me. I missed last week, can't
change that unfortunately. But I made this week, right on time. So let's see if I can make
next week on time. So tentative plan:

Chapter 21 will be posted Sunday night July 28 or early Monday morning.

Next time:
"No, I'm an Empress. There's a big difference."
 The Battle of Midnight Sands
Chapter Notes

HII! Soooo, I missed a month. I am so sorry. Not even that it took me this long to do this
chapter (it is over 14,000 words, so at least I come bearing a sizable offering ), but
because I said I'd post it by a certain and I missed that, badly. I want to get this out so
fast because I want you all to read this story. But making promises and deadlines I can't
keep isn't helping anyone, including me. Thankfully, after a pretty crummy Summer (it's
always been my least favorite season), things are starting to settle down and I'm starting
to get back into my work flow, so I'm optimistic that I can get back on track.

Here's the good part that makes me feel a little better. Yesterday was the FIVE MONTH
anniversary of Jackets! I can barely believe that! I feel like this has just been a part of
my life for so long now. And while I have had a harder time keeping up in the last two
months, I feel good about, after five months, having 21 chapters posted clocking in at
over 175,000 words.

But here's the bad news: I want to *make sure* I can get ahead again, which means
now that this one's up I need a little time to work on the next. Sadly, that means this is
going to be the only chapter released in August. I hate how that feels, but I also know
that it's the right thing to do. I really want to get back to a place where the updates can
be overall more regular, especially since we're hurtling towards the heart of this second
arc.

SO, the plan: next update will be on Friday, September 6th.

And YES, I of course DID see season 3 and HOLY SHIT. Obviously, at this point,
Jackets firmly only lines up with s1. Hell of a season though. What a damn masterpiece.
Granted, I'm one of the handful of hardcore Pertrapta shippers out there, so that one
ship I wasn't super jazzed about, but even it was well done.

And just a friendly reminded that Legendgrass did a lovely fanart for Jackets which can
be found here: http://fav.me/ddbv91y.

One more thing, a continued thanks to WoburnHouse for being my editor. You all will
never have to see the 1st draft of this chapter and you don't know how lucky you are for
that!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Hordak paced back and forth in his Sanctum. He had been doing so in silence for over two minutes
now. Shadow Weaver stood just inside the door, her hands pressed together in front of her, patiently
waiting while Hordak continued pondering.

“I don’t know if I am convinced,” Hordak stated after a moment. Every once in a while he ran his
hand over his chest. The spots where Catra’s claws had dug deep into. It was maybe Catra’s one
mistake in her defection plan: leaving Hordak with a lasting reminder.
“Your Excellency, this may be our best chance yet to acquire the Radiant Core. According to our
spies, something is wrong with She-Ra. The Radiant Core is tied to her power. That vulnerability
may be just what we need to finally break through the defenses of the Radiant Sanctuary in Mount
Candila.”

The words ‘Radiant Core’ made Hordak’s eye twitch. “That magical bauble that every Force
General I have seems to obsess over,” Hordak grumbled.

“It is vitally important, Lord Hordak,” Shadow Weaver responded, her patient demeanor intact.

“Yes, as you have told me,” Hordak said. He lost interest in pacing. Instead, he turned his focus to
one of the work stations in the Sanctum. On the table sat a large metal ring made out of wires and
coils. Hordak leaned over the table and glared at the ring. “I have been stranded in this desolate place
for too long. Every attempt to open a portal has failed.”

“Despondos is not an easy dimension to get in or out of,” Shadow Weaver said as she approached
the table. “It took a tremendous amount of energy to bring Etheria here.” Shadow Weaver ran her
long, withered fingers along the top of the ring. “The Radiant Core is the only thing that could get
any of us out of this bleak existence. With its power you could conquer Etheria and return to your
people.”

“What is the condition of our forces?” Hordak asked, eyes still locked on the failed portal device in
front of him.

Shadow Weaver stood up straight. “In the month since our assault of Bright Moon, our ranks have
been replenished nicely. Assembly lines have been working around the clock. Our tanks and attack
robots numbers are nearly at what they were before the assault.”

From the look on his face, it was obvious that Hordak still had some reservations. “The assault
would be a small, precise strike. A diversion from the real prize.”

“She-Ra will still be there,” Hordak grumbled.

Over these many years, Shadow Weaver had learned, often the hard way, the price for lying to
Hordak. Despite wanting to give him hard assurances, Shadow Weaver knew that was a fool’s
errand. “It will be a risk, but we may not have a better chance than right now.” Playing games with
Hordak was a surefire way to wind up in jail, or worse. There was one thing, however. Hordak
loathed Etheria. Being stuck on it was a source of constant irritation, mental and physical. Those few
that knew that secret knew the truth: he was desperate. “Without the Radiant Core, who knows how
long we’ll all be stuck here.”

“Fine,” Hordak huffed, pushing himself up from the table. “We will commence with the assault of
Midnight Sands.” Shadow Weaver bowed and spun in place to leave. “Shadow Weaver,” Hordak
called to her before she could get more than a couple feet. She turned back around instantly. “Do not
focus on Mount Candila at the expense of the assault. We can ill afford to lose another battle so
spectacularly as last time.”

“Yes, Lord Hordak,” Shadow Weaver responded. She bowed slightly, then turned. With a wave of
her hand the door shot open. Shadow Weaver floated out of the room as Hordak returned to his
tinkering. The door slid closed behind her. Not even her mask could hide the smile growing beneath
it.
For the third time in as many weeks, Adora and Glimmer were visiting Skydancer Kingdom on
‘official Princess Alliance business’. At least, that was what Glimmer was telling everyone. Adora
hadn’t thought much of the first two visits, but Glimmer had trouble giving her a straight answer
about the need for this third one. As soon as they had arrived, though, when Glimmer had seemingly
lit up upon seeing Embra there to greet them; when Glimmer couldn’t even wait to dismount Swift
Wind, electing instead to teleport almost directly into Embra’s arms, Adora had gotten the answer she
was looking for. Not that Adora minded, she was happy to see her best friend so smitten. The war
weighed heavily on Glimmer. She had taken her role as leader of the Princess Alliance extremely
seriously. These afternoons with the Princess of Skydancer were the only times as of late that weight
seemed to lift at all. Giving them more time together was the reason Adora turned down Embra’s
offer for lunch.

Well, part of the reason. Adora did want to give Glimmer a chance to be alone with Embra. She had
a selfish reason, too, though. Adora, or more specifically, She-Ra, had been eager to explore the
libraries of Skydancer Kingdom. They had been the guardians of Mount Candila and the Radiant
Core for centuries, and She-Ra was certain that there would be something of interest. Deep down,
Adora was hoping that the Core might hold the key to her condition.

Skydancer’s Royal Library was nestled snugly in the center of the castle. There were no windows,
but the large room was bright with an abundance of hanging and wall-mounted lamps. The walls and
floor were a light grey stone that bounced the light back into the room. Four long tables that stretched
two-thirds the width of the room sat near the entrance, with over two dozen chairs for each one.

Adora sat by herself at one of the long tables, a couple stacks of books piled in front of her. She was
currently hunched over an open book on the history of Skydancer Kingdom with her head propped
up by her arm. The book had been on the same page for almost ten minutes now. Adora couldn’t be
sure if she had read the first passage yet, but she didn’t recognize it, so she tried reading it again.

“Hey, Adora.”

That soft familiar voice compelled Adora to sit up. “Catra!” she squealed. Her girlfriend was sitting
in the chair directly to her left. She was wearing her trademark red outfit, including her iconic
headpiece. Unfortunately, Adora was fairly sure that Catra’s trademark red Horde top was still neatly
folded in her middle dresser drawer, along with the headpiece. Adora let out a long, deflating huff of
air as she slumped back into the chair. “Dammit, I fell asleep again, didn’t I?”

“Sorry, Babe, afraid so,” Catra purred into Adora’s ear as she leaned over and began running her
fingers through Adora’s ponytail. “I love seeing you in the jacket I got you, though.”

“Of course,” Adora blushed. “Especially right now. It keeps you close to me.”

Catra slid her fingers along the chain of Adora’s new necklace, stopping at the blue gemstone
dangling in front of Adora’s chest. “Are you going to tell me about this?” Catra inquired.

The gemstone seemingly sparkled to Catra’s touch. Adora took Catra’s hand into her own and
smiled at her. “When you get back. I promise.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Catra murmured. She nuzzled her nose against Adora’s. Adora
could feel Catra’s breath gently tumbling over her lips. Catra leaned in further. The heat coming of
Catra’s lips was driving Adora wild on the inside. Their mouths were mere inches apart, and the
distance was closing.
“Ugh. I am going to vomit.”

The comment wedged itself between Catra and Adora, pushing them back into their respective
chairs. Adora snorted in a deep breath, then glared across the table. On the other side was She-Ra,
sitting with her legs propped up on the table, and her arms folded tightly over her chest.

“Nobody asked for your input, Shero ,” Catra snarled. She threw her shoulder over the back of her
chair as she leaned into it, and put her feet up on Adora’s lap.

She-Ra huffed at the insult. “Not like I have much of a choice, Furball. I’m stuck here, same as
you.”

Adora rubbed her temples with both hands. “She-Ra, I thought we agreed to allow me some
privacy.”

“Yes. Mainly because I don’t want to see that . But we’re here on business, Adora. Not
pleasure. ” She-Ra put her feet down and scooted closer to the table. She grabbed the book Adora
had been trying to read and began flipping through it. “ I would think you’d want to focus, given
your condition and all,,” She-Ra grumbled.

“What’s she talking about, Adora?” Catra asked. Adora smirked at her.

“I hope you return soon, Kitten,” Adora answered. “I can’t wait to see you!” she happily chirped.
Adora’s mood didn’t last long. A forlorn face quickly replaced the previous happiness. Adora
pushed a small smile out as she ran her fingers over the blue gemstone in her necklace. “I really can’t
wait to see you,” Adora sighed. “I’m trying my best to be patient. It gets harder with each day.”
Adora looked up at the catgirl next to her and took her by the hand again. “I wonder if you miss me.”

“Of course I do,” Catra assured Adora.

“That’s one of the few things we agree on ,” She-Ra remarked. “ Adora, that cat loves you, stop
doubting it.”

Catra chuckled. “See, even Musclehead knows,” she said.

“Okay, that’s it! ” She-Ra rose to her feet. “ Adora it’s time to WAKE UP!”

The sound of She-Ra’s booming voice made Adora jump in her seat. As the fog of sleep slowly
lifted away, Adora rubbed her cheek, trying to clean off the dried saliva all along it. On the table was
the same book, open to the same page that Adora was now sure she had read at least three times. The
page was damp and dark. Adora quickly tried drying it with the sleeve of her shirt, to middling
success. Appreciating that she was in the room alone, Adora quickly turned to a new chapter.

You didn’t have to do that.

The longer we sit around slacking off, the longer it’s going to take us to find information on the
Radiant Core.

Adora sighed.

You’ve been obsessing over the Core for weeks now, She-Ra. We exhausted the Bright Moon
libraries and now we’re here. I wouldn’t call that ‘slacking off’. Is it so wrong that I wanted to see
my girlfriend?
That wasn’t your girlfriend. Just stay focused. You’ll see her again.

“Will I?” Adora muttered. She was flipping through the pages of the book. It was becoming clear
that the information they needed wasn’t going to be found in that book.

Don’t talk like that. She will come back. You will get a chance to see her again. Just hold on.

As she expected, there was nothing they didn’t already know in this book. Adora flipped the back
cover shut. She pushed herself away from the table slightly and slumped back into the chair. “This is
pointless, She-Ra. We’re never going to figure out how to acquire the Radiant Core, if there really
even is a way.”

There has to be. Light Hope said that—

—Light Hope says a lot of things. I’m not even sure what I believe anymore.

The thought of Light Hope made Adora groan. Despite Adora’s skin appearing smooth and clean,
she absently scratched at the spot on her wrist where the rash had first formed. “Supposedly the
Radiant Core will be ours when we’re powerful enough. What does that even mean?” Adora sighed.

Adora sat, in thankful silence as she could feel She-Ra thinking for a few minutes. Just as Adora was
starting to drift back to thoughts of Catra, she could feel She-Ra becoming more attentive, as she
usually did when she was about to start talking. Adora gave it about a 15% chance that the timing
was an accident.

I have an idea.

Can’t wait.

We’re likely not going to find anything of use in any of these books. So why don’t we just go see?

See?

The Radiant Core. The Radiant Sanctuary. Mount Candila. Let’s go investigate.

I don’t know, She-Ra. Embra said that their family doesn’t allow people to enter Mount Candila.
Even just reaching the Radiant Sanctuary is dangerous trek that, according to Embra, “should be
reserved for immortals”.

I’m immortal.

Well, I’m not!

…not yet at least.

Come on, Adora! If nothing else, we can at least check it out. It would be a much better use of
our time than just sitting around here missing your girlfriend some more.

Alright! Alright, fine, I guess. Let’s go hike through a volcano.

“Yaaaay,” Adora grumbled.

Sitting atop a stone terrace that was built into the side of the mountain that Skydancer Castle sat
upon, was the royal family’s private garden. Rows and rows of flowers of every color filled most of
the garden. Circling the edge of the garden was a ring of bushes shaped into all manner of animals.
In the center of it was a large, round stone table with stone benches surrounding it. Glimmer and
Embra were sitting on the same bench, enjoying a hearty lunch full of signature Skydancer dishes.
Embra had invited Adora to join them, but she declined, opting instead to spend the afternoon in the
Royal Library. Nothing against her best friend, but Glimmer wasn’t exactly upset that Adora decided
not to join them.

“Here, you have to try this next,” Embra cheerfully ordered. They held a fork full of some kind of
fried potato, slathered in a green sauce and melted cheese in front of Glimmer. After swallowing the
food she was already chewing, Glimmer let Embra feed her the mystery potato dish.

A satisfied hum floated out of Glimmer. “That’s really good!” she exclaimed.

“One of my faves,” Embra smiled. They both shared the rest of the plate, which didn’t last long. The
meal was finished over the course of the next hour. It would have gone faster, but all the
conversation and fits of laughing slowed their pace. Once they were finally done, Embra took
Glimmer on a proper tour of the gardens. They walked for a bit, at a slow, casual pace. Embra kept
pointing out their favorite flowers to a very attentive Glimmer.

The two continued strolling through the garden. Glimmer kept admiring the flowers while Embra
walked next to her, with their arms folded behind their back.

“Thank you, Glimmer, for everything you’ve done to help me feel like a part of the Princess
Alliance,” Embra said as they reached one of the low walls. They both leaned against the wall,
which looked out towards the northern shores of Skydancer, just over the mountains. “I’m not used
to being a part of things. We stay pretty secluded up here in Skydancer.”

“You’re not alone, the Horde has made a lot of kingdoms afraid,” Glimmer responded.

“But not you,” Embra said. They glanced over at Glimmer and smiled. “Even before She-Ra showed
up, you were taking the fight right to them. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone nearly as fearless as
you, Glimmer.”

Glimmer could feel the heat coming off of her cheeks. She did her best to ignore it. “Everyone thinks
that they can just close themselves off and hide. The Horde doesn’t care about that. They’ll push as
far as they can. Then further.”

“We’re not going to let them,” Embra assured her.

Silence fell between them. Not a bad silence. More, one of those silences that happen because simply
being in the presence of each other is all that’s needed.

After a bit, once she felt like the flushness of her cheeks had settled enough, Glimmer worked up the
nerve to glance at Embra. “I know it’s only been a few months, but you’re just as important to the
Alliance as any of us. I’m so happy that you’re with me—I mean us! With us!”

Embra chuckled and turned to Glimmer. They set their hand over the hand Glimmer was resting atop
the wall. Their fingers intertwined together, which made the flushness in Glimmer’s cheeks return.
“And I’m glad you’re here with me,” Embra cooly said.

Before they knew it, the two of them were facing each other, just inches apart. Their fingers were
still intertwined. Glimmer stared straight up at Embra whose face hung over Glimmer’s. “Embra…”
Glimmer breathed. Her voice was husky and low. Very slowly, Glimmer began pushing herself up
on her tiptoes as Embra continued to lower their head down towards Glimmer.

Then the moment was completely bulldozed by a royal Skydancer servant as they ran up to a few
feet behind Embra screaming “Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” Embra quickly straightened up and
could be heard audibly growling. Glimmer took the opportunity to relax her posture and lean back
against the wall, doing her very best to look as innocent as possible, something she was currently
completely failing at.

“ What is it?” Embra glowered through gritted teeth. They slowly turned to the servant, whose
expression of utter fear caused Embra to soften their stance.

Before delivering the news, the servant bowed low. “Forgive me, Your Highness! But news from
Midnight Sands has arrived that needed to be brought to your attention immediately. The Horde has
been building up forces along the border to the Kingdom of Midnight Sands, and now it seems that
they’re building full troop camps.”

Glimmer approached the two. Her and Embra exchanged disturbed glances as they heard the news.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Embra remarked.

“Prince Akur has requested an audience with the Princess Alliance as soon as possible,” the servant
continued.

Both princesses nodded at the request. “Send word to the Prince that Princess Glimmer and I will be
there later this afternoon, and the rest of the Alliance will arrive when they can. Also, advise the
royal captains to have our soldiers on alert, just in case.”

Embra dismissed the servant then turned their attention back to Glimmer, whose demeanor had
transformed into something a lot more ready for battle. Their eyes met, and they both let out a little
sigh followed by a tiny laugh, acknowledging the moment that was lost.

“I know what I just said, but so soon after their loss in Bright Moon? This is bold. I’m worried that
we may be missing something here.” Glimmer mused.

“I doubt Sands is the goal. They’re just an obstacle to Mount Candila. I guess the Horde’s foray into
diplomacy really did die at the Midsummer Ball,” Embra laughed.

The first thought Glimmer had made her shudder. “Well, I think that was mostly a project Catra was
pushing,” she forced herself to say. Embra got a hearty laugh out of Glimmer’s clear discomfort.

“That hurt you, didn’t it?” Embra asked. Glimmer meekly nodded.

Most of the border between the Kingdom of Midnight Sands and Horde territory were rocky hills
and forests. There was one exception. Along the southern part of the border was a large gap in the
hills, allowing a path straight into the Midnight Sands Desert. There had always been security
stations on each side of the gap. In recent days, though, the security station on the Horde side had
grown to at least three times the size as more troops and tanks continued to arrive. As such, there was
now a sizable collection of pop-up barracks in the area.
It was late in the afternoon, long after just about everyone else had finished their lunches. The mess
tent was empty, save for Lonnie. She was sitting at one of the long bench tables, one arm propping
her head up as she casually ate her rations. Eating late had become a habit for Lonnie since arriving
to the outpost. She had found it easier than trying to avoid the stares. Lonnie had built up enough of a
reputation around Horde Command that she still had respect there. Out here, though, out in the field,
it seemed that the only reputation she had was that of being the one person of the Force General’s
squad to not defect. Some were stares of pity. Some of suspicion. All were downright annoying.

A mini-monitor sat on the table next to Lonnie, battle plans brightly displayed on it. She was trying
to focus on them as the faint sound of troops running through drills wafted in through the tent door.
Part of Lonnie wanted to be out there. Combat was where Lonnie always found the most solace.
Instead, she had spent the day studying the details of the mission. Her performance had to be perfect.
This was, after all, her first real mission as Force Captain. She was getting to lead a whole squad. It
was a high honor. Lonnie glanced at the list of names of her squad that was on the monitor. She
knew some of the names. They had good reputations.

They weren’t the names she wanted to see.

Feelings of unease swept over Lonnie. Every attempt to move past those feelings always seemed to
fail. She knew she shouldn’t be as bothered as she was. After all, staying was her choice. Everything
about the Rebellion made Lonnie’s skin crawl; and yet, everyone important to her was now there. A
month later, Lonnie was surprised to find that the thought of that still stung just as much.

Lonnie leaned back and rubbed her face while exhaling a long sigh, then took another bite of ration.
Chewy.

“That looks absolutely delicious,” a voice said. Lonnie glanced over her shoulder to see Decepsha,
standing just inside the doorway, devious smirk on her face. She strolled over and plopped down on
the bench next to Lonnie, her back was to the table, with her elbows propped up on it. “And I am
definitely being sincere right now.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Lonnie scoffed.

“You got me!” Decepsha chuckled. “One of the upsides of being a spy is the chance to try an array
of food. And let me tell you, Horde rations? Not high on the list.”

An annoyed grumble came out of Lonnie. “Yeah, well, not like I have much of a choice, now do I?”

“You do, actually,” Decepsha quipped as she produced a small plastic container and pushed it in
front of Lonnie. The top of the container popped off with ease. Lonnie wasn’t sure what she was
looking at, but as soon as her nose got a whiff she knew she needed to devour it immediately. She
picked up one of the white dusted puffed balls and popped it into her mouth. Almost immediately,
Lonnie’s eyes seemed to sparkle with pure joy. She trained those sparkling eyes on Decepsha and bit
her lip.

A little smirk grew on Decepsha’s face as she pushed the container even closer to Lonnie. It wasn’t
long before Lonnie managed to devour the entire thing.

“Powdered zalabya,” Decepsha said. Lonnis simply nodded as she finished off the last one. “Popular
dessert in Midnight Sands.”

“That why you’re here?” Lonnie asked.

“Reporting back.” Decepsha leaned closer to Lonnie and talked in a low tone. Not quite a whisper,
but close. “They’re going to be letting you all know in a little bit, but the attack is gonna happen
tomorrow.”

Lonnie glanced back down at her monitor and nodded. “So the Alliance showed up?”

Decepsha nodded. Lonnie let out a sigh and clicked the monitor off. The news was weighing on
Lonnie, who was still seemingly staring at the monitor even though it was powered down.

“I didn’t see her,” Decepsha stated. It snapped Lonnie’s attention to her. “Catra. She’s not in
Midnight Sands. Scorpia and Entrapta are, as well as that laug and his little blonde boyfriend.”

“Rogelio and Kyle,” Lonnie automatically answered. She rose to her feet and scooped up the
monitor. “I should go start with the preparations. Later, Dee.” Lonnie began to turn around but
Decepsha caught her by the arm. The Force Captain turned back around to find herself face to face
with a now-standing Decepsha.

“Wait,” Decepsha softly said. With her free hand she pulled a little pendant necklace out of her
pocket. “Here,” she mumbled, pushing the pendant into Lonnie’s chest. Lonnie took it into her hand
and examined it. It was an old, metal rounded rectangle with a couple rust stains on it. On one side
was embossed a twin-tailed seahorse. Lonnie shot Decepsha a confused glance.

“It was my mother’s,” Decepsha said, answering the question Lonnie had asked with her expression.
Decepsha’s focus was on the pendant. “She gave it to me just before… well, that’s not important.
She said it would bring me good luck, and it always has. You’re going to need all the luck you can
get tomorrow.”

“What about you?” Lonnie asked as she ran her thumb over the seahorse.

Decepsha shook her head. “Oh, I won’t be fighting. I’m more about subterfuge. You know,
deception and sneaking and all that. Not so much about the fighting,” Decepsha exclaimed, her
chipper attitude returning.

Deep in the center of the Midnight Palace was their ‘war room’; a giant hall with a large, round
marble table in the center of the room. Along the sides of the room were stations of monitors and
smaller tables strewn with papers and maps.

The majority of the Princess Alliance was seated at the table: Glimmer, Embra, Mermista, Frosta,
Perfuma, Entrapta, Netossa, and Spinnerella were all there. With them were Scorpia, Rogelio, Kyle,
and Sea Hawk. They were all waiting for Prince Akur. In the meantime, they chatted amongst
themselves.

“I’m not trying to be a worrier or anything, but where’s Adora?” Mermista muttered as she leaned in
front of Embra to talk to Glimmer. In response to the question, Glimmer and Embra both grimaced.

“We don’t know!” Glimmer bemoaned. “She wasn’t anywhere in Skydancer. I asked mom, but
she’s not in Bright Moon either.” Apparently, that wasn’t what Mermista was expecting to hear,
because she looked dumbfounded at the answer.

“According to my guards, she was seen flying away from the castle on that pegasus of hers,” Embra
added.
“Alicorn,” Frosta quipped immediately. Embra and Mermista shot her raised eyebrows. The Ice
Princess blushed under the scrutiny. Her shoulders scrunched up as she began playing with her
fingers. “He let me ride him for my birthday last year. We sort of bonded. He’s very sensitive about
it,” Frosta squeaked.

Embra smiled at her and nodded. “Sorry, alicorn. Anyway, Adora didn’t tell anyone where she was
heading off to. Which is just great timing.”

The idea made Glimmer grumble. Ever since Mystic Isle, Adora had been acting weird, and a lot
more withdrawn than usual. No matter how many times Glimmer tried to talk to her best friend, it
had become like talking to a brick wall. ‘Everything’s fine’, ‘I’m feeling great’. Glimmer knew she
should have pushed the issue, but she really wanted to give Adora whatever space she needed. There
was a tremendous amount of fear in the pit of her stomach that it could have something to do with the
rash she had, but Adora hadn’t shown any signs that it had returned.

The loud clunk of the massive doors to the war room opening broke Glimmer’s thoughts. She, and
the rest of the table, looked up to see Prince Akur, flanked by his two highest generals, marching into
the room. The prince, in a teal vest with gold decorations; a thin, long sleeved undershirt, and loose
fitting, cream-colored pants, took the closest seat to the entrance, while his generals, wearing ornate,
dark blue uniforms, stood behind him.

“Thank you all for coming,” the prince said. He was sitting in the chair, tense, his hands were
clasped together on the table. “I know that the last time we were all here together things didn’t end
well, but I am glad we can move past that in this desperate hour. Considering the last time, I am
surprised at some of the faces here...”

“We are here to help!” Scorpia blurted out.

It got a chuckle out of Akur. “Yes, the Princess Alliance has vouched for you, and that is good
enough. None of you would be here if we didn’t have trust in you.”

“Are we just waiting for the King now?” Glimmer asked, barely able to take her eyes off of the two
generals, standing at attention and towering just behind Akur’s chair.

“The King sends his regards, but no. Unfortunately, due to my father's declining health, I will be
unable to participate in the upcoming battle. Furthermore, someone will have to oversee the
mobilization of my army. Many regiments and legions are still coming from all over the vast desert to
gather in the capital. Then there's the matter of some of the tribes who've—" Akur stopped to notice
the confused look on Glimmer's face.

"My apologies, I tend to get a bit carried away at times with all these politics. But I'm sure you know
what that's like, as one future monarch to another."

"Y-yeah," Glimmer stammered, "definitely." Bright Moon was the largest kingdom on Etheria, that
was common and accepted knowledge to everyone. Except, that is, Midnight Sands. Glimmer wasn’t
sure how many more times she could listen to Akur use the words ‘vast’ or ‘extensive’.

"Regardless, I will leave the command of my available forces to the very capable General Bise,”
Akur continued, waving his hand up over his left shoulder. “Perhaps he and She-Ra can…” Akur
took another glance around the table. His eyebrows scrunched up as she looked over to Glimmer.
“Where is She-Ra?”

At the question, Glimmer and Embra turned to each other and grimaced.
Inside the crater at the summit of Mount Candila was a tunnel that curved around the volcano for
what felt like hundreds of feet. Even with the light shimmering off of the sword, it was slow going as
Adora made her way down.

After an hour, and a few stumbles over errant rocks, Adora found herself standing in front of a large
door, with unmistakably First Ones markings covering it. Adora held the sword up to the door to see
it better, which seemed to make the sword glow brighter. The added light allowed Adora to notice a
slot in the wall next to the door, which seemed to conveniently match the width and thickness of the
Sword of Protection.

Once the sword was inserted, all the markings on the door began to glow. After a few seconds, the
door slid open.

Adora retrieved the sword and stepped through the threshold into a pitch black space. She held up
the sword over her head to shine light on her immediate surroundings. Suddenly, the door behind her
slammed shut. A second later, lights all along the walls of the room began to light up, filling the room
with a hazy, light blue glow. The room was moderately sized, about twice as large as Adora’s
bedroom, but empty save for a couple pillars and more First Ones markings on the walls, as well as
the First Ones image of She-Ra that was directly in front of Adora. It looked just like the one in the
Crystal Castle, only smaller to fit the space. Adora made her way over to it.

“Eternia,” Adora said, loudly and clearly. Nothing happened. “Hmm. Thought for sure…”

I think this one needs a little more than a password. I think it needs us.

As soon as Adora placed her hand on the image, it seemed to fade into wisps of smoke, revealing an
opening to another room. “Greetings, Administrator,” a feminine, robotic voice echoed as Adora
stepped through the opening.

The next room was massive. A giant, open space with glittering crystal pillars all about. Brighter
lights fully lit the room, bouncing light everywhere. There were two things of note in the spacious
hall. The first one was just past the door Adora had come through. It was what appeared to be a
command console, made entirely out of crystal. The other was a pillar in the dead center of the room.
Unlike the crystal pillars, that were jagged and oddly shaped, this one was a perfect cylinder that ran
from the floor to the ceiling. It seemed to be filled with an orange liquid. Floating in the middle of the
cylinder was what appeared to be a round white gem, shining brightly enough to make the orange
liquid glow.

The Radiant Core!

“Somehow I thought it’d be bigger.” Adora said as she moved towards the pillar.

The size of it is inconsequential. The power contained within is far greater than anything we
could dream of.

It was true. Even through the glass, Adora could feel the energy coming off the runestone. There
seemed to be a voice in that energy, calling to her. More specifically, calling to She-Ra. At the base
of the glass pillar the feeling was intense, almost overwhelming. Adora stumbled and had to brace
herself against the pillar to keep from falling over completely.
She-Ra, this is too much. It’s too soon!

This is our destiny!

Catra hasn’t even returned yet. I haven’t gotten a chance to tell her about any of this.

Don’t you want to fulfill our destiny Adora?

No! Right now I just want to see my girlfriend! You promised!

I said I would try. I have no more control over this than you. Besides, the Radiant Core might be
able to help.

Adora pushed herself back from the pillar. She glared intently at the Radiant Core, still floating
where it was. “Fine,” Adora sighed. “How do we even get it out of there?” she wondered aloud.
With no buttons or levers or places to insert the sword to be found, Adora made her way back to the
command console. She placed her hand on it, causing it to light up.

A large monitor in the middle of the console flickered on. “What is your query?” the disembodied,
feminine computer voice rang out.

“Oh, um, how do I get the Radiant Core?” Adora asked.

“The Radiant Core can only be obtained by She-Ra once she has harnessed the rest of the power of
Etheria. Only then will she be strong enough to control it,” the voice plainly stated. On the monitor
was a written out version of what the voice had said. Adora read through it again and sighed. She
lazily rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands.

“Why does everything First Ones and She-Ra related have to be so vague and mysterious?!” Adora
groaned.

“I did not understand the query,” the voice answered.

Perhaps it was how dispassionate the voice was. Maybe it was that the voice had a moment of
confusion. Adora wasn’t quite sure what it was, but something about this moment struck her as
hilarious. She began laughing intensely. So much so that she buckled over and had to grip the edges
of the console to keep her upright.

“I did not understand the query,” the voice stated again.

“No, of course you didn’t!” Adora howled at the voice. “Why would I expect you to tell me
anything useful about the Radiant Core or how it ‘controls’ Etheria or anything else?”

The computer began making a sort of clicking noises for a few seconds. “Query: How the Radiant
Core controls Etheria. Confirm query.”

All at once Adora stopped laughing. She straightened up, eyes wide. “Do you actually have that
answer?”

“Yes.”

A little gasp escaped Adora. Finally. Noah had given her a patchy framework of Mara’s history.
Mara’s own journals only really told Adora the story of Mara coming undone. She-Ra’s own
memories were incomplete, a side-effect of the line of She-Ra being broken for almost a thousand
years. Then there was Light Hope, who told Adora all kinds of things, but Light Hope’s answers left
more questions and she hadn’t seemed keen answering them. Light Hope was less concerned with
the truth than she was with the ‘truth’ that yielded her desired results.

Adora cleared her throat. “Yes, I want to know how the Radiant Core can control Etheria.”

The first hints of daylight streamed in through the open window, filling the room with a dim glow.
All of the Midnight Palace’s guest rooms were quite spacious, with king sized beds, their own wash
rooms, and an ornate statue of L’faunto, the favored deity of Fauntism, the major religion of
Midnight Sands.

For a time, the only noise in the room was the rustling of the curtains in the cool morning breeze. A
sudden knocking cut into the peaceful quiet. The first round of knocking didn’t garner any reactions
in the room. The second round of knocking caused a stirring from the bed as Rogelio rolled over. He
began to playfully nuzzle his snout into the back of Kyle’s neck. At first, Kyle didn’t respond, but
after a few seconds a wide smile began growing on his face. Rogelio grunted lowly.

“Why do I have to go answer the door?” Kyle sleepily asked. Rogelio went from nuzzling to to
licking Kyle’s ear, causing him to giggle uncontrollably. Kyle kept sliding farther to his side in an
attempt to escape but Rogelio kept following him until Kyle slid off the bed.

The blonde man, dressed in a tank top and sleep shorts, climbed to his feet as Rogelio grunted at him.
“Yes, I guess I am up now, aren’t I?” Kyle quipped. He began to walk towards the door but jumped
when he felt Rogelio’s tail slap him on the butt. He turned back to fire a smirk at Rogelio. The laug
returned a sly grin then rolled back over in the bed. Kyle reached the door and pulled it open.

“Morning, Assistant Kyle!” Entrapta said, standing just on the other side of the door. She was fully
dressed and her fully chipper self. Entrapta seemingly bounced as she walked into the room.
“Morning, Rogelio!” Entrapta yelled at the bed. A couple of grunts were emitted from the bed area.

“Morning, Entrapta,” Kyle replied, pausing between words to yawn. Without wasting anymore time,
Entrapta shoved a little contraption into Kyle’s chest. The contraption looked like a robotic
dragonfly, and about two feet in length. Kyle put his hands under it to catch it as Entrapta let the
machine go. “What’s this?”

Entrapta put on a more serious expression as she stared at Kyle. “For the mission. Your mission,”
Entrapta said. Kyle raised an eyebrow at Entrapta. “Everyone has unique DNA,” Entrapta
continued, assuming further explanation was necessary. “We’re all unique. We all smell different,
have our own physical profiles. I have those full profiles still from back in the Horde.”

“Wait, when did you gather all that information?” Kyle asked, indignant.

“This will help you when the fighting starts,” Entrapta continued, paying Kyle’s question no
attention. “I call it, LonnieQuest.”

The name caused Kyle to start laughing. “I, um… I,” Entrapta began stammering. “I couldn’t think
of a better name. Perfuma made it… it was difficult to concentrate,” Entrapta continued. Something
that had entered her mind was causing her to turn a bright red.

“It’s a perfect name,” Kyle responded, hugging Entrapta.

They shared a moment together, embracing, until suddenly Scorpia appeared through the doorway
and scooped them up into a giant bearhug. “Was there a hug happening that I wasn’t a part of?”
Scorpia gasped, feigning offense.

“Morning… Scorpia,” Kyle struggled to say. After a moment she let them go. Rogelio meandered
over around the same time. Kyle and Entrapta both adjusted their clothes.

“Morning everyone!” Scorpia beamed. She set a claw on Entrapta’s shoulder. “Perfuma said you’d
be here. Looks like you were right to send Clack out do to recon, seems like the Horde’s attack is
imminent.”

As if on cue, off in the distance the sound of an explosion could faintly be heard. “I guess very
imminent!” Scorpia yelped. The quartet formed a little circle. “Alright everyone,” Scorpia began, in
her most serious voice possible. “Remember, we do everything we can to help the Princess Alliance.
They’re our side now. Above all else though, Kyle, Rogelio, you find and protect Lonnie, got it?”

Both Kyle and Rogelio nodded. Kyle held up the machine in his hand and smiled. “LonnieQuest is a
go!”

Scorpia pulled the four of them into a hug. “This is our first real battle against the Horde. Nothing
can really prepare us for how that’s going to feel. Everyone just be careful out there and watch each
other’s backs.”

Horde tanks were flooding in from the southern path, having quickly overrun Midnight Sands’
security checkpoint. The Horde’s attack had sprung into action so quickly that there had been no
time for the Midnight Sands guards to escape. A few of them, hoping on their vramels, lanky legged,
humpback animals with short, stubby necks and beaked, birdlike heads that were covered in a thick
fur, made a break for it. Vramels had exceptional speed, and for a moment it seemed that the fleeing
guards might get away. A skiff shot out from the Horde mass, quickly catching up to the handful of
vramels. Blasts from the batons of Horde soldiers on the skiff shot out, hitting the vramels and
causing them to collapse, throwing their riders. The Horde skiff slowed to a halt, allowing the
soldiers to dismount and descend upon the Midnight Sands guards. A few accepted their fates, while
others fought back, only to be dropped themselves by the batons.

Glimmer watched the scene unfold from atop a ridge of glittering black sand. Her face was a blank
slate. There was a gasp just behind her, to her right. She shot her arm out, holding Perfuma back as
she attempted to step forward.

“This is awful. Glimmer…” Perfuma’s voice was low, hollow. “...I don’t think those are stun
batons,” she breathed.

All Perfuma’s statement managed to do was cause Glimmer to slightly chew on her lip. “There’s
nothing we can do for them, Perfuma. All we can do now is win this fight,” Glimmer said.

Just behind Glimmer, along the ridge, was the rest of the Princess Alliance. Behind them were the
Midnight Sands forces, a well-armed and well-trained army that was gathered into tight rows. At the
head of the army was General Bise, a mighty taurosi that towered over most, maybe even She-Ra,
especially when taking his two curved horns into account. Slung over his shoulder was a giant
warhammer. It’s thick, steel head was bigger than Glimmer’s actual head.
The first wave of carrier skiffs emerged from the mass that was the Horde army and zipped across
the dark desert, carrying dozens of soldiers each. After them was a line of tanks that lumbered
towards the Alliance.

No more waiting. Glimmer turned to her group. The Alliance stood, flanked at her sides. “Alright,
everyone, just like we planned.

“Perfuma, now!” Glimmer barked.

The Princess of Plumeria raised her arms into the air. Giant, crooked vines erupted out of the ground,
knocking some skiffs off course, while sending some crashing into the ground altogether. Netossa
threw out her light nets, capturing some of the soldiers still trying to recover from the crashes. Next,
Spinnerella began shooting whirlwinds out. They pulled the sands of the desert up, causing pitch
black dust storms to crash into the lines of Horde forces. They scattered, only to regroup as quickly
as possible. They broke into a run and charged.

Glimmer spun in place. “General Bise!”

Bise, seemingly poured into his gold and blue-accented armor, turned to face his soldiers. “Spotters
into position!” he snarled. There was no need for bullhorns or the like, Bise’s voice carried to the
very ends of the army. The spotters took their places on the hill and began barking out position
coordinates. Rows and rows of archers adjusted their aim, then fired. A hail of arrows rained down
on the charging Horde soldiers. It was at first effective to thin the Horde charge out, but by the
second volley many Horde soldiers began using the little forcefield shields that were mounted in their
gauntlets.

As a counter, Horde tanks at the rear shot out arcing blasts. Embra concentrated as hard as they could
on the blasts, and bled the heat and fire off them until they petered out in the air. Mermista lifted balls
of water from the river around the Midnight Palace and threw them. Frosta froze them in mid-air,
creating ice cannonballs that slammed into some of the tanks. The princesses continued their focus on
the tanks in the rear.

“Pole Flanks, at the ready!” Bise yelled. Flanking squads, gathered at the edges of the ridge, got into
position. The archery set loose another volley, but they proved ineffective at the emerging row of
attack robots.

General Bise led his main forces, with glittering turquoise armor and glistening curved blades, out to
meet them. Bise made his way up and over the ridge with a quickness that was unexpected, given his
size. He leapt from the ridge and crashed his warhammer down onto the attack robot, punching a
giant hole in it. The rest of his unit emerged over the ridge and engaged the approaching Horde
forces, while the flanking units emerged from the sides, doing everything they could to define the
edges of the battlefield. The Princess Alliance waded into the battle as well, doing all they could to
keep the Horde tanks at bay.

Except for Glimmer, who hung back, waiting and monitoring. After a moment she heard her name
being called from the direction of the palace. She turned around to see Scorpia, Entrapta, Rogelio,
and Kyle making their way to the desert.

“You’re late!” Glimmer huffed.

Scorpia waved her claw as she gasped for air. “Sorry! Sorry!”

Glimmer sighed. “It’s alright. Are you ready?” she asked. Scorpia shot up straight and saluted.
Glimmer grabbed ahold of Scorpia and Entrapta. She glanced over to Rogelio and Kyle. “Sorry,
boys, I’m only able to teleport two people at a time.”

“That reminds me,” Entrapta piped up. “I’ve been studying your magic. I believe there are ways we
could boost how much energy you can use between charges.”

“Wait, you’ve been studying my magic?!” Glimmer yelled.

“Yes, I was able to capture some when you were in Dryl. It’s fascinating ! It doesn’t behave like
other runestone magic at all!”

“Um, ‘Trapta?” Scorpia said, placing her claw on Entrapta’s shoulder.

Entrapta cleared her throat. “Right. You are correct, Scorpia. This is a discussion for another time.”
Entrapta agreed with a nod. Glimmer smiled at the two of them and blinked them all away.

Now all by themselves, Kyle pressed the button on the LonnieQuest. Its eyes blinked blue as it
began fluttering into the air.

“My word! What is that?!” a voice shouted behind them. Having expected to be alone, Kyle shrieked
and jumped into the air, landing directly in Rogelio’s arms. They both turned to see Sea Hawk
approaching, laser sword swinging in his hand as he ran. Even in battle, his shining smile and
determined cheeriness did not wane.

“Oh, um, Sea Hawk, right?” Kyle nervously asked as Rogelio let him down. Kyle's face turned pale
as he realised who stood before him.

“Yes, dear fellows! Shall we go take the fight to the Horde? Is that flying wonder a weapon of
sorts?” Sea Hawk asked with exuberance.

Kyle scratched the back of his neck. “Well, actually…” Kyle looked around to make sure no one
else was around. “Look, Mr. Hawk, we defected from the Horde. We wanted to, we’re not going
back on that. We’re here to help the Rebellion and the Princess Alliance, but first we need to make
sure our friend is okay. She stayed behind and we’re worried about her,” Kyle let tumble out all at
once.

Sea Hawk looked at them, then at the LonnieQuest. “And that mechanical creature will help you find
her?” he asked. Lonnie and Rogelio nodded in confirmation. “Then lead the way!”

“Wait,” Kyle said as his mouth dropped open. “You’re not going to try to stop us?”

In one swift motion, Sea Hawk swung his arms around both Kyle’s and Rogelio’s necks and pulled
them in. “Dear boys! On this wondrous planet full of marvels to behold and sights unbelievable,
friendship is still the greatest magic. Let us find your friend. Onward to ADVENTURE!”

Amidst all the fighting, the LonnieQuest didn’t draw much attention. The trio slithered their way
through the battlefield the best they could to avoid conflict, but there were a few times where they
were forced to defend themselves. Sea Hawk and Rogelio made for an impressive fighting duo,
while Kyle helped with his stun mace, a custom piece made by Entrapta that could also be used as a
laser rifle.
Sea Hawk, with all his passion and vigor, was doing a better job at keeping up with the
LonnieQuest. It fluttered and darted and floated in odd directions until eventually its eyes began
blinking green. The LonnieQuest zipped through the air and began descending. The pirate quickened
his pace to not lose sight of where it had gone. He stepped just beyond a skirmish and into a clearing.
There was just enough time to see the LonnieQuest floating a few inches off the ground before Sea
Hawk caught sight of a swinging stun baton out of the corner of his eye. He jumped just in time to
avoid the strike.

Skipping backwards a few feet, Sea Hawk raised his laser sword, ready for a duel.

Lonnie, decked out in full Horde armor, stood across from him with a confident smile. “Well, well.
You’re that pirate that likes to pal around with Princesses,” Lonnie said as she spun her baton in her
hands. She was caught a little off guard when Sea Hawk bowed in acknowledgement.

“Ho! Ho! Yes, lass, it is I, the pirate of legends! The one and only Sea Haw-ACK!” Sea Hawk was
cut off by the need to dodge another stun baton swing from Lonnie.

“Shut up, dude!” Lonnie scoffed as she swung again. Sea Hawk parried with his sword, and pushed
her back.

“Wait! Wait!” a different voice caught Lonnie’s ear from behind. At the same time she could feel
arms wrapping themselves around her. Lonnie’s training kicked in, and flipped the assailant over her
shoulder.

“Kyle?” Lonnie grumbled as she stared down at the blond man lying on the ground. “What the hell,
Kyle?!” Both Lonnie and Sea Hawk helped Kyle to his feet. Lonnie took a step back to look at her
friends. He was wearing a purple and black jumpsuit with a Dryl crest over his heart. Rogelio,
wearing black pants, and purple and black t-shirt with the same Dryl crest, strolled up next to them
and waved.

“We’re so... happy to see you, Lonnie!” Kyle huffed while he propped himself up with his hands on
his knees.

Lonnie gave them a severe look. “What are you two doing? We’re enemies now. We should be
fighting.”

“No,” Kyle shook his head. “You’re still our family. We’re here to make sure nothing happens to
you. Yes, we’re on the Rebellion’s side now, but we’re not going to let you get hurt. We love you,
and that goes beyond faction alliances.”

It took all of Lonnie’s willpower to not bust into a big grin. Instead she just let a slight smirk form.
She gave a piercing stare at Kyle. “And what’s with him?” Lonnie asked, pointing at Sea Hawk,
who waved at the acknowledgement. “You all pirates now?”

Rogelio grunted something as a reply. Lonnie immediately doubled over laughing. Sea Hawk’s face
blushed as he let out a small chuckle. Kyle, face bright red, brow furrowed, spun around and glared
at his boyfriend, who had a satisfied smirk on his snout. “No Rohé! We’re not going to plunder
anything! Especially not that !”

The battle had been raging for almost an hour. More and more troops and tanks continued pouring in
from the Horde. Glimmer, holding Embra by the waist, teleported right on top of a tank. She let
Embra go and teleported away. Embra dropped down onto the tank, their flaming fists slamming into
the tank’s engine. Metal groaned and tore as the punche’s force ripped through the engine’s guts.
Sparks and the flicker of flames immediately began shooting out. Glimmer quickly teleported back
and blinked the two of them away just as the tank began to explode.

Glimmer popped them both in towards the edge of the battle. A few sparkle and fire blasts thinned
out the crowd even more. Glimmer took the opportunity to fall against Embra and take a deep breath.

Embra caught Glimmer and held her upright. “You okay? How are your powers doing?” Embra
asked.

“Hanging in there,” Glimmer heaved, still trying to catch her breath. “I really wish She-Ra was
here!” Glimmer barely had time to get the thought out when her ears were filled with a loud swishing
sound.

There was only a second to react. Embra let Glimmer go, allowing her to drop to her knees. Glimmer
looked up as Embra threw their hands out as the cannon blast slammed into them. Just in front of
Embra’s hands the blast was splitting into two smaller blasts and being directed into the air. Even
without getting hit directly, the heat around them was overwhelming. There was a look of pained
strain on Embra’s face as they held the ground. Glimmer grabbed them by the leg and teleported
them both to safety.

A few yards away Glimmer and Embra blinked back in. Embra instantly collapsed onto their back.
Glimmer screamed out Embra’s name as she crawled over to them. Glimmer lifted them up in her
arms. Their first response was to cough. There was no need to ask what was wrong. Glimmer could
only bear to glance at it for a second, but it was obvious. Embra’s arms, almost up to their shoulders,
were badly burned. The skin was cracking and still smoking. Their hands were blackened and
charred. “Embra…” Glimmer kept repeating as she cradled Embra’s head against her chest. The
horrid smell of burning flesh filled Glimmer’s nostrils. “Somebody help!” she screamed. Tears rolled
down her cheeks, falling onto the Skydancer princess’ hair.

“Hey, Glim,” Embra was able to weakly say, their voice cracking. “You okay?”

“I’m okay, you beautiful show-off,” Glimmer chuckled through tears. “Hang in there, okay?”

Entrapta, Perfuma, and Scorpia made their way over as quickly as possible. “Is everyone okay?!”
Scorpia yelled as they approached. Glimmer gave her a distraught look and nodded down towards
Embra’s arms. All three of them gasped.

Perfuma knelt down for a better look. “Oh, if we can get them back to the camp I can do something
for the pain. The nerve damage, though…”

“H-hey, don’t worry about me,” Embra coughed. “We have a battle to win.”

“Leave that to us,” Scorpia suggested. “Perfuma, Glimmer, get them to safe-” Scorpia stopped as
loud rumbling started shaking the ground. There seemed to be a lot of commotion coming from the
Horde side. “-ty,” Scorpia finished, as she craned her neck to attempt to see what the commotion
was. Glimmer pulled Embra in tighter as she turned to try to also see what was going on. Perfuma
stood back up and embraced Entrapta.

After a moment, the source of the commotion became apparent. A large, dark blue skiff was
speeding through the desert towards the frontlines of the fighting. The skiff was three times the size
of a normal one and had a sleek, curved front, almost like a bullet. It didn’t seem to regard the Horde
troops with much thought, causing them to scatter as it passed by, its giant rear engines thundering
along.

The giant skiff roared to a stop near the edge of the battle, less than a dozen yards where Glimmer
and her group were. Confusion swept over that side of the battlefield. No one seemed to recognize
this new ship, and it didn’t have any telling markings or crests.

“My love,” Perfuma breathed, “what is that ?” she asked. Just then the door on the side of skiff
facing the battlefield opened and a ramp slid out to the ground. Scorpia, Perfuma, and Entrapta all
got into defensive stances.

“No idea, but I really, really want to find out!” Entrapta answered, almost salivating. “I’ve never
heard of a…” Entrapta tilted her head as she tried to read the spray-painted word on the side of the
ship. “...‘Clawdeen’, before.”

Just then Bow emerged from the door. “For the Rebellion!” he screamed as he began running down
the ramp, arrows flying. Just behind him was Mattis, and about 50 of Mattis’ bandit friends, all armed
with high-tech weapons, from electric spears to laser swords to rapid-fire crossbows. The bandits
crashed into the surprised Horde forces, overwhelming the first line.

“BOW!” Glimmer screamed!

“Mattis!” Scorpia gasped. Just out of the corner of Scorpia’s eyes she thought she saw movement on
the top deck of Clawdeen, but when she looked there was nothing there. Suddenly, Catra landed on
the shoulders of the closest Horde soldier. She pushed off them, launching herself back into the air.
With a swing of her arm, a force wave flew from her claws, knocking an entire group of Horde
soldiers down.

Catra landed smoothly on all fours, her new shoulder-length hair fluttering around her head. Catra
barely had time to stand up before she found herself smothered in Scorpia’s arms. “KITTY!” she
cried.

“Hey, Scorp!” Catra responded, hugging Scorpia back.

Scorpia pulled back and gave Catra a good look. “Wow, you look great!”

“Heh, thanks,” Catra said, blushing slightly. She turned her attention to the rest of the group. “Hey,
everyone.”

“No time for pleasantries, Catra,” Glimmer huffed. “I have to get Embra and Perfuma back to the
camp while there’s still time!”

“Wait!” Catra exclaimed. She knelt besides Embra and Glimmer. “What’s going - o-oh!” Catra
gasped as she noticed Embra’s arms. “Okay, gimme a second.” Catra hopped to her feet and began
shaking her arms to loosen them up.

“We don’t have time for-” Glimmer began to protest, but Catra shushed her. It made Glimmer recoil
in anger.

“I need to concentrate here!” Catra huffed. She held out her arms and closed her eyes. After a few
seconds, the Sun Gems on her bracers began to light up. Catra’s eyes shot open. They were pupiless
and glowing. Gold sparks began fluttering around Embra. The sparks started swirling around them,
their glow increasing in intensity. Finally, all the sparks flashed in a blinding light, then dissipated.
Catra lowered her arms as the glow in her eyes faded, revealing her pupils once more. She almost
stumbled, but caught herself.
Everyone else was just starting to reopen their eyes from the flash. Embra pushed themselves up to a
sitting position and held out their arms, now fully healed, in wonderment.

Glimmer jumped to her feet. Her eyes were wide open as she pointed a finger at Catra. “YOU CAN
HEAL PEOPLE NOW?!” she screamed, accusingly.

Catra gave her a sly smirk. “One of the perks of being the Empress of Half Moon,” she smoothly
responded.

The smoothness was destroyed as Scorpia scooped her up into another hug. “I knew it!” the stocky
scorpion woman exclaimed. Catra quickly squirmed her way out of the second hug.

“You’re a princess?!” Glimmer asked, her eye was starting to twitch.

“No, I’m an Empress. There’s a big difference,” Catra was quick to correct.

“Like what?!” Glimmer huffed.

“Hmm,” Catra stroked her chin for a second before snapping her fingers. “They’re spelled
completely differently,” she quipped.

“Good thing we got here when we did,” Catra shot a smirk at Embra.

“Where have you been ? Adora’s been so worried about you!” Glimmer hissed. There was just
something about that face. Glimmer knew she should be happy to see the catgirl. She did just roll
onto the battlefield with one of Glimmer’s best friends, and the reinforcements that they had been
needing. On top of that, she healed Embra, which was a thing she could now apparently do. Plus,
she had a new style and new hair that made Glimmer feel some kind of flustered. Glimmer wanted to
punch her in the face so badly.

“Well, we found Half Moon,” Catra chirped. “And we explored that for a while. And then we heard
about all the troop movements in the Horde, so we spent some time trying to figure out what was
going on there. Then it took a couple weeks for us to get all of Mattis’ buddies and for Bow to fix up
all those Half Moon weapons.”

Catra began examining the scene around her. “Speaking of Adora… where… is she?”

“That’s what we’d all like to know!” Glimmer barked. She was starting to fume, but the anger
seemed to drain when she felt Embra’s hand on her back.

“Wait, she’s missing ?!” Catra scowled.

“Finding Adora is going to be our top priority after we win this battle,” Embra assured them.
Glimmer nodded and the two of them teleported back to the battle.

Perfuma gave Entrapta a peck on the cheek. “I am going to assist Glimmer and Embra,” she said.
“Good seeing you again, Catra,” Perfuma bowed to Catra before scurrying off. Catra and Entrapta
waited for the inevitable. They only had to wait a few seconds before Scorpia grabbed them both and
squeezed them into a group hug.

“Your return is a happy turn for the day,” Entrapta squeaked as she struggled to breathe while
wrapped in Scorpia’s arm.

“Thanks, ‘Trapta. I’m happy to see the two of you as well!” Catra exclaimed. Scorpia let them go
again after a moment. Catra adjusted her clothes. “Where’s Kyle and Rogelio?”
“With Lonnie, making sure she doesn’t get hurt,” Scorpia said. “Also, maybe trying to convince her
to defect again.” Scorpia grinned at her friend. “You know, they could probably use a hand.”

Before Catra could respond, Entrapta was holding up a small box with a screen on it to Catra. She
took it from the strand of purple hair that was holding it. “A LonnieQuest tracker.”

“A what tracker?” Catra asked, eyebrow raised.

Entrapta grabbed Catra by both sides of her face. “Just follow the beepy thing until you find
Assistant Kyle and Rogelio.”

“Yes, thank you, ‘Trapta, I got it!” Catra huffed, removing Entrapta’s hands from her face. “Hey,”
Catra said, moving her eyes between Entrapta and Scorpia, “once we find my girlfriend... we should
have a proper Super Pal Trio hangout. Been way too long.”

Both Entrapta and Scorpia agreed. With that they returned the battle at hand that had been quickly
closing in on their position. They split as they met the encroaching forces. Scorpia and Entrapta
began making their way back to the Princess Alliance, who was making a renewed push now that
the Horde had to contend with the bandit squad cutting through them.

Meanwhile, Catra began swerving her way through the battle. She didn’t try to avoid the fighting.
Instead, she took great glee from tearing through the Horde defenses. Her strikes were landing
harder. Her slices cutting quicker. Her evasion skills were at a level she had never experienced
before. It didn’t take her long before the tracker indicated that she was coming up on whatever a
‘LonnieQuest’ was.

The edge of the battlefield had a few stragglers. A minor dust up here, a brawl there. For the most
part the edge of the battlefield was where all sides were gathering to get their injured out of harm’s
way. There was also a robotic dragonfly was sitting on the ground, its eyes blinking green. Catra
knelt down beside it. Upon closer inspection the robot had a damaged wing. Another wounded
soldier.

“Catra?” a familiar voice behind Catra called out. She rose to her feet and continued staring at the
robot.

“So, apparently this little thing is called the LonnieQuest,” Catra remarked.

Lonnie chuckled. “Not her best, that’s for sure.”

“I’m sure there’s a good story there,” Catra laughed. She turned to face Lonnie for the first time.
“Hey, Lonnie.”

“Looking good, Catra!” Lonnie shouted. “What made you decide to cut your hair?”

Catra took her fingers and ran them across the bottom edge of her hair. “My mom,” Catra softly
confirmed. Lonnie gasped. “Also a pretty good story.” Catra grinned. “You can hear it when you
come back with us.”

“Oh damn, not you, too,” Lonnie muttered. “We’ve been over this, Catra, like a dozen times. It
didn’t work with Kyle earlier, what makes you think it’ll be different?”

“Speaking of,” Catra said, taking a few steps closer to Lonnie. “What did you do with them?”

“Nothing!” Lonnie gasped, indignant. “They’re helping out with the wounded.”
Both of them took a few more steps to close the distance between them. They were both scowling
and staring intently at each other. “I’m not asking you to join the Rebellion, Lonnie. Hell, I don’t
even know if I’m in the Rebellion. But you don’t belong in the Horde.” Catra was the first to break
eye contact. She drifted off for a moment as her gaze settled lazily on the horizon beyond the desert.
“I saw what the Horde did to my home. To my parents, and my people,” Catra said, her voice was
soft, sincere. Catra drew in a sharp breath and refocused on Lonnie. “I meant what I said in Bright
Moon. I’m not asking for you to have anything figured out. I just want us to figure it out together, as
a family.”

“So let me get this straight. I’m supposed to give up everything I’ve worked my whole life for, so I
can sit around in a castle and twiddle my thumbs with you and the gang.” Lonnie asked, raising her
eyebrow.

“Dammit, Lonnie,” Catra sighed. “I don’t mean that and you know it.” Catra removed the remaining
distance between them. She grasped Lonnie’s arms. Not hard, but firm enough. “Don’t you miss
us?” Lonnie didn’t answer right away. For the first time, her hard expression began to soften. She
took her time to think, all the while Catra gently holding her by the arms.

Right up until Catra heard an angry scream behind her. Catra swung around, just in time for her
claws to block and repel the stun mace that had been hurtling at her.

The blocking move caused Decepsha to stammer backwards. She quickly regained her balance.
“You stay away from her, Cat!” Decepsha sneered, charging at Catra again. A simple pirouette out
of the way, then a glancing knee to Decepsha’s side sent the spy tumbling onto the ground. Fueled
by rage, Decepsha quickly lumbered to her feet.

“Hey, Decepsha,” Catra said, voice full of disdain.

“Hi, Kitten ,” Decepsha cracked. It got a hiss from Catra, she flexed her claws out. “Aw, did I hurt
poor kitty’s feelings?” Decepsha slowly stalked around Catra, making her way toward Lonnie.
“What’s the matter, forget everything about us already? Forget that we don’t tolerate weakness,
Kitten?” Decepsha gave Lonnie’s arm a slap. “She probably thinks we’re evil now, just like
everyone else in the Rebellion.”

“What?!” Catra huffed. She returned her focus to Lonnie. “Of course I don’t think you’re evil. Look,
Lonnie, I know growing up things between us were difficult sometimes, but at the end of the day
we’ve always had each other’s backs. I still have your back, no matter what. We both know I have
no right to ever go around calling anyone ‘evil’.” With a devious smirk growing on her face, she
turned back to Decepsha. “Worthless second-rates who desperately need the validation of others to
exist? Now that I feel a little more comfortable throwing around.”

The statement got a growl out of Decepsha. She charged again. This time the attack was wild,
unplanned. Catra slashed the swinging mace into pieces. Decepsha tried to recover with an elbow,
but Catra caught it easily, twisted it behind Decepsha’s back, then firmly kicked her, sending
Decepsha stumbling back down onto the ground.

“Heh, Adora said she trained you. Were you even paying attention or were you too busy ogling my
girlfriend?” Catra cracked.

It took effort, but Decepsha forced herself back to her feet. Her teeth were grinding together at the
sight of Catra. “She wasn’t your girlfriend then,” Decepsha hissed.

“Maybe,” Catra’s eyes narrowed. “She sure wasn’t yours, either.”

Decepsha roared as she charged at Catra with nothing but the handle of what had been her stun
mace. Catra caught her with a foot to the sternum. Decepsha stumbled. Catra reared back then caught
her squarely on the bridge of Decepsha’s nose with a swinging right arm. There was a sickening
crunch. Decepsha spun around, blood already pouring out. She seemed to hover in place for a
moment, then collapsed onto the ground in a heap. Catra stood over her, cracking her knuckles.

“Wait!” Lonnie yelled out as she jumped between the two. She dropped to her knees and put an arm
around Decepsha’s unconscious body. Lonnie and Catra exchanged intense stares. After a few
seconds, Catra started putting the pieces together.

“Lonnie…” Catra softly said.

The Force Captain glanced at the spy lying by her side. A faint smile formed. “Even though I do
miss you guys, leaving’s become... complicated,” Lonnie said as she turned to meet Catra’s gaze.

Without even asking, Catra knew. After everything she had been through, everything she had done,
all in the name of fixing her broken heart, the last thing she had any right to do was tell Lonnie to
ignore hers.

“So, where does that leave us?” Catra asked.

“You’re still my family,” Lonnie nodded. “We’re gonna have to figure this out, but I don’t have any
answers for you.”

“I’ll stay, we can figure it out together,” Catra said. She knelt down next to Lonnie.

“Actually,” Lonnie said, pausing to take a deep breath, “you probably shouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“This,” Lonnie waved her hand around at the battlefield around them. “This isn’t really about
Midnight Sands!”

“Figured as much. Shadow Weaver’s always been obsessed with Mount Candila and that stupid
Whatever Core.” Catra grinned. “She’s going to fail to get to it, like she always does.”

Lonnie jumped to her feet. She looked frantic as she towered over Catra. “No, Catra! You don’t get
it! Everything’s different this time!”

Adora was sitting down, leaning against the glass base of the Radiant Sanctuary’s control console.
After a full night of picking the Sanctuary computer’s brain about the Radiant Core and She-Ra and
Etheria and the First Ones, Adora had taken a break to get in a quick nap.

It’s been six hours.

The commanding voice of She-Ra rattling in her head caused Adora to stir. She let out a big yawn
and began stretching. Slowly, her eyes blinked open. “What’s the rush, She-Ra?” Adora mumbled as
she climbed to her feet.

There’s still so much to learn. And so much we have to process still.

It was true. The sanctuary's computer had been much more forthcoming than Light Hope ever had
been. Filling in gaps, expanding on what she already knew. The path in front of Adora was finally
starting to become clear.

She hated it.

Yet, deep down she knew it was what she had to do. Fate didn’t give her choices, it gave her a
destiny. She had spent the last month trying desperately to find a way to avoid it. But every turn
seemed to narrow her path further. There was no avoiding her destiny. Now she just had to figure
out how to live with it.

Maybe that would be something she’d deal with later, though. Right now, there were more pressing
matters at hand. Adora’s attention was caught by the sound of Sanctuary’s door sliding open. It was
a shock to Adora to hear, seeing as she had the only ‘key’ on all of Etheria. Adora slid the Sword of
Protection out and gripped it tightly. Cautiously, Adora made her way into the sanctuary foyer.

The sight made her gasp. “Shadow Weaver!” Adora yelped. The witch stood in the middle of the
room as the door sat ajar behind her. She had her hands pressed together as they hung in front of her.

“Adora,” Shadow Weaver said with exuberance. She took a step towards Adora, but stopped when
Adora swung the sword out, pointing it directly at Shadow Weaver. “My child, I am here to help
you.”

“You’re here for the Core,” Adora accused. Her eyes narrowed.

In one quick motion, Shadow Weaver shot up a hand and launched a shadow blast. Adora quickly
made the sword transform into the Shield of Protection. The act of doing so caused an excruciating
pain to rattle through her body. It left her unable to focus on bracing for the shadow blast. As it
connected, it launched Adora into the air, throwing her back into the main room. Adora slid into the
command console. She used it to pull herself to her feet.

“Both of those things can be true,” Shadow Weaver floated into the room. Adora met her gaze, but
was a little surprised to see what appeared to be a look of sadness on Shadow Weaver’s mask. “I
heard about what is happening to you. Let me help you, Adora.”

Adora stumbled backwards, creating some space between the two of them. Her face also had a look
of sadness. “I can’t. You know I can’t. Not after everything.” Adora transformed the shield back into
the sword and grimaced as she tried to ignore the pain. She quickly raised it into the air.

“No, Adora, wait!” Shadow Weaver yelled. She reached her arm out, but it was too late.

“FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!”

Blinding light filled the room. Out of the glow stepped She-Ra, poised, confident, smiling. Her bright
blue eyes were glowing. In fact, her entire body was radiating a faint golden aura. She-Ra looked
around the room. Everything seemed so bright, so vibrant. Colors sparkled in the crystal pillars.
Despite being closed off for centuries, the air in the sanctuary was crisp as it softly spilled over her
skin. Faint traces of mold could be smelled, but otherwise the air was clean. In the distance, She-Ra
picked up the sounds of the ancient First Ones machines that were keeping this place pristine.

It all felt so new. So wondrous. Until her eyes settled on Shadow Weaver. She-Ra shot her an
immediate scowl.

For her end, Shadow Weaver glared at She-Ra with piercing eyes. She took a minute to watch She-
Ra experiencing the world before she spoke. “I want to talk to Adora,” she commanded.
She-Ra stared intently at Shadow Weaver, but slowly the glow around her dissipated. She blinked
her bright blue, but no longer illuminated eyes. A look of distress washed over her. “Shadow
Weaver?”

“Thought we had lost you, Adora,” Shadow Weaver responded. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” Every
bit of Shadow Weaver’s words seemed sincere. The expression on her mask was that of genuine
concern. She-Ra knew better, though. She shook her head, trying to clear the lingering fogginess
from it.

“That’s not your concern anymore. I’m not your concern anymore,” She-Ra huffed. With her mind
finally clear, she stood tall, and was able to meet Shadow Weaver’s gaze with confidence.

A small, indistinct ball of dark magic began forming in Shadow Weaver’s hand as it dangled at her
side. “My child, you will always be my concern,” Shadow Weaver assured her. Shadow Weaver
yanked her arm backwards suddenly, causing dark tendrils to crash into She-Ra’s back, causing her
to stumble forward. Gliding swiftly across the floor, Shadow Weaver reached a hand out towards
She-Ra as she staggered, but she was able to swat it away. She-Ra swung her sword forward wildly,
but all it connected with was a cloud of black mist where Shadow Weaver had been.

“Show yourself!” She-Ra barked as she spun around in place, searching for any sign of Shadow
Weaver.

“That does not seem to be in my best interest right now, Adora,” Shadow Weaver’s voice rang out
through the cavernous room.

She-Ra stopped spinning. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Suddenly, it was as if the
room filled in around her in her mind. With her eyes still closed, she couldn’t really see it, but she
could sort of feel it. Sense where the pillars were. Feel the flow of air about the room. There was a
vibration distorting the air. She-Ra spun to her side and shot out a hand. When she opened her eyes,
Shadow Weaver was struggling with the grip She-Ra had around her neck.

“Impressive, Adora. Your control of your powers has grown,” Shadow Weaver choked out. She
tried to slam shadow energy into She-Ra’s head, but it was easily dodged. She-Ra shoved her back.
Shadow Weaver barely had time to gain her balance when She-Ra’s fist slammed into her facemask,
sending Shadow Weaver flying back.

The laugh that came out of Shadow Weaver as she lay there on the ground was disconcerting. She-
Ra stood over her, glaring.

“Pulling your punches, even still?” Shadow Weaver chuckled.

“I want to trust you, Shadow Weaver!” She-Ra yelled. Her grip on the sword was tightening. “I
want to think that you’d be willing to help me! All I ever wanted from you was a mother!” She-Ra
paused to take a deep breath. A tear rolled down her cheek. “All you ever did was make me feel
weak, like I was never good enough. You tormented me! You tormented Catra! You hurt her! You
convinced me that it was okay.

“I’ll never forgive myself for that…” She-Ra raised her sword up, pointing it directly at Shadow
Weaver’s face. “... and I’ll sure as hell never forgive you for it, either.”

Shadow Weaver studied She-Ra’s pained face for a moment. Then sighed. “I offer no excuses, nor
apologies for how I raised you,” she said. Shadow Weaver pushed herself up by her elbows into a
sitting position. She was propped up by her arms. “I am far from perfect. Yet look how the two of
you turned out.”
The Sword of Protection inched closer to Shadow Weaver’s face. “You don’t get credit for how we
survived you,” She-Ra breathed through clenched teeth.

“Perhaps. I only have one real regret, though,” Shadow Weaver said. “That I wasn’t able to teach
you to be less gullible,” she continued. She-Ra noticed too late the glow that was radiating from
Shadow Weaver’s hands on the ground. A forceful spout of dark energy shot out of the ground from
under She-Ra, lifting her into the air and tossing her back. Shadow Weaver climbed to her feet and
began stalking toward She-Ra, who was slowly stirring on the ground. “You always were too
trusting,” Shadow Weaver mused.

Out of nowhere, a sharp pain ran up Shadow Weaver’s back. It was so intense she stumbled forward
and dropped to her knees. She looked over her shoulder, to see Catra towering over her, her claws
fully extended and glowing.

“Don’t worry, Shadow Weaver, she’ll always have me to watch her back...” Catra said. Her eyes
narrowed as a smirk grew on her face. “...and I won’t make that mistake.” Catra pounced, but her
claws scraped against the smooth floor as a dark smoke puffed out from where she was.

Shadow Weaver reappeared a few yards away. The strain was plain to see, even through that mask
of hers. She squinted at Catra, and chuckled. “I see you found them. Congratulations, Empress.”
Swirls of shadow energy began swirling around Shadow Weaver, but was cut off when a blast from
the Sword of Protection hit her. Shadow Weaver went soaring through the air all the way back into
the foyer room of the Sanctuary.

Catra chased after her. She got into the foyer, only to discover that it was empty. “Show yourself,
you coward!” Catra growled.

“She’s gone,” She-Ra said, standing in the doorway between rooms. Catra spun around to meet She-
Ra’s gaze. It took a few seconds for both of them to let the adrenaline of the fight to burn off, but the
sight of each other brought a calmness. They both rushed towards the other. Catra leapt into the air.
She-Ra caught her with ease. “Catra!” she giggled before pulling Catra in for their lips to find one
another. They lazily spun around the room as they kissed, Catra firmly in She-Ra’s arms.

“I’ve missed you so much,” She-Ra breathed as they separated. She hoisted Catra high into the air.
“Let me get a look at you!” The ease with which She-Ra was carrying her around made Catra
giggle. “Kitten! You look amazing!” She-Ra exclaimed as she took in the sight of her girlfriend.
“Those are the Sun Gems, aren’t they? You’re the lost Empris of Half Moon!”

Catra craned her neck down to peck She-Ra on the mouth. “You knew, didn’t you,” she softly said,
their lips just inches apart.

“I suspected. I didn’t want to get your hopes up with another false promise,” She-Ra answered. She
couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as she lost herself in Catra’s eyes.

“I’ve missed you, too, by the way,” Catra said before kissing She-Ra again. This time she slid her
tongue into She-Ra’s wanting mouth. A little purr rumbled out of Catra as she did. She-Ra pulled her
in tightly. Next thing Catra knew, She-Ra had her pressed against the wall of the chamber. She-Ra
had one of her arms firmly wrapped around Catra. The free one made its way to the waistband of
Catra’s pants and began tugging. “Adora!” she giggled as their mouths separated just a few inches.

She-Ra looked at her with slick grin, and half-lidded, wanting eyes. “I really, really missed you,” she
said, her voice low and husky.

It was all Catra needed to hear. She grabbed and pulled at the collar of She-Ra’s outfit. There was no
natural place where it separated, so Catra used her claws to make one. She pulled it apart enough to
expose the base of She-Ra’s neck and chomped down. She-Ra gasped and rubbed her head against
Catra’s.

In one swift motion, She-Ra completely removed Catra’s pants from her body. She pressed herself
into Catra as much as possible, pinning the catgirl between her and the wall. Catra wrapped her legs
around She-Ra for added balance. She continued gnawing on She-Ra’s neck while her hands buried
themselves into She-Ra’s flowing, golden hair. She stopped only to gasp as She-Ra began running
fingers up and down Catra’s crevice.

Without hesitation, the Princess of Power shoved two fingers into her wanting girlfriend.

“OH FUCK!” Catra screamed out with what little breath she had as She-Ra began pumping her
fingers up and down. Catra could barely form a coherent thought. As She-Ra, her fingers were twice
as big and she was giving them all to Catra. She began bouncing up and down on She-Ra’s hand as
she wrapped her arms tightly around She-Ra’s head, holding on for dear life.

She-Ra continued fingering her for a couple minutes, basking in the grunts and moans of ecstasy as
purrs involuntarily escaped Catra’s body. She craned her neck up to Catra’s flattened out ear.
“Welcome home, Kitten,” she smiled. Catra found She-Ra’s lips immediately and began kissing her
aggressively, nipping She-Ra’s lips a few times.

A new idea began forming in She-Ra’s mind. She pulled back just enough to give herself some room
to maneuver. “Brace yourself,” She-Ra said. Catra barely had time to process what was happening
before she found herself hoisted up onto She-Ra’s shoulders, her legs dangling over She-Ra’s back.

Catra looked down to see She-Ra’s head in her crotch. A smile grew on her face. “I like this view,”
she breathed. She-Ra stared back at her with mischievous glee just before lowering her mouth onto
Catra’s slit. She ran her tongue up and down it a few times before wiggling into it. Catra slammed
her back into the wall as she screamed out in pleasure.

Slowly, She-Ra moved her mouth up to Catra’s clit, where she continued licking and slurping as she
pushed her fingers back into her girlfriend. Catra grabbed She-Ra’s head with both hands and held
on tightly as She-Ra took her for a ride.

Catra was only able to take the full assault for a couple minutes before a powerful orgasm, a month
in the making, exploded inside her. She convulsed violently on She-Ra’s shoulders, and dug her
claws into She-Ra’s scalp to try to brace herself. After the initial explosion, more came. They
continued for a bit as She-Ra kept pushing them out of her.

Finally, they passed. She-Ra gradually slowed down, until she pulled herself out of Catra
completely. Still propped up against the wall on She-Ra’s shoulders, Catra was heaving, trying to
catch her breath. She could barely open her eyes, but did just enough to glance down and see a very
satisfied smirk staring back at her from between her legs. Catra chuckled.

“Do I even weigh anything to you?” She asked between breaths.

“No. It’s like holding a couple of grapes,” She-Ra giggled, wiping her mouth. She gently slid Catra
down, and held her as she regained her footing. Catra quickly found She-Ra’s lips and pulled her
into a passionate kiss.

After a moment they separated slightly, and pressed their foreheads together. Catra was lazily
rubbing the back of She-Ra’s neck. “Why don’t you change back so I can show you how much I
missed you ?” Catra asked, her breath caressing She-Ra’s lips.
“I thought I could maybe stay like this for a while,” She-Ra said, her voice hopeful.

Catra slid her hand around She-Ra’s neck and began stroking her cheek. “Pleeaaasssse?” Catra
whimpered. “I’d like to see my girlfriend.”

“But everyone loves She-Ra,” she responded.

“Everyone else can love She-Ra, I love Adora,” Catra said. Her eyes were big, pleading. In the
entire time they had known each other, Adora had found it difficult to say no to that face. Even when
she knew she probably should.

This time proved no different.

She-Ra took a couple steps back. With a flash she transformed back into Adora, and smiled at Catra,
who had an ear to ear grin at the sight of her Adora.

For a moment, Adora felt okay. She breathed a sigh of relief. Catra made a move towards her, but
before she could get even two steps Adora began grimacing and stumbled backwards. “Adora?”

“I’m fine,” Adora said, trying to will it to be true. The wave of pain passed. She started to recompose
herself as a second, much more intense, wave hit her. It was excruciating, and seemingly unending.
Adorea cried out as she dropped to both her hands and knees.

“No,” Adora mumbled to herself. Her head lowered all the way to the ground as her hands began
balling into fists. Tears began running down her cheeks, splashing on the smooth floor. “Please no...
Please, not now… Not yet… She-Ra… Please…”

Adora…

Please. PLEASE.

I have no control over this. I told you that before.

I know… Just… Please !

I’m… Sorry.

“Adora!” Catra yelled out. She ran to Adora, and dropped down, pulling her in. “Adora, what’s
wrong?!” She grabbed Adora’s hand but recoiled quickly. She gave it a good, hard look. It looked
normal, but it felt wrong. Adora simply lay there in Catra’s lap, sobbing.

Catra placed her hands on Adora. “Sweetheart, I don’t know what’s the matter with you, but I can
help!” She closed her eyes. When Catra reopened them her eyes and the Sun Gems were glowing as
golden sparkles began dancing around Adora.

For a few seconds, it was going just as it had previously. Suddenly, though, Catra began to feel pain.
She winced and concentrated harder. The pain was so intense it physically shoved her back.

“What the hell?” Catra breathed as she struggled to her feet. “That should have worked! What’s
happening to me?” she asked, examining the gems in her bracers.

Adora had forced herself to stop crying, and got up as well. She quickly ran over and embraced
Catra. “Nothing’s wrong with you, my Darling! I promise you.” Adora pulled her in tighter. “Your
powers heal sickness and repair wounds. That’s not what’s happening to me.”
 Catra pulled away and grabbed Adora by the shoulders. “What is happening? Adora, please, I want
to help!”

“I know you do,” Adora said, giving Catra a melancholy smile. “I’ll explain everything, I promise.
But I have to do something first.” Adora grabbed her necklace. She lifted it and opened a little door
in the back of it, and pulled out a small, almond sized purple gem. She took one of Catra’s hands and
put the purple gem into it, and closed Catra’s fingers over it. Then she hugged Catra again, so tightly
Catra thought she was going to be crushed.

“I love you, Catra,” Adora whimpered.

“Adora, I love you, too,” Catra said, the worry plain in her voice.

“I’m so sorry,” Adora sighed.

“For wha-” Catra began.

Before Catra could finish her sentence Adora loudly said “Senupum Lanouwn!” Catra could feel
tingling in her hand from the purple gem. Catra only got to notice it for a split second before falling
unconscious. She began to collapse, but Adora scooped her up and cradled her. Adora nuzzled her
head into Catra’s hair. Tears were pouring down Adora’s cheeks.

“Please forgive me, Kitten,” Adora sniffled.

Adora, I…

“I know, She-Ra.”

If there was anything I could do… But you can feel it, too…

“I know.

“It’s time.”

Chapter End Notes

Okay, I know, "we have to wait three weeks, after that ending?" I really, really wanna
give myself time to make sure I can release the next few chapters faster together though.
This is all for the best, I promise. We're gonna get this thing back on track, I can feel it.

Like I said earlier, Chapter 22, look for it on Friday, September 6th.

Next Time:
"I love you, Catra."
 The Edge of Reunion
Chapter Notes

Hiiii! I hope the second half of everyone's August went well. Mine was great, tbh. It
was a time for recovery, which has allowed me to head into September full of energy
and high hopes. As evidence, here I am, right when I said I would be, posting Chapter
22! I'm super excited, we're getting into the thick of it now!

So, I'm doing better than I was most of the Summer, but I'm still going to try to give
myself some space. So, the current plan is to post Chapter 23 on Tuesday night,
September 17th.

This Fall's gonna be great, I can feel it!

And once again, much thanks to the wonderful Woburn House, Jackets' editor.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Even before her eyes started working again, Catra realized that she was outside. A stiff breeze was
rustling her fur and hair. Riding that breeze was the faint scent of trees, as well as the kind of dusty
odor that happened when rock dust was kicked up into the air. Besides the breeze, it was quiet,
peaceful even. The only other sound Catra could really make out was the occasional sound of a boot
shifting in place.

Slowly, Catra was able to force her eyes open. Her vision was blurry at first. Everything was just
vague shapes. The first thing she noticed was the sky. Mostly a dark blue, the last slivers of dusk
quickly falling under the horizon. It took her by surprise. When she had entered the Radiant
Sanctuary it was barely even noon. Soon her eyes began to focus. That’s when she noticed Adora.
She was wearing her usual clothes, along with the jacket Catra had gotten for her. Adora was
standing with her back to Catra, staring off at the edge of what Catra assumed was a cliffside. Catra
could tell that the sword was jammed into the ground in front of Adora, and judging from her relaxed
posture, she was using it to hold herself up.

Seeing Adora made Catra try to stand up, despite how foggy her head still was. She didn’t get far,
but it wasn’t because of her head. As soon as Catra made a move, she was yanked back down by the
chain that was hammered into the rockface just behind her, and connected to the handcuffs around
her wrists that were bound behind her back. Some twenty feet off to the side were Catra’s bracers,
folded neatly and sitting just next to a path that Catra assumed lead down the mountain. At the very
least, Adora had reclothed Catra. A small comfort.

The commotion behind her made Adora glance over her shoulder. There was the hint of a smile
before returning her gaze to the evening view.

Catra tugged at her bindings. Everything seemed to be pretty secure. She gave a little huff, then
smirked. “You know, I’d be really into this, if you just asked,” Catra quipped. It got a faint laugh
from Adora.

“How are you feeling, Kitten?” Adora asked, turning slightly so she could peer at Catra with her left
eye.
It took a moment for Catra to respond. “Yeah, maybe don’t call me ‘Kitten’ right now,” she flatly
said.

For a brief second there was a pained look on Adora’s face, but it washed away as she cleared her
throat. “That’s fair,” she simply answered.

“So I’ve been asleep for most of the day? What the hell was that?” Catra asked.

“A sleeping gem. I asked Aunt Casta to make a bunch for me. They were made strong enough to put
even She-Ra to sleep, no wonder it had such an effect on you,” Adora answered.

There was a moment of silence between them.

“I met your mom,” Adora finally said. “Well, the AI version anyway.” Adora turned to fully look at
Catra. She gave her a big smile. “She seems lovely. Was very helpful in locating spare chains on
Clawdeen. ”

“Funny, that doesn’t seem like the sort of thing I had to be tied up for you to tell me,” Catra
grumbled, shifting on the ground, trying to find a comfortable position on the gravel.

Adora returned to looking out towards the evening sky. Both her hands resting on the sword hilt as
she shifted her weight against it. “I’m sorry. This was the last thing I wanted.

“While I can, though, I want to explain myself. I want to explain everything to you.”

“Is this about what’s apparently happening to you?” Catra asked. Adora nodded. Catra closed her
eyes and sighed. “You didn’t have to tie me up, Adora. I’m a little pissed at you right now, but I love
you. I still want to help you deal with this.”

“That’s just it, Catra,” Adora said, melancholy expression as she continued staring off into the distant
forests. “There’s nothing for you to do. I don’t need help, I just need you to listen. I need you to
listen, and not try to stop me.”

“Considering that line and tying me up I feel like I definitely should try to stop you,” Catra remarked.

“That’s what the handcuffs are for,” Adora chuckled. The laughing turned into a small coughing fit
as she turned to an unamused Catra. Seeing her face brought visible pain to Adora. “Please, Catra?”

Catra let out a groan. “Fiiinnne.”

A little victorious smile grew on Adora’s face. “I need to go back to the beginning…” Adora began.

“Are you kidding me?!” Catra huffed, rolling her eyes.

“Trust me, it’ll all make sense,” Adora assured her. Her hands were still leaning on the hilt of the
sword. Adora was staring off to the side. Being able to look at Catra for long periods of time seemed
to be something that Adora was having difficulties with. Catra thought it an unwelcome change.

“Have you heard of a person named ‘Mara’?” Adora asked. Catra shook her head. “No, I didn’t
think you would have. She was the last She-Ra. Mara was… a driven person. She strove to do what
she felt was right. And for a time, she was a great She-Ra. Maybe even one of the very best.

“It didn’t last,” Adora sighed.

Adora lifted her head up to the sky. “A thousand years ago, the race of people that we call the ‘First
Ones’, were at war. An—oh how did Light Hope put it—Intar-Stel-Ar war.”
“A what?” Catra asked. She was curious despite herself.

“It means, a war between different planets.”

“Other planets?” Catra scoffed. “That sounds crazy.”

“There are other planets out there, Catra, believe me. As to why we don’t know about any of them…
I’ll get to that.

“Now as I was saying, Mara, as the First One’s mightiest warriors, She-Ra, was on the front lines of
the war. She was the only thing keeping hope alive, but the war wasn’t going well. Desperate to save
themselves, the First Ones made a weapon for She-Ra, but she refused to use it. Mara had no love
loss for the invading army, but we’re talking about a weapon with enough power to wipe out planets
in a single blow, or rewrite reality, or do just about anything imaginable.

“The weapon would have given She-Ra unlimited power. More power than one could ever imagine.
At first, Mara thought she could control it. Use it the right way, but as soon as she got a hold of it, it
scared her. In an instant, Mara knew deep down what her heart desired. She couldn’t trust herself
with that power. So, she tried to undo the weapon, but it all went wrong, and she stranded Etheria
here, in the dead dimension of Despondos.”

Over the last few minutes, Catra’s face contorted into three to five different variations of confusion.
Her current one involved her head cocked to the side. “So, this weapon is on Etheria? Is it that
Radiant Core thing?”

The guess got a laugh out of Adora. It lasted for a few seconds before Adora stopped suddenly. She
winced as she grabbed her side. “Yes and no,” Adora said, recovering from the moment of
discomfort. “The Radiant Core is key, but the weapon isn’t hidden on Etheria, my Darling. It is
Etheria.” Catra’s eyes widened at the announcement.

“When the First Ones found Etheria, it was an underdeveloped planet, full of raw, powerful, magical
energy. They colonized Etheria, and harnessed that energy into core elements that balance each other
out and govern Etheria’s environment.”

“The runestones!” Catra gasped. “Entrapta was right.”

“Yes,” Adora giggled. “The runestones. They flow through the planet, connecting to each other,
feeding each other, and they all run through a central nexus,” Adora said. She grabbed the sword’s
handle suddenly and yanked it out of the ground. “She-Ra is the ‘Administrator’ of Etheria. It lets me
draw power from the runestones. At least, the ones granted to me. That’s why I’ve only been able to
heal people while you were touching the sword. Even before you knew it, you were the rightful heir
to the Sun Gems, and the healing light that comes with them.

“That’s where Mara went wrong. She tried to control the runestones by force. They get unwieldy
when you do that. Which is why when she tried to harness them and disconnect them from each
other it went disastrously. She ripped a portal open and stranded us here,” Adora sighed. She
rewedged the Sword of Protection into the ground.

Catra sucked in air through her nose. “Sooooo, that’s super interesting and all… BUT WHAT
DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH YOU TYING ME UP?! And not even in the fun way,” Catra
growled.

Adora sighed. She ran her finger along the hilt of the sword. For a moment, she seemed lost in
thought. Finally, she looked at Catra. There was sadness all over Adora’s face. She was pushing out
a smile, but it didn’t help at all. “She-Ra’s destiny is to unify Etheria, and return us to the known
universe. To undo Mara’s mistakes.”

“Again, fascinating, but what does that—” Catra began.

“—It’s She-Ra’s destiny!” Adora blurted out. Her sadness had evolved into a pained look. “It’s She-
Ra’s destiny. She-Ra’s, not Adora’s.”

“Wait,” Catra gasped. She pulled at the chain again, with even more force this time, but apparently
they were wedged into wall very solidly. “Adora, what are you saying?!” Catra’s face immediately
became panicked as what Adora was trying to tell her settled in.

“Being the hero of Etheria is an honor,” Adora sighed. “It’s an honor and a privilege. It’s also a duty.
She-Ra isn’t just a sword and a set of powers, she’s a living entity. A powerful hero that can only
exist in our world by bonding with a person. The person and the goddess can co-exist… for a time.
But eventually…”

Catra began yanking at the chain with everything she could. Adora let her exhaust herself for a good
two minutes. “Adora, dammit, what are you saying ? You expect me to believe that you… you.. Do
you really think I’d be okay with this?!”

A tired chuckle came out of Adora. “Of course not. Again, that’s what the chains are for.”

“Go on then, tell me!” Catra huffed. She glared at Adora. She was kneeling and tugging the chain
forward just as much as she could. “TELL ME!” she screamed.

“You’re not allowed,” Catra’s voice rattled, it was clearly on the verge of breaking. “I won’t allow
you to do this if you can’t even tell me to my face.”

For the first time, Adora stepped away from the sword. She took a few unsteady steps toward Catra,
summoned all her nerve, and forced herself to look Catra dead in the eyes. “She-Ra can only reach
her true potential when I give myself over to her. For She-Ra to truly exist… I have to stop… being.”
A couple of tears rolled down Adora’s cheeks.

Catra collapsed back onto her butt as her jaw fell open. “No,” she breathed. Tears started streaming
out uncontrollably. “No. Adora, no! That can’t be the solution! I refuse!”

“I wish it could be any other way. Etheria needs She-Ra. I can’t keep fighting her anymore. I won’t.”

Face still stained with tears, Catra began growling. Brow furrowed, teeth bared, her fury was plainly
relayed. “Damn you! I thought you were done with this hero bullshit! Another heroic ‘sacrifice’. I
should have known. You probably jumped at the chance to sacrifice yourself,” Catra sneered.

Adora closed her eyes. Every one of Catra’s words were like a barb jabbing into her. She was visibly
wincing. Adora let Catra get out her whole tirade. When the catgirl had exhausted her anger, Adora
sighed.

“I… I understand. I’m sorry, for everything,” Adora said. She turned to sulk back to the sword. Deep
down, she knew that she had no right to judge or criticize Catra’s anger. Perhaps it would be easier
to do what she had to do if Catra went back to hating her. This way Adora wouldn’t have to worry
about hurting her anymore.

Catra sat there stewing in her rage for a moment, teeth on full display as her chest heaved. A little
voice in the back of her head kept whispering. The rhythm of the low, patient voice was calming.
She couldn’t make out the words, but she could recognize the voice. It sounded just like Adora. With
each murmur the fire of her anger diminished a little more.

“Wait,” Catra said, her eyelids falling shut. “I’m sorry. Adora, I’m sorry, I’m just upset. I love you, I
just got you back, and now you’re telling me that I’m supposed to just be okay with losing you
again? There has to be another option out there. We can find it, together!”

“I wish there was another way, Catra,” Adora said, turning back to her. “I’ve spent weeks searching
for options.”

“And?” Catra quickly asked.

Adora, having returned to the sword, went back to staring off at the scenery around her. “I found
only one… but it wasn’t viable. It was too risky, had too great a price.”

“That was only a couple weeks. We can keep looking! We’ll find something, we have to. Etheria’s a
big place, there has to be another solution out there. This can’t be your only option!”

“If I had the time, maybe, but time is something I no longer have,” Adora somberly replied.

“Why, though?!” Catra asked. “What’s the damn rush?!”

“When Mara stranded Etheria,” Adora said, picking up here story. Catra groaned, but Adora just
kept going. “She hadn’t yet bonded fully with She-Ra. She was still herself. Stranding us in
Despondos caused a rift between them. She refused to let She-Ra overtake her. She wanted
desperately to fix her mistake, to become powerful enough to bring us back. She resisted She-Ra,
wanted to control her, and in the end, it was Mara’s undoing. She-Ra rejected her outright.

“You don’t just lose something like the power of She-Ra without it affecting you. It tore a hole in her
soul. Mara was left to wallow in her agony, and failure, and need to try to put everything back
together. Eventually, it drove her mad.”

Catra huffed. “You’re stronger than this… Mara. I believe in you, Adora. We can get through this!”

“I’m not as strong as you think I am,” Adora argued. She let out a long sigh as she tightly squeezed
her eyes shut. “Catra…”

Another sigh. Adora opened her eyes slightly. She reached down and lifted her necklace up so she
could look at it. “Catra, you have to promise me, no matter what’s about to happen, no matter what
you’re about to see, you’ll remember me the way I am now. The way I’ve always been.”

“What?” Catra’s ears were pinned back. She let out a soft whimper. “Adora, you’re really scaring me
now.”

“Promise me. Please ,” Adora begged.

There was a small crook in Catra’s mouth as she stared at Adora. “I promise,” she said.

Adora nodded. “Do you see this?” she asked, holding up the pendant. It dangled from the necklace,
the blue gem inset into it glittering as it spun. Catra nodded at her. “This is an illusion gem. It holds
an illusion spell in it. I had Aunt Castaspella make it specially for me.”

“What are you going to use it for?” Catra asked, enthralled by the glittering object dangling. She was
somewhat mad at herself for getting a bit distracted by it in the moment.

“That’s just it,” Adora smiled. “I’m using it as we speak.” Adora grabbed the pendant part of the
necklace, and yanked, breaking the chain from her neck. She held it out, and squeezed hard,
crushing the gem and the pendant, shattering both.

Blue specks began to flake off of Adora and disintegrate as they floated up into the air. In less than a
minute the entire spell had dissipated. Catra’s eyes grew wide. She gasped at the sight.

With the effects of the illusion gem gone, Adora stood before her, as she really was. The thing Catra
immediately focused on were Adora’s eyes. They were drained of their color, gray and lifeless, the
white parts were completely bloodshot. They appeared somewhat glassy. Catra was so fixated, so
distraught over Adora’s eyes it took her almost a minute to even register the rest of Adora’s
appearance. When she finally did her jaw fell open.

Adora’s skin was a sickly pale gray with a hint of green. Almost every part of her skin that was
visible was either cracked, or peeling, and often both. A large swath of blue rash ran across her face
from her right eye down to the left side of her chin. It glowed and oozed, and the leathery skin
around it was starting to flake off. The rash continued down beyond Adora’s collar, disappearing
into her clothes. Her hands had blue veins and blotches of the rash running all the way down to her
fingertips. On Adora’s head still sat her hair, with a front poof and ponytail, but it appeared frazzled
and disheveled, and brittle, looking more like straw than her hair.

The sight left Catra at a loss for words for a moment.

“...Adora,” was all she could eventually get out.

“The human body was never meant to hold the power of She-Ra for this long,” Adora said, staring at
Catra. “I’ve held on for as long as I could.

“I’m so glad I was able to make it until you got back,” Adora tried to smile. For a second, her
demeanor broke. She snorted in a sniffle, doing all she could to choke back her tears. “I’m so happy
that I got to have one more moment with you.”

Feeling fully exposed, both emotionally and physically, Adora couldn’t bear to stay away any
longer. She lumbered her way to Catra. The effort made Adora wince a few times. The farther from
the sword she got, the more intense the pain was. Adora reached her girlfriend and dropped to her
knees. She huffed, trying to catch her breath before smiling at the woman sitting in front of her. To
Catra’s credit, and Adora’s surprise, Catra didn’t look away, even as Adora could feel the rash
oozing on her face. Catra maintained eye contact, but hers were now full of tears that were freely
pouring down her face. “Kitt-er, Catra, I am so sorry, but on the upside, this is the last time I’ll
disappoint you.”

“You don’t disappoint me,” Catra immediately countered. Her voice was cracking, every few words
were interrupted by sniffles. “Adora, please. I love you.”

“I love you, too. So, so much,” Adora cleared her throat, clearly holding back a sniffle.

“But this is what the world needs. Etheria needs She-Ra, not Adora.”

“I need Adora!” Catra screamed out. “I… I need you…”

“No, you don’t,” Adora calmly smiled at her. “You never needed me, Catra. You chose me, and for
that I was the luckiest girl in the world.” Adora raised her arm and began softly stroking the side of
Catra’s face.

“This can’t be what you really want,” Catra whimpered.

Adora gave her a long look. She hummed a little chuckle. “Truth be told, what I really want is to
take you home, and fall asleep in your arms while we watch the day set.” The thought lingered
between them for a moment. Adora seemed to let it take her mind to someplace that brought a smile
to her face. It lasted only a few seconds. She looked back up at Catra. “I don’t get to have what I
want, though,” Adora stated.

“Because you have a destiny,” Catra replied. She laughed through tears. “See, I listen.

“Please, Adora. Please, I’m begging you. Don’t do this,” Catra asked.

“Catra, look at me,” Adora sighed. “I’m doing all I can to hang on just for a few minutes longer.
Every moment is excruciating. I’m barely even a person at this point,” Adora lamented.

For a few seconds, Catra just stared at her. Then she pulled herself forward, enough to meet Adora’s
lips with her own. At first, Adora was shocked. She couldn’t understand why Catra would touch her
in this state. That, and most other thoughts, were pushed out as all Adora found herself able to focus
on was the kiss.

Catra pushed past the immediate feeling. The rawness of Adora’s lips. The dry, cracked skin
covering them. Just beyond that was her . The Adora she had always known. The Adora that she
loved. The kiss felt every bit like she was kissing her girlfriend.

Neither of them knew exactly how long the kiss lasted for. In reality it was probably for less than a
minute. Catra tried to make it continue forever. Their faces barely moved apart when it ended. “I’m
sorry you’re hurting,” Catra breathed onto Adora’s lips. “We can figure it out together, though. You
can hold on. I believe in you!”

Adora pulled back. She was crying. “I wish I could. But even now I can feel myself starting to slip
away.” Adora took a deep breath. “There’s no more running from this. It’s time.” Adora began
rubbing her hand up and down Catra’s arm.

“I need you to promise me,” Adora said, staring Catra directly in the eyes. “Promise me that you’re
going to keep going, Catra. Keep living. You’re free, and there’s a big, beautiful world out there to
discover. You have a wonderful life ahead of you. It’s somewhere out there, waiting for you, I just
know it. Promise me that you’ll go find it.”

“We can find it together,” Catra sobbed. “Please, Adora. I don’t want to do any of this without you.”

There was no adequate reply, so Adora simply hugged her.

“Take care of Bow and Glimmer for me? They’re going to need you,” Adora asked. She felt Catra’s
head slightly nod in Adora’s arms.

Adora squeezed her tighter.

Being here, finally, Adora found herself consumed with only one want. She turned and kissed Catra
again. This time it was longer. Sweeter. Sadder. She took every second to bask in Catra’s heat, her
scent, the softness of her fur under Adora’s leathery skin. This was the last thing she wanted to
remember. The only thing she wanted to remember.

It took awhile for Adora to pull herself away. When she finally did, she was met with the sight of a
whimpering Catra. Adora tried to offer her one final smile, but it did little to soothe either of them.
She let out a little sigh, then Adora ran her thumb down the side of Catra’s face one final time.

“Goodbye, my Darling,” Adora said, her voice soft, barely audible.

Then Adora staggered to her feet and walked back to the sword. The Sword of Protection slid out of
the ground with ease. Adora just stared at it. The last remnants of day sparkled in the metal. A few
tear drops fell onto it, splashing against the runestone. Adora took a moment to calm her breathing.

“I’m going to release the handcuffs in just a moment,” Adora said, pulling a little remote control out
of her pocket. “When I do, you’re going to have to run, Catra. She-Ra is not going to be happy to
see you. She views you as the thing that’s been holding her back.” Adora stopped to chuckle.
“Which is true. Give her some space, maybe a few days. She’ll come around once she gets over her
initial anger.”

Catra glared at Adora. “Lucky me,” her raspy voice spit out. Through all the tears and despair,
something began bursting through, like the first ray of light through a raincloud.

I am so much faster than Adora… I can stop her before she can transform. We can figure out
another way.

It was a barely formed thought, but in that moment Catra clung onto it, like it was the only lifeboat in
the entire ocean. Focusing was hard as she watched Adora. The Princess of Power was fiddling with
the remote. Adora rose the Sword of Protection into the air. Catra had seen her strike that pose
dozens of times now. It never felt so distressing.

“I love you, Adora,” Catra blurted out. No matter what, Catra needed her to know that. Even here,
even now.

Adora turned and gave a melancholy smile in return. “I love you, Catra. More than anything in the
world,” she said. Adora clicked the button on the remote, then tossed it off the cliff.

Right away, Catra could feel the handcuffs click open. She was certain. She could do this. She could
make it.

“For the honor-”

Catra wasted no time. In a millisecond she was on her feet, darting towards Adora, who’d just begun
her battle cry.

She could do this. She was going to make it.

“-of-”

After a few steps, Catra leapt into the air, throwing herself along the path at Adora. Catra’s fingers
were mere inches away from Adora.

She could do this.

“-GRAYSKULL!” Adora screamed.

Catra could feel the fabric of Adora’s jacket, just as a flash of light shot out, knocking Catra back a
good ten feet. She slammed into the ground hard. Slowly, Catra pushed herself up on her elbows. In
front of her, a glowing cocoon of light hovered by the cliffside. Catra stared at it as more tears began
streaming down her face.

As She-Ra emerged from the light, the first thing she noticed was the crispness of the air. She snorted
a deep breath in. She-Ra could smell everything: the trees, the rocks, the faint hint of sulfur, coming
in from the volcano, long dormant below where she stood. Upon opening her eyes, She-Ra was
taken aback by the colors of Etheria. They were so sharp, so vibrant. Everything seemed to pulsate
with life. The world was brand new. She was brand new. For the first time in thousands of years,
She-Ra felt alive. She could feel it literally coursing through her veins. The world was…
intoxicating.

Gleefully, She-Ra, bright blue eyes shining as her entire body emitted a golden light, took in the
view of the valley below the mountain. She turned to get a sense of where she was. Wonderment
turned to anger as She-Ra had just a split-second to brace for the impact of Catra’s claws against her
face. Only her sturdy flesh kept them from tearing down to the bone. She-Ra let out a scream as
Catra’s other hand stabbed her shoulder. Catra reared her free arm back to strike, but She-Ra swung
her fist wildly, forcing Catra to dodge, and extract her claws from She-Ra’s shoulder.

There were another couple wild swings from She-Ra. They weren’t thought-out, or focused, just
anger-fueled retaliation that only managed to slightly graze Catra’s arm once. The flurry did its job in
forcing some separation between the two. Once She-Ra was able to regain her bearings, Catra was
nowhere to be found. “Enemy,” She-Ra growled. “I always knew you were,” the Goddess of
Protection said. She held the sword out, and scanned the rocks for any sight of the catgirl. “Adora
tried to convince me otherwise, but she couldn’t be objective.”

It seemed as if Catra had appeared out of nowhere. “GIVE HER BACK!” Catra screamed as she
slashed against She-Ra’s back. One of She-Ra’s fists clubbed Catra in the side as She-Ra spun to
meet her attacker. The impact of the hit sent Catra flying into the side of the mountain. She slammed,
face first, into the mountain and slid down to her knees.

Just about every muscle in Catra’s body ached. She used the rocks to begin pulling herself up, but
before she had barely begun She-Ra stomped down onto the back of Catra’s right calf. A sickening
snap echoed throughout the mountain pass followed by a garbled sound from Catra as she tried to
scream through the blood in her mouth. Even though her bracers were across the pass, Catra tried
using her healing powers, and felt fortunate to find that they worked, even without being directly
connected to the Sun Gems.

She-Ra stood over her as Catra’s healing began mending her fractured bone. “Stay down,” the
goddess suggested.

The demand seemed to incite Catra, who renewed her effort to stand. “Give… her… back!” Catra
repeated. She pushed herself off the wall and tried pouncing at She-Ra, who caught her in mid-air by
the throat. Catra squirmed and flailed with what strength she could muster. “You don’t… deserve her
life,” Catra struggled to say as She-Ra’s grip remained firm around her throat.

“And you do?” She-Ra scoffed.

“More… than a boorish jackass like you,” Catra sneered.

The Goddess of Protection roared with anger and slammed Catra into the ground so hard she left a
small crater. All the dust kicked up made Catra cough and choke. There wasn’t an inch of Catra’s
body that wasn’t throbbing with pain. Her healing powers’ first priority were what Catra was sure
was at least one broken rib.

Through the dust Catra could see She-Ra, towering over her and raising the sword high into the air.
Catra sucked in a few ragged breaths, trying to find the will to move. Her body wasn’t cooperating.
She looked up at She-Ra, squinting her eyes and glaring bitterly at the warrior above her. If this was
going to be it, Catra wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of begging.

Adora, maybe I’ll see you again some day…

I hope so.

As the dust settled, though, Catra was becoming perplexed by the sight. She-Ra still stood over her,
with the sword raised, but she remained in that position with a face that suggested that she was
struggling mightily. Catra squinted at the warrior above her.

“Release… me, you vile… witch!” She-Ra strained. All her might seemed to be going into bringing
the sword down. Yet it wouldn’t budge.

It was just an instant. Less than an instant. Less than a second or even half a second, but Catra was
sure she saw it. For the briefest of moments, Catra was sure she saw She-Ra’s brilliant blue eyes dull
to a gray-blue. A color that Catra recognized. She clamored to her feet as quickly as possible.

“Adora?!” Catra gasped.

She-Ra turned her head slightly to look at Catra. “She’s… gone… There’s just… me. And I
DEMAND you... Release me this instant!” she huffed.

“I’m not doing anything, you freak,” Catra spat, glaring at She-Ra. She got in close. Despite
everything, seeing that face, so familiar, so close, it was hard for Catra to hold onto her anger. “This
is her. It has to be.” Catra ran her fingers against She-Ra’s cheek. It made the warrior snarl. Catra
paid her no attention.

“You’re still in there, Adora, aren’t you?” Catra asked. “I’m going to get you out of there, I
promise!”

“A fool’s errand, mutt,” She-Ra scoffed.

“Maybe, but I don’t really have anything else to lose,” Catra growled at She-Ra. Still nursing her
wounds, Catra stumbled over and retrieved her bracers. Catra could feel the Sun Gems boosting her
natural powers as soon as she slid the bracers on. Her entire body was tingling as her wounds were
healed in almost an instant.

With her physical pain healed, Catra took a deep breath. She took one final glance at She-Ra. “I’m
going to find a way to rescue you, Adora. I promise!

“... I have to,” Catra muttered to herself as she wiped a few tears from her eyes. She turned and
darted down the pass.

As soon as Catra was out of view, She-Ra regained control of herself. The built up momentum
brought the Sword of Protection down so hard it split the ground below She-Ra.

Night was just about fully upon the region when Swift Wind, with Glimmer and Bow saddled on his
back, touched down in the grassy field at the base of Mount Candila. Glimmer and Bow quickly
scrambled off of the alicorn.

“There’s Clawdeen!” Bow exclaimed, pointing to the transport ship that was parked at the mouth of
Mount Candila where the path leading into the mountains funneled out of. All three began
wandering vaguely towards Clawdeen as they spun their heads around in all directions, calling out
for both Adora and Catra.
Swift Wind stopped and stared intently at the mountains ahead. “That’s odd, I was sure I felt Adora’s
presence coming from somewhere around here,” he said. A sudden, intensely uncomfortable feeling
made Swift Wind shut his eyes and shake his head. “Ergh!” he grumbled.

“What is it?!” Glimmer asked, rushing to attend to Swift Wind, who stumbled a few steps
backwards.

“I… I don’t feel Adora any more. I feel… something els-” Swift Wind stammered then suddenly
stopped talking altogether. He straightened his posture up to stand at attention. When he opened his
eyes, Glimmer gasped at the fact that Swift Wind no longer had pupils, and his eyes were glowing a
faint lavender color.

“She-Ra,” he stated matter-of-factly. Without warning Swift Wind rose into the air, then soared
towards the mountains. Glimmer chased after him for a few seconds, yelling his name in hopes that
he’d respond. She slowed to a stop as Swift Wind quickly disappeared among the many mountain
tops.

“What the?” Glimmer mumbled.

Bow ran up next to her. “Where did Swift Wind take off to?”

“No idea! Something weird happened and he just… left,” Glimmer huffed. Her eyes did another
survey of the field. It was still empty, save for Clawdeen. “Something’s off about all this,” Glimmer
sighed. Bow gave her a pat on the back. She turned to him. He was trying to give her an
encouraging smile, but Glimmer could see just under it. Even with being separated for a month, she
knew her best friend. The worry in that smile was plain to her.

“We’re going to find our friends,” Bow assured her. “We just have to… oh hey, speaking of!” Bow
was looking over Glimmer’s shoulder when he began getting excited. He grabbed Glimmer by the
arms and turned her to look towards the mountain.

Coming down from the mountain pass was Catra. She was walking slowly and erratically, like she
wasn’t putting any thought into where she was going.

Running counter to her own brain, Glimmer lit up when she saw Catra. Finally, they were getting
somewhere. Both Glimmer and Bow began jogging towards her and calling her name in an attempt
to get her attention.

At first, Catra hadn’t noticed or heard them. The world beyond her body might as well have not even
existed. The gravity of what just happened was hitting her, like relentless waves crashing on the
shore. Gradually, a ringing began filling her ears. The ringing slowly morphed into the sound of her
name, coming from the voices of Bow and… “Glimmer?” Catra murmured.

Catra’s head shot up. The remaining two thirds of the Best Friend Squad was quickly approaching
her. Her eyes set on Glimmer. Catra squinted. Her brows furrowed. Her clenched teeth were bared.

“Did you know?!” Catra suddenly screamed. Both Bow and Glimmer stopped short at the force of
Catra’s voice. They traded quick glances at each other, one hoping the other would know what Catra
was talking about.

“Did you know?!” Catra yelled again. The words cracked as they left her mouth. This time she
pounced at Glimmer, who teleported out of the way just in time. Glimmer blinked back in a few feet
away. Catra landed where Glimmer had been and rolled. She hopped up to her feet and spun. Bow
was there to meet her.
“Catra! What’s going on? Are you okay?!” Bow asked, his voice full of worry. He took a look at her
wide eyes and could barely see the friend that he had just spent the last month with. “Catra! Talk to
—ACK!” Bow was suddenly and forcefully shoved to the side when Catra saw Glimmer, slowly
reapproaching.

Glimmer only had a few seconds before Catra was on her again. This time she didn’t have a chance.
Catra slammed into her and they both went tumbling to the ground.

“DID YOU KNOW?!” Catra roared again as her and Glimmer rolled a few yards.

Luckily for Glimmer, Catra wasn’t in the mindset for a fight, and she was able to free herself and
teleport away from Catra easily. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Glimmer yelled back as
she teleported to safety. Bow was there to meet her, and put himself between the two.

“Please, Catra, we’re here for you! Just talk to us!” Bow exclaimed, while holding his arms out as
the heaving catgirl slowly stalked towards them.

There was no more fight in Catra. She she dropped to her knees, and wrapped her arms around
herself as tightly as she could. “Did you know?” Catra said again, this time a hoarse whimper that
was followed immediately by the sound of crying.

Cautiously, Bow and Glimmer made their way back to her. “Catra? Know what? What were we
supposed to know?” Bow asked as he knelt down next to his friend and placed a gentle hand on her
back.

Glimmer just stared at Catra in silence for a moment. What Catra was talking about slowly pushed its
way into Glimmer’s mind. She gasped. “What? No,” Glimmer breathed, mostly to herself. She ran
up to Catra and grasped her shoulders tightly. “No! She’s fine! We fixed it!”

“Fix what?” Bow asked, looking up at Glimmer with a raised eyebrow.

The exchange above her did nothing to ease the sobbing catgirl at Glimmer’s feet. “We… fixed it.
She said… that we fixed it,” Glimmer repeated.

Catra strained to raise her head. Her eyes met Glimmer’s, who gasped at the sight of Catra.
Bloodshot, puffy eyes above cheeks with matted fur from the excess of tears. Catra’s nose was a
mess of snot. Glimmer dropped to her knees. “She… she said that we fixed it,” Glimmer squeaked,
her eyes pleading to Catra.

All it took was a simple head shake from Catra to tear Glimmer’s world apart. Tears began running
down Glimmer’s face as her head fell into her hands.. “She… she…” Glimmer stammered.

Bow set his free hand on Glimmer’s back. The touch made her raise her head at him. An errant tear
was forming in the corner of his eye. “Glimmer… what happened to Adora?” he breathlessly asked.
Glimmer’s head fell into Bow’s shoulder.

“She’s... gone,” Catra wasn’t able to say it as anything but a broken whisper, all her voice had left.
Catra was almost completely hunched over, with her head between her knees.

It hit Bow. He gasped, and seemed to have trouble catching his breath. “Adora,” he stammered. The
name got an intense sob from Catra. Bow slid down into a sitting position. He pulled the two women
closer. Catra collapsed onto her side, her head falling onto one of Bow’s thighs as her arms and tail
lay lifelessly on the ground. Glimmer buried her head deeper into Bow’s chest. She wrapped one
arm around his back. Her other hand found its way to Catra’s hair and absently began stroking it.
 “... Adora,” Bow mumbled as he rested his head against Glimmer’s. Tears began rolling down his
cheeks.

The three of them remained on the ground together, wrapped in each other’s arms, for some time.

Chapter End Notes

Ahem.

Okay, so, first of all, I really think this song works well for this chapter, especially the
second half of Catra's and Adora's conversation: https://youtu.be/aKyX-bWK5xU.

Secondly, Please keep reading. Please keep reading. Please keep reading. Please keep
reading. Please keep reading. Please keep reading. Please keep reading. Please keep
reading. Please keep reading. Please keep reading.

Also, if you didn't see it earlier: Chapter 23, should be posted on Tuesday,
September 17th

Next Time:
“Not much you could accomplish, being knocked out and all."
 Goddess of Protection
Chapter Notes

Okay. I'm a couple days late. Better than being weeks late again, I suppose. At least it's
another meaty chapter!

Sooo, last chapter. I know. Trust me, I know! It hurt plenty to write it. This story has
those two tags ("I believe in happy endings" and "But the middle may be rough") since
the beginning, because of exactly this. They're warnings... but they're also a promise.
Thank you for putting your trust in me. There's so much story left to tell, it's going to all
be worth it in the end. I promise.

Like always, I wanted to thank my wonderful editor WoburnHouse. His insight and
perspective have pushed me to another level. Words can't express how much I
appreciate his contributions to this.

And one final thing. I promise not to make this a habit on every chapter, but I was
hoping that you all might be able to help me out. I'm doing a fundraiser drive over on
my Ko-Fi. This summer kicked not just my butt, by my finance's butt too. So I'm trying
to use my art to maybe keep from falling behind on bills. Basically, if I raise $105 I'll
draw a Catradora pin-up (oh yeah, I also do art). Plus I'll be able to pay some bills! Well,
a bill. But I know that money isn't great for a lot of people right now, but retweets and
reblogs are GREATLY appreciated. My Ko-Fi can be found here: https://ko-
fi.com/midnightechoes. Thank you so much.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Swift Wind landed on the mountain pass. The glow of his eyes dissipated, and his senses returned. It
felt like waking up from a deep sleep. The alicorn gave his head a good shake to try to clear out the
lingering dullness at the edges of his mind. “Ugh, what just happened?” he groggily mumbled. As
his eyes refocused, Swift Wind tried to take in his surroundings.

Night just set upon Etheria. The moons hung high in the air, some of them dully glowed, just enough
to illuminate themselves, while a few of them cast soft blue light onto Etheria. Most of the moonlight
was blocked from the mountain pass by the mountain peaks, draping deep shadows over the pass.
The only thing that cut through the darkness was about twenty feet away. Glowing there, in the
middle of the pass was the Sword of Protection, jammed into the ground, emitting a warm, golden
light that illuminated the immediate area around it, as well as She-Ra, who was sitting just behind it.
Her legs were folded and her eyes were closed, while her hands rested on her knees.

“She-Ra?” Swift Wind called out. It was a confusing sight. To the best of his knowledge, Swift
Wind had never seen She-Ra meditating before. Patience wasn’t exactly one of Adora’s virtues.

At the sound of her name, She-Ra opened her eyes, and smiled wide at the alicorn that was trotting
over to her. “Swift Wind. My friend,” she responded as she hopped to her feet in one fast motion.
She met him halfway and gave him a tight hug around his neck. “It is so good to see you again!”

“Good to see you, too?” Swift Wind said, becoming even more confused. “I did see you just
yesterday,” Swift Wind added.
She-Ra pulled away straightened her uniform. “No, my friend. This is my first time meeting this
incarnation of you.”

“This… incarnation?” Swift Wind was at a loss. It made She-Ra let out a hearty laugh.

“Yes, my dear Swift Wind. There have been many She-Ras, and every She-Ra needs her Swift
Wind.” She-Ra gave Swift Wind’s neck a rub. “Adora chose you in a… haphazard fashion.
Nonetheless, you’ve performed admirably.”

Ninety-nine percent of the time, Swift Wind loved being an alicorn. Flying, galloping, and the ability
to appreciate hay on a level that so far no human seemed to be able to comprehend. Sometimes,
though, he had to admit that he was a little jealous of the theatricality that humans could use to
express their feelings. For example, Swift Wind was still quite confused, and the contortions on his
face did something to convey that, but he felt that being able to scratch his head could have really
driven home just how confused he still was.

“Er, thank you?” Swift Wind responded. “Adora, what’s with the talking in the third person? Is this a
new thing you’re trying? Is this something that schoal-ars like to do?” Swift Wind quipped.

She-Ra shook her head. She took Swift Wind by the sides of his head and pressed their foreheads
together, nestling her hair just under his horn. A glow surrounded both for a moment. Suddenly,
Swift Wind pulled back as tears began filling his eyes. “...Adora,” he whispered.

“Adora will always be with me,” She-Ra said. “She is not me, however.” She-Ra gave Swift Wind a
firm pat on his side before hopping up onto his back. “Come, I have much to explain to you. I’ll tell
you everything on the way.”

“I… um, right now?” the alicorn stammered. He was attempting to pull himself together. She-Ra
rested her hand on Swift Wind’s head.

“Yes, right now,” She-Ra ordered.

Swift Wind felt a tingling sensation. He couldn’t understand it, but it was compelling him to comply
to She-Ra’s request. The alicorn straightened up, and unfurled his two majestic rainbow wings.
“Where to?” he plainly asked.

“Bright Moon Castle,” She-Ra grinned. At first, she didn’t understand why she was grinning. It only
took a few seconds it to click. It was Adora’s home. The ex-Horde soldier had grown to love her
time there.

An amused smile flashed across She-Ra’s face.

The first thing that Decepsha noticed when she tried opening her eyes was the hazy yellow tube
lights dangling above her. They were emitting a faint hissing sound. The second thing Decepsha
noticed was that the ceiling above her was made out of a thick canvas material. She sighed as her
location began to dawn on her. A Horde medical tent.

Decepsha’s hand shot to the bridge of her nose. Thick bandages covered it. “Dammit, again?” she
groaned, her voice a lot more nasal than normal. Thanks to one of her IV drips, there wasn’t much
pain, mostly just discomfort from the bandages. At the moment she was appreciating the wonders of
Horde medicine. They were working so well that Decepsha wasn’t bothered by the Horde’s
notoriously itchy hospital attire: lime-green, loose-fitting tops and pants with quick, tearaway snaps
holding them closed. Having little else to do at the moment, the Force Agent sighed as her eyes
rested on the tent roof. Thoughts and memories of the past 24 hours were flooding into her mind.
Regrets. Things that she had convinced herself were the right thing to do.

“Well, that sucked,” she mumbled. “It was your job, Decepsha,” she argued with herself. “You had a
mission to accomplish,” she insisted.

“Not much you could accomplish, being knocked out and all,” a different voice said.

Decepsha shot up in her bed so fast that she almost pulled her IV out. To her left, the direction the
voice had come from, she saw Lonnie, slumped over a chair and holding a mini-monitor. Decepsha
couldn’t take her wide eyes off of the Force Captain. Her mouth was hanging slightly open.

“Girl, you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost! Did getting knocked out mess up your head or
something?” Lonnie chuckled at Decepsha’s baffled expression. She set her monitor down on a side
table and made her way over to the bed. Decepsha moved ever so slightly so that Lonnie could sit at
the edge. The small motion caused a flare-up of pain in her ribs. She decided to do what she could to
ignore it.

Lonnie smiled at Decepsha, who was still struggling at the sight of Lonnie. “Hey, for real, are you
okay? Catra was always kind of a pain in the ass, and now she’s got, like, magic gloves or
whatever.”

The two stared at each other for a moment. Lonnie made the first move. She found Decepsha’s hand
that was resting idly on her bed and placed her own hand over it.

“You didn’t defect?” Decepsha suddenly blurted out.

“What?” Lonnie’s face contorted into one of confusion. She pulled back slightly, and released
Decepsha’s hand. “Defect? What are you talking about?”

“It’s just…” Decepsha began. Suddenly, she was feeling really stupid. She began rubbing the back
of her neck as a smirk formed on her face. “I guess I just thought that, well, considering that all your
friends were running around the battle and talking to you, that…” her sentence trailed off. Her hand
slid up from her neck to scratch at the back of her head. “I guess I don’t know what I was thinking,”
she added with a sigh. Decepsha winced slightly as she shifted on her bed, sitting up more and
pulling her knees up to her chest.

A couple seconds of awkward silence passed between them. Decepsha decided to turn her focus to
the blanket on her bed that she was sitting on top of. Lonnie continued to stare at her. “Is that what
you were hoping for?” Lonnie finally asked.

The question caught Decepsha off guard. “Wha- what? No! No, of course not!” she quickly assured
her. “I just thought… I was worried that you might.” Decepsha offered Lonnie a soft smile. She slid
her hand along the blanket towards Lonnie. “It must be hard,” Decepsha said, her gaze was towards
her knees, but in truth she wasn’t actually looking at anything, “all your friends, all of the people that
you care about, stuck on the opposite side as you. I could see how it might be tempting to just drop
everything and go with them.”

Lonnie let out a deep sigh. “It was hard, if we’re being honest,” she said, scooting closer to
Decepsha. “You’re wrong about one thing, though.”
Decepsha perked up and looked at Lonnie with her head cocked to the side. Lonnie slid even closer,
so that she was just inches away. She slowly leaned her head in towards Decepsha. A wide grin
grew on Lonnie’s face. “Not everyone I care about is on the opposite side as me,” Lonnied said, just
as she leaned in and kissed Decepsha.

At first, Decepsha just sat there, her eyes almost bulging out of her head, as Lonnie kissed her.
Decepsha didn’t understand. As a spy she an array of ‘masks’ that she wore. For missions. For life.
For herself. Built off one another. Lies. Falsehoods. Deceit. Layers upon layers. Every one of them
had a purpose. Everything was a part of one plan or another.

Lonnie kissing her wasn’t in Decepsha’s plans. This wasn’t in any of her scripts. She had no idea
why Lonnie was doing it. This… couldn’t be what Lonnie wanted.

Could it?

A kiss. Out of want?

Is this what that feels like?

Just then, Decepsha could feel Lonnie starting to pull away. Something in Decepsha shattered. She
grabbed Lonnie by the back of the head and pushed their lips back together. Lonnie let out a little
squeak as Decepsha bit Lonnie’s bottom lip. Decepsha’s other arm swung around Lonnie and pulled
her in as much as she could. Lonnie’s arms snaked around Decepsha’s sides, and gripped her back
tightly. Decepsha pushed forward as much as she could as her tongue found its way into Lonnie’s
mouth. She could feel Lonnie’s chest pressed against her, Lonnie’s arms squeezing her on either
side. Decepsha pushed farther, so that Lonnie was starting to buckle under the force.

Everything was fire. Decepsha’s cheeks. Her mouth as she refused to let their lips part. Lonnie’s skin
felt overwhelming; like a flame that Decepsha, as if still a cavewoman, couldn’t stop yearning to
touch, no matter how much it seemed to scorch her. Decepsha’s nose was burning from the pain that
all this pressing her face against Lonnie’s was causing. Her chest was on fire, too, but Decepsha
didn’t know why. At the moment, she didn’t care. Decepsha was beginning to lose herself.

Or maybe she was beginning to find herself.

Whichever it was, made Decepsha suddenly push Lonnie away from her.

“What the?!” Lonnie huffed. The force of the push had almost shoved her all the way off of the bed.

“Sorry!” Decepsha yelped. She jumped off the bed and yanked the IV cords out of her arm. The spy
took a quick survey of the med tent. It was just her and Lonnie in her little area that was sectioned off
with dividing curtains. The exit was easy and obviously marked. It took the indigo-haired woman a
couple of steps before she felt steady on her legs.

“I’m sorry!” Decepsha repeated as she watched Lonnie regain her balance on the bed. She twisted
around to stare at Decepsha. Lonnie was surprised to find that Decepsha had an expression of horror
on her face.

With her balance back, Decepsha ran to where the curtains of her room parted, and flung them open.
She turned to give a quick look back at Lonnie, then ran as fast as she could. She could faintly hear
Lonnie calling for her as she ran out of the med tent.

As soon as she was outside Decepsha’s stumbled. She wasn’t expecting the ground to be as soft as it
was. She looked down to see the gritty blackness of the Midnight Sands Desert sparkling in the lights
of pop-up Horde base. She adjusted and continued on, weaving between tents and quickly erected
buildings and guards and patrol units that were shambling around far too slowly. It took her a good
five minutes of continued running before she cleared the base.

It wasn’t much longer before Decepsha collapsed to her hands and knees in exhaustion. She was a
little past the base, out in the open desert. She sat there, heaving. Debris of the day’s battle was still in
the sand around her. Footprints, large gaps in the sand from where blasts had struck, metal and debris
scattered around.

As she slowly regained her breath, Decepsha crawled a few feet over to a sheet of metal that was
half-jammed into the ground. She pulled it out and sat up. The metal was mostly shiny still, save for a
couple burn marks around the edges. Decepsha could see her reflection in it. She stared at herself for
a moment. Suddenly, she dropped the piece of metal back onto the sand, and slammed both fists
down onto it. She slammed them down a few more times as tears began forming in her eyes.

“Why?! Why would she do that?! What was she thinking?!” Decepsha cried out. She looked back
into the sheet of metal. Her puffy, wet eyes glared back up at her. A few tears dripped down as
Decepsha slammed her eyes closed. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”

“Doesn’t she know that doesn’t happen to me?” Decepsha sniffled.

With an aggressive shove, Decepsha pushed the sheet of metal to the side. She reached down and
scooped up a clump of sand. The spy watched for a moment as the grains of sand slowly poured
from her hand. Decepsha cleared her throat. “The one serves the all. When the one comes before the
all, we fall. There is no one, there is only the all,” she stated, slowly, and clearly. Decepsha took a
deep breath, and repeated the phrase. Over and over. As many times as she needed to.

Three identical chandeliers hung high up in the throne room of Bright Moon Castle. The arms of the
chandeliers curved up, and were styled to look like crescent moons. On top of the arms were
glowing orbs, casting brilliant light into the throne room. At the open section of the throne room,
light spilled out into the night sky where the queen’s vacant throne hovered.

Queen Angella was pacing slowly back and forth a few yards in front of the throne steps, with her
hands clasped together behind her back. It was the same thing she had been doing for a while now.
She was alone in the throne room, after dismissing the guards for the evening. She needed to pace, to
be flustered, and she didn’t want an audience. News from Midnight Sands had been expected hours
ago. It wasn’t the first time Glimmer had missed reporting in, but the stakes had rarely been so high.
Angella was trying not to worry, and she was failing miserably.

Over the past year, Glimmer had managed to do something that Angella hadn’t thought possible:
earn Angella’s trust as a leader. Deep down, Angella knew it was unfair of her to coddle Glimmer so
much. Even before Adora had arrived, Glimmer had all the makings of a Rebellion fighter. She
couldn’t help it. Angella still struggled with it. There was no denying, however, that Glimmer was
growing into a great leader. The queen knew, if her husband was still here, he’d be so proud of their
daughter.

The creaking of the door to the throne room snapped Angella back to the present. A royal servant
was rushing towards Angella. They stopped just a few feet short of the queen and bowed.

“What news do you have for me?” Angella asked as she waved her hand to motion for the servant to
straighten up.

“Your Highness, a note from Midnight Sands has arrived—” the servant began.

“—From Glimma’?” Angella interjected.

“Er, no your Majesty. From Princess Embra. According to their note, Midnight Sands and the
Princess Alliance were successful in stopping the Horde from reaching the palace. However, the
Horde has been able to hold on to the pass and have already begun setting up camp in Midnight
Sands territory.”

“The Horde’s made it into Midnight Sands Desert?” Angella breathed.

“It would appear so, my queen,” the servant answered. “The rest of the note says that casualties were
at a minimum, and that the Princess Alliance didn’t receive any significant injuries.”

Queen Angella nodded at the servant, dismissing them. She idly strolled around her throne, all the
while stroking her chin. “The Horde gaining ground in Midnight Sands isn’t a good sign,” Angella
mumbled to herself. “Although, that may be useful. Midnight Sands is likely to not take kindly to the
push into their lands. If they can draw the Horde’s focus for a while, perhaps the Rebellion can plan
a proper attack strategy, instead of always being on the defensive.”

Another sound caught Angella’s attention yet again. The far end of the throne room opened to the
outside, much like the throne side. The sound that Angella heard was Swift Wind approaching. He
soared into the throne room and touched down.

Angella breathed a sigh of relief. “Adora! Oh, thank goodness.”

She-Ra hopped down from her steed and marched towards Angella with even, steady paces. She
stopped just a few feet away and knelt down. “Your Highness, it is an honor to finally meet you in
person.” She pulled out the Sword of Protection, and held it up, as an offering to the Queen. “It is I,
She-Ra, and I have come to offer my assistance in the fight against the Horde.”

Silence fell on the room. Angella stared at She-Ra, her mouth slightly agape. She looked up and over
to Swift Wind, who offered her a nervous smile before backing up and taking off back into the night.

“Adora, my girl, this is no time for games,” Angella huffed.

“No games, your Majesty,” She-Ra answered. Realizing Angella was going to need an explanation,
she sheathed her sword and stood up. “And no Adora, I’m afraid,” She-Ra stated.

Angella gasped. “What is that supposed to mean?”

She-Ra spent a couple minutes explaining her new reality. Angella had clutched her chest early on,
and with each sentence seemed to tighten her grip. By the time She-Ra was finished, tears were
streaming down the queen’s cheeks. She-Ra gave her a somber look, with a hint of a smile.

“Your Highness, I am truly sorry that it had to be this way, but this was always how it would end.
Adora knew that. She accepted it. This was her choice.”

It took a moment before Angella said anything. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Fourteen
years ago, Micah’s staff had appeared in the center of the throne room. The Queen immediately
knew what it meant. Her husband, her love, had wanted to ensure that his staff, a magical weapon in
its own right, didn’t fall into the wrong hands. It was covered in blood. His blood.
From that moment onward, Angella had been consumed with only one thing, protecting what family
that she had left. The war had taken so much from her. She retreated into the safety of Bright Moon.
The Rebellion stagnated. The Princess Alliance was broken. Angella didn’t care. All she could think
about was protecting Glimmer.

Then something unbelievable happened. A stranger, from the Horde no less, came to her kingdom
and gave Angella the last thing she thought she’d ever have again: hope. Her family grew, and for
the first time in a long time, Etheria seemed like it was worth fighting for. Through it all, Angella
remained scared for Glimmer’s safety, but the last person she ever thought she had to worry about
was…

“...Adora… is gone?” Angella stammered.

“As you knew her, yes,” She-Ra replied. She put her hand over her own chest. “Adora will always
be with me. She no longer has a conscious existence, but she’s a part of me. The best parts of me.
Her morality, her decency, they guide me in all things,” She-Ra said. There was a hint of serenity in
her voice. The kind of serenity that comes from finally being free, after centuries of captivity.

Calmer heads would have allowed Angella to understand why She-Ra was awash with a sense of
peace. But it had been a long day. She still had no idea where her first daughter was. And now, her
champion, her hero that rode into Bright Moon peddling hope and destiny, was standing here telling
her that her second daughter was just… gone.

Angella rose slightly into the air. “What is it that you have come here for, She-Ra?” she asked in the
most stern, royal tone she could muster, which seemed to be enough. She-Ra backed up a few feet.

“To tell you the truth. I thought you deserved it,” She-Ra answered. Her voice was soft. Softer than
Angella thought it could get if she was being perfectly honest. Angella lowered back down to the
ground. She-Ra nodded at her. “I am not here to replace Adora. She was special to you, and many
people here in Bright Moon. I understand that”

She-Ra stopped and looked around the throne room. It all felt so familiar, yet so new. Like she had
been here many times before, but only in dreams. Against her will, She-Ra found herself smiling at
the thought. “I’m committed to protecting Bright Moon. To leading the fight against the Horde. I’m
—”

Before She-Ra could continue, the doors to the throne room flung open. Catra, still in her new
Empress’ suit of black and gold striping, golden bracers, and the Sun Gems, stood in the doorway.
Her bloodshot eyes were burning with hatred. Her claws were flexing in and out as her chest heaved
up and down in anger. Catra’s ears were flattened against her short hair as her tail violently swished
behind her. Glimmer and Bow flanked her. They both had puffy eyes, and strained expressions that
teetered between rage and sorrow.

“I knew you’d be here!” Catra growled, then began charging.

In no time, She-Ra pulled the Sword of Protection out of its sheath. With one smooth motion she
jammed it hard into the smooth floor of the throne room, before backing away from it. A few feet
behind She-Ra came a gasp from the queen.

Catra had been running so fast and recklessly that she careened into it, slamming into the blunt side.
She almost toppled over it but used the handle of the sword to steady herself. With fangs fully bared,
she looked up at She-Ra, who, to Catra’s surprise, seemed to be in no rush to fight.

“Wait, please!” She-Ra pleaded. Catra stood there, clutching the sword, still jammed into the ground,
glaring at She-Ra. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed the queen rushing over to Glimmer.
Catra quickly returned her attention to She-Ra.

“I would like to apologize,” She-Ra said. Her arms were outstretched, as if asking Catra to stop. “I
did not handle our last encounter well. I should have been more patient with you. My brain was still
a jumble, it took awhile for it to sort itself out properly. For that, I am sorry. I know this is a lot for
you to adjust to.”

“Adjust to?!” Catra hissed. “You killed my girlfriend! You want me to adjust to that ?”

“I didn’t kill her,” She-Ra stated. Her eye twitched ever so slightly. “I… no. I’m not going to let you
cause me to lose control again. You can accept my apology or not.”

“How about not!” Catra yelled back. She slid past the sword and began stalking towards She-Ra,
claws fully extended. Suddenly, a wall of light rose up between the two. Catra whipped around,
growling indiscriminately.

Just in front of Catra was Queen Angella. Her presence immediately hit Catra like a gut punch. Catra
wanted to be angry. At the moment her anger was grounding her, keeping her from having to face all
those other emotions that were sitting there at the edges, waiting to overtake her. Upon seeing
Angella, though, that wave of anger collapsed, allowing too many emotions to flood in. Catra found
that she couldn’t stare the queen directly in the eyes.

Instead, Catra stared at the wall of light with a melancholy expression. “You’re siding with her,” she
mumbled. Catra jumped suddenly when she felt Angella’s hands upon her shoulders.

Angella gave the magicat a look over, which only made Catra seemingly shrink even more. A weary
smile grew on the queen. “No, of course not,” Angella softly answered. Her smile contorted into a
smirk. “This war has taken a great deal. It is unfair,” Angella murmured.

Catra did everything in her power to look Angella in the eyes. She managed to for all of five
seconds. “You understand what this feels like,” Catra sniffled.

“Yes,” Angella answered. “That’s why we’re going to be here for each other. No one should have to
go through this alone.”

Glimmer and Bow appeared on either side of Angella and Catra. Glimmer placed a hand on her
mother’s shoulder. The Queen seemed to light up at the sight of her daughter. The Princess tried to
return the best smile she could. Bow placed his hand on Catra’s back. She glanced at the archer, who
was doing his best to hold himself together.

The Queen of Bright Moon glanced at each of the young adults around her. “There are too many
people that should be here right now, that are not.” Angella grabbed one of Catra’s shoulders and
one of Glimmer's shoulders, and squeezed. “We continue on... to keep their memory alive. We
continue on for each other,” the Queen said. She detached from the group and took a few steps
towards She-Ra, who had been waiting patiently behind the wall of light.

With the snap of Angella’s fingers, the light wall dissipated. “She-Ra. You have to understand that it
will take some time before we can look at you… and just see ‘you’,” Angella stated. She-Ra closed
her eyes and nodded. The Queen of Bright Moon took a deep breath. “You are not Adora,” Angella
nodded confidently. “I will allow you to remain in Bright Moon, but you will need to forge your
own path here.”

She-Ra nodded back. “I understand, your Highness. I thank you for this opportunity.”
As Angella was talking with She-Ra, Catra, Glimmer, and Bow were gathered a little behind her.
Catra was staring at the floor, and gripping her own arms tightly. Bow was standing between her and
Glimmer, who was leaning on Bow’s shoulder as they were joined together in a side hug. Bow’s
free arm was on Catra’s shoulder. He could feel her retracting further into herself.

“Hey,” Bow whispered, rubbing his hand along Catra’s shoulder. “We’re going to get through this,”
he assured her. Catra shot him one of the few smiles she had left in her.

“Thanks, Bow,” Catra lowly said. She glanced up at the Queen. It was a little easier to stare at the
back of her than it had been looking her in the face. “She-Ra’s not the only thing bothering me,
though,” Catra said, turning her gaze to Bow and intently staring at him.

It took Bow a couple of seconds to get Catra’s meaning. “Oh… oh .” he said, sucking in air.

“I don’t know if this is a good time, but I don’t know how much longer I can put it off,” Catra
sighed.

“What are you two talking about?” Glimmer whispered.

“Not sure there is a good time,” Bow answered, completely ignoring his friend for the moment. “Do
you want my help?”

Catra pulled Bow in for a side hug. “Thank you, Bow. You’ve done so much already. I think I need
to do this on my own.”

“Really, what are you two talking about?” Glimmer huffed. Just then, Catra grabbed Glimmer’s
hand. Glimmer had an indignant look as she stared at Catra.

“I need you to come with me,” Catra flatly stated, then started pulling Glimmer along until they got
to Angella. Catra gave the queen’s arm a light tug. She looked over her shoulder to see the two
young women behind her; Glimmer looked very confused, while it was obvious there was a great
sorrow just under Catra’s mismatched eyes. “Your Highness, I need to speak to the two of you.”

“Yes, Catra, what is it?” Angella asked.

“Er, in private. Outside, actually,” Catra mumbled.

Angella looked back at She-Ra. “It’s alright, Your Majesty,” She-Ra said. “Perhaps it would be best
to give everyone the night to collect themselves. We can talk again in the morning.”

“Before you leave,” She-Ra added, “I was hoping to speak with Glimmer.”

Catra quietly growled at the Goddess of Protection. “I need to speak with her, too.”

“It will only take a moment,” She-Ra scoffed. She nodded at Glimmer, then turned and let them to
the corner of the room. She-Ra spun around and smiled. “Princess Glimmer, it is good to see you.”

It didn’t get much of a reaction from Glimmer. “What do you want?” she grumbled.

The disdain in Glimmer’s words were obvious. She-Ra raised an eyebrow. “You’re angry.”

Glimmer sighed. “What were you expecting? Adora was my best friend!”

“That is… important to you,” She-Ra inquired, squinting. “We could be again,” She-Ra offered.

“It doesn’t work like that, She-Ra. Look, I’m trying really hard to be understanding, but this is going
to take a while.”

She-Ra sighed. Even with Adora’s memories and knowledge, She-Ra was having trouble grasping
mortals’ seemingly ceaseless need for ‘time to process’. “Fine. I do look forward to working with
you. The war will not wait due to sentimentality. Which is what I actually wanted to talk to you
about. I would like to set up a meeting with the Princess Alliance. It would be good for me to meet
with them, to reintroduce myself.”

“It’ll take a few days, most of them are still helping Midnight Sands at the moment,” Glimmer
answered.

“That’s perfectly fine,” She-Ra answered.

“Anything else, She-Ra?” Glimmer asked, her arms folded. She-Ra shook her head. Glimmer
quickly pivoted and rejoined Catra and her mother. Catra led the three of them out of the throne
room, leaving Bow and She-Ra alone.

Bow slowly marched over to She-Ra, who was watching him, a slight frown on her face. He
stopped a few feet in front of her. The two stood there for a moment, simply staring at each other.
Then, slowly, Bow extended his hand out. She-Ra regarded it for a second, then confidently shook
his hand.

“We’re heartbroken,” Bow said, “but you didn’t really ask for this anymore than we did, did you?”

A small smile formed on She-Ra’s face. “No, this was all beyond my control.”

“It’s going to be hard, but we’ll try.”

“Thank you, Bow,” She-Ra smiled.

Just then, the door to the throne room flung back open. Scorpia stumbled in, heaving as she tried to
catch her breath. She bent over, and pressed her claws into her knees to hold herself up..

“Bow! Adora!” Scorpia huffed. She feebly waved a claw towards the door. “There are… there are
so many stairs.”

She-Ra glared at Scorpia. “If you’ll excuse me,” She-Ra said, nodding to Bow. She began making
her way out of the room, but stopped when she got to Scorpia and stared her directly in the eyes.
“Horde soldier,” she simply stated, then continued on.

Scorpia watched She-Ra leave with a look of confusion. “But we defected, remember?!” Scorpia
tried calling out. She-Ra kept walking, giving no indication that she had heard Scorpia. The large
scorpion woman scratched her head with a giant claw as She-Ra slammed the door behind her.
“Sheesh, what’s gotten into Adora?” Scorpia muttered.

“That’s not… it’s a long story,” Bow sighed, having made his way to Scorpia’s side. Scorpia
whipped around, a wide grin growing on her face at the sight of the archer. “What are you doing
here?” Bow asked, a weary smile forming on his face.

“Oh, uh, we were worried about all of you. Ya know, Adora’s been missing, then Catra took off
almost as soon as she got back, and then you and Glimmer took off too. So we came looking for
you! Entrapta and I. Also Perfuma. Well, in her case mostly because Entrapta’s here, but definitely
because she was worried too.”

“...But mainly because Entrapta’s here,” Scorpia conceded.

Bow couldn’t contain himself anymore. He ran to Scorpia, wrapping his arms around her waist. She
was quick to hug him back.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Bow said, clutching Scorpia even tighter.

The door to Clawdeen slid open with a smooth motion. Catra led the Queen and Princess of Bright
Moon into the lounge on the upper deck of the royal transport. The door slid closed behind them.

“Catra, would you tell us what is so important already?” Glimmer huffed.

Angella waved at her daughter. “Manners, Glimma’.” She took a good look around the room and
took a deep breath. “It has been so long since I’ve been on this ship. You and Bow did a wonderful
job restoring it,” the Queen remarked. She was wandering around the room, letting her hand gently
graze along the couch off to the side. Off to one side was a bar area. Angella stopped at it. She
appeared lost in thought. One that seemed to be making her both smile, and tear up. Glimmer
approached her, and rested her head against her mother’s back.

“Sorry, Mom. I completely forgot that you probably would have been on this ship before,” Glimmer
sighed. Angella reached over her back and gave her daughter a pat on the head before twisting
around.

“You were, too,” Angella said to her daughter. Glimmer took a few steps back, her mouth hung
slightly open. “The two of you were very young, but you were both here together,” Angella
informed Glimmer and Catra. They exchanged awkward glances at each other.

Catra’s mood seemed to lift for the moment. She grinned slyly at Glimmer. “My mind got erased.
What’s your excuse, Glimmer?”

Glimmer spun around. “I was a toddler!” she yelled.

Angella couldn’t help but laugh at the two squabbling. “One year and three months, to be exact. My,
the two of you certainly got along better back then.”

“Angie?” a voice from behind called out. The Queen of Bright Moon froze. She recognized that
voice. She quickly whipped around.

“Mira?!” Angella gasped. She slowly staggered towards her friend, standing in front of her against
all odds. “Mira, you survived? But how?!” she cried as she threw herself into a hug with Mira’Dea.

“Oh, no! I’m sorry!” Mira yelped, pulling back. Angella cocked her head as Mira’Dea detached from
her. “I’m not who you think I am!” Mira said. She held up her hand, and made it intentionally glitch.

“You’re that hologram Mira had created,” Angella said, collecting herself.

“Digital light sentient AI,” Mira’Dea corrected her. She gave Angella’s shoulder a squeeze.
“Holograms don’t have the ability to touch and feel things like I can. Nor do they have the ability to
learn beyond the parameters of their programming like I can. Think of me more as a clone, just
without an actual body,” Mira’Dea beamed. Her face quickly soured. “I am sorry that we have to
meet under these circumstances. Glimmer and Catra told me all about Adora on our way back to
Bright Moon.”
Original or AI recreation, Angella couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Mira’Dea. She took Mira by
the hand, and was a little surprised by how much it felt like touching any other person. “Thank you,
my friend. I am so happy to see you again. Even if this is another version of you.” Angella turned to
Catra. “Thank you so much for bringing me here.”

Catra was staring squarely at the floor. She was absently grinding her foot into a single spot. “You’re
welcome, your Highness, but this isn’t why I brought you here,” Catra mumbled. She looked up and
gave her mother a meaningful glance.

“Oh, I see,” Mira’Dea replied to Catra’s stare. She made her way over to her daughter. “I’ll be with
you for support.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Catra said, giving Mira a rub on the arm. Catra then turned to Angella. “Follow
me,” she said, and walked out of the room.

The small procession made its way through the upper deck of Clawdeen and down to the lower
deck. Catra led the way. Angella and Mira’Dea walked together, and Glimmer brought up the rear.
They were led down to a room. The door was tightly closed, and made a sort of hissing noise as air
escaped when it opened. Inside the room was lit with soft, light blue lights. It was a spacious room,
that easily fit the four of them, plus the cargo stored in the room. The temperature in the room was
kept colder than the rest of the ship.

“A store room that Bow modified for my needs,” Catra remarked as they entered. She made her way
over to a large, sealed crate that came up to Catra’s chest, that had a box on it that was roughly the
size of a box of bananas. Everyone stopped a few feet behind Catra. For a moment, she simply stared
at the crate as one hand rest on it. Then, she reached over and slid the box towards her.

“Like I was telling you on the way to Clawdeen,” Catra began. Her voice was low, she was
speaking with a slow, deliberate pace. She still had her back to everyone as she continued staring at
the box in front of her. “I found my home. Half Moon. I found out about my kingdom, and my
heritage, and everything, really.”

Catra had to stop for a moment to take a deep breath. “I found my moms. I found out what happened
to them. I was lucky, and even got to meet the both of them, in their own ways.” As Catra said that,
Mira’Dea couldn’t help but smile. “I found the original Mira’Dea. I found her… in a hallway, in
front of my door. She was trying to protect me. She… died trying to protect me.”

Angella put a hand over her mouth, attempting to hide the gasp. “Oh, Catra…”

“It’s okay,” Catra assured her. She still had her back to them. She closed her eyes and took another
moment. When she finally opened her eyes, she lifted the lid off of the box in front of her. Catra
carefully pulled something out of it. “That’s… that’s not all I found there. In that hallway. In front of
the door to my childhood room. A room I can’t even remember.”

The other hand shot to Angella’s mouth. She was desperately trying to hold herself together. Her
mind was racing. In this room. Under these circumstances, it was starting to click for Angella, but
she did everything she could to keep her expectations in check.

The sound of a sob being choked back came out of Catra, who still hadn’t faced them, even as she
was clutching whatever had been inside the box. “I… don’t know anything about him,” Catra
whispered. “I couldn’t picture his face, no matter how hard I try,” she sniffled. “But… but he died,
trying to protect me. And I… I…”

Catra slowly turned around. Sitting neatly in her arms was a folded pile of purple fabric, faded and
ragged and stained, the frayed remains of a cape. At the top of the pile was metal, golden gorget
collar. In the center of it was the Bright Moon crest.

“... I thought it was time for King Micah to come home, so he could finally be put to rest,” Catra
breathed at her voice began cracking.

Angella stood, hands clasped over her mouth. Tears were beginning to stream down her face. She
hadn’t been able to take her eyes off of the cape in Catra’s hands. Glimmer staggered forward. She
put her hands on the cape, and stared over at the crate just behind Catra for a moment. “... Dad,” was
all Glimmer could say. Her attention drifted back to Catra. Her hand began to grip around the cape.

Tears were pouring down Catra’s face as she just held the cape in her hands. “I’m sorry,” Catra
muttered. Angella pulled Catra and Glimmer into her, hugging them tight. Mira’Dea leaned against
her friend, hugging her as her hand snaked around her to stroke Catra’s hair.

“I’m sorry,” Catra repeated as she sobbed into Angella’s clothes.

Glimmer hugged her mom tight, and also began crying.

“I’m so sorry,” Catra whimpered again.

“What are you apologizing for?” Angella finally asked. Both her and Mira’Dea were stroking
Catra’s hair.

“He shouldn’t have died… It was so senseless,” Catra muttered. “He died, and I still got taken. There
was no point.”

“Not true,” Angella softly replied. “Micah gave his life trying to help his friends. Trying to protect a
girl that he cared about as if she were his own daughter. He died showing Etheria his character.”

In that moment, Angella wasn’t sure if that had helped or not, but she found solace in it, which gave
her the strength to attend to the two young women that were both latched onto her tightly. She
glanced over at the crate, and smiled. Despite the circumstances, there was something comforting to
her in knowing that finally, her husband was home.

The night was getting late as the moons hung over Etheria, causing the Midnight Sands Desert to
shimmer. The Horde’s new, hard-fought-for border extended almost a mile into the desert from the
southern pass. Along the north edge of the border was a rocky hillside that jutted a little out from the
mountain ridge that defined the western edge of the desert. The Horde had set up a small outpost
where the hillside met the base of the mountain ridge.

To say that it was out of the way and secluded from the rest of the Horde’s Midnight Sands camps
would have been an understatement. Which was precisely the reason Lonnie jumped at the chance to
be the only person to operate it. True, the task was a little below her station as Force Captain, but
secluded and peaceful seemed like the perfect thing for her at the moment.

Lonnie’s current predicament wasn’t doing anything to help her, though. She was sitting in a cheap
metal fold-out chair and sitting in front of a similarly cheap metal fold-out table. Not too far to her left
was a roaring campfire that provided light and warmth. Her last move was countered pretty
resoundly, and she knew that if she didn’t land this one properly it was going to be game over for
her.

The fire roared as Lonnie squinted. She glared at her current hand of cards as she picked one off the
top of the deck. Suddenly her expression shifted to exuberance. She slammed down her hand onto
the table. “HAH! Read ‘em and weep, boys!”

Kyle groaned and slid back in his chair. Rogelio slammed his cards onto the table, causing the
already wobbly structure to shake. He began grunting loudly.

“It’s not my fault you’re out of practice, Rohé! You could have played Scorpia!” Lonnie laughed.

“And me!” Kyle added. Rogelio grunted something else as he began collecting the cards into a single
stack.

“Oh, word? She’s really getting into that princess stuff, huh?” Lonnie questioned. At that point Kyle
got up and made his way to the large pot that was suspended over the fire. He gave it a few stirs with
his ladle and cautiously tested it. Satisfied, he began spooning the contents into three bowls. He
handed out the bowls.

“What is this?” Lonnie inquired. She gave it a few sniffs. It smelled so good she didn’t give Kyle
time to answer before she began shoveling it into her mouth.

“It’s called chili. It’s a Skydancer recipe, apparently,” Kyle informed her. The three sat, and ate, and
went back for seconds, and in Lonnie’s and Rogelio’s cases, went back for thirds.

“So,” Lonnie began, between spoonfuls, “be honest with me, what’s your favorite thing about life
outside the Horde?”

Rogelio answered immediately. Lonnie chuckled as the laug tried to answer and eat at the same time.
“Yeah, Rohé, if all the food tastes like this, then I don’t blame you!”

“I think… I think it’s not being yelled at anymore,” Kyle answered. “Sure, Entrapta is still
demanding, but I’m not going to get chewed out for not making my bunk, or because I failed at
training. There is no training!”

Lonnie smirked at Kyle. “Isn’t that hard? Not having that routine? Having to remember when you
have to do things all on your own?”

Kyle shrugged. “I thought it would be, but you just get used to it pretty quickly.”

The conversation died down as they were trying to power through their last bowls. Once done, Kyle
collected the bowls and piled them into the pack that he had brought them in. At the same time he
pulled out a container and poured the remaining chili into it. He fished out the container’s lid and
handed it to Lonnie. She stared at the, as Kyle had put it, ‘leftovers’, for a moment.

“Thanks, guys,” Lonnie said with a smile. “I know how dangerous this is, consorting with the
enemy.”

“We’re not, though,” Kyle was quick to correct. “We’re just making sure our friend is alright,” he
added.

“You guys aren’t still mad at me for staying?” Lonnie asked. She hadn’t intended to. It just sort of
tumbled out.

“Do we wish you were with us? Yeah,” Kyle said as he began packing up the pot that the chili had
been made in. “You have to make the decision that feels right for you, Lonnie. We’re always here
for you, though.”

“Can I ask you two a serious question?” Lonnie inquired. They both nodded. “It’s… so, I kind of
need relationship advice,” Lonnie admitted. Immediately, Kyle’s face lit up. Lonnie could tell that the
thin blonde was just dying to ask questions, but he was able to hold it in. Over the next few minutes
Lonnie explained to them everything that had happened with Decepsha. “... and then she just, bolted
right out of the tent,” Lonnie finished. “I’m not crazy, right? She’s totally into me, right?”

Kyle had been stroking his chin during the entire recap. Now that Lonnie was finished he began
tapping his finger over his lips for a moment. “No, you’re not crazy, Lon. Not sure what made her
freak out like that.” Rogelio grunted at them. “I doubt it, Rohé. I was scared because I thought you
were way out of my league, and also because it’s me. Decepsha’s nothing like me. She seems to
have confidence in spades.”

“You kinda need it to be a spy,” Lonnie said.

The pack that Kyle and Rogelio had brought was fully repacked by Kyle as Lonnie had been
talking. Rogelio and Lonnie stood up to match him.

“Maybe just talk to her,” Kyle offered. Him and Rogelio squished Lonnie into a group hug.

“I volunteered for tomorrow night’s watch, too,” Lonnie informed them as they all embraced.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Kyle beamed.

Scorpia and Bow were strolling through the halls of Bright Moon Castle. Bow had filled Scorpia in
about what had happened to Adora. Eventually, the discussion shifted to the events at Midnight
Sands.

The conversation died for a moment, as they simply enjoyed the walk. Scorpia stopped once she
noticed where they were. They had just entered a bridgeway that connected two of the towers of the
castle. To their left was the purple mountain that Bright Moon was built in front of. A massive
waterfall cascaded down it, creating a lovely view.

The right side of the bridgeway was somehow the better of the two. Scorpia gasped and ran to the
railing. In front of her was the lake in front of Bright Moon. Beyond it lay the Whispering Woods,
and more mountains off in the distance. The Whispering Woods seemed to sparkle under the
moonlight. Bow slowly made his way over to Scorpia, and joined her in looking out at the valley
below.

“It’s beautiful,” Scorpia breathed.

Bow glanced up at Scorpia and smiled. “Yeah, it is.” He turned his attention back to the view. “You
know, despite all the awfulness of today, right here, right now, I… just feel content,” Bow admitted.

Scorpia turned and blushed at the archer. “I… I read your letter,” she said.

“Oh! Yeah? Sorry if it seemed too forward,” Bow said, stammering and nervously rubbing the back
of his neck.
“No, no, it was fine,” Scorpia assured him. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. About you. And, I
guess, us.”

“Really?” Bow was somehow blushing even more intensely. “I don’t want to make things between
us weird. If you’d rather just be friends that’d still be really great,” Bow stated.

For a moment, Scorpia just stared at Bow. There seemed to be some sort of decision being made in
her mind as she gave a confident nod. Scorpia leaned down and pecked Bow on the lips. She pulled
back and smirked confidently at him. Bow had a look of shock on his face for a moment, until it
gave way to happiness. He leaned in and kissed her again. Scorpia wrapped her arms around him
and pulled him close to her. Bow wrapped his arms around Scorpia’s head as their kissing grew
more intense. Their lips pressed and pushed against each other. A husky little hum came from
Scorpia as Bow slid his tongue into her mouth. With her thick claws firmly around Bow’s waist,
Scorpia stood upright, hoisting him into the air.

They continued making out for another moment before Bow began giggling as he realized his feet
were dangling freely as Scorpia effortlessly held him into the air. The giggles forced their lips apart.
They stared at each other, both in seemingly happy stupors. Bow, his eyes half-lidded, slid up
slightly, so that he could use Scorpia’s claws as a seat.

“Wow,” Bow murmured after another moment. “You are a big bug.”

“Yep, that is the truth!” Scorpia gleefully replied.

Bow leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together. “I don’t know what I would do without you
right now, Scorpie Girl.”

“I’m here for you, Buddy Bow,” Scorpia replied.

There were a lot of days in the running for Catra’s ‘worst day ever’. Today had shot to the very top
of the list, though. She knew that telling the Queen and Glimmer about Micah as soon as possible
was the right thing to do, but it left her exhausted. The only thing she wanted at this point was for the
day to be over.

Catra slipped quietly into the room. Adora’s room. Her room. The room that she was supposed to
share with her girlfriend as they rebuilt their life together. Honestly, after the day, Catra was looking
forward to grabbing one of Adora’s shirts, and fall asleep while clutching it and crying.

As soon as Catra got inside she pushed the door shut with her whole body and just leaned against it,
eyes closed, exhaling. She was in the room. The door was closed. The day could finally be over.

“Can I help you, Catra?” a voice called out.

Catra’s eyes shot open. Standing in the middle of the room was She-Ra, a blue tank top and grey
sleep shorts stretched tightly over her body. It was such a weird sight. She-Ra was still a towering
woman, muscles rippling over her sculpted frame, her golden hair flowed everywhere. This wasn’t
the kind of person that’s supposed to exist in real life, let alone wear slippers. Fuzzy slippers at that.

“What are you doing here?!” Catra growled. She could immediately feel the one emotion that she
knew she could never run out of flooding back to the forefront. Anger.
She-Ra looked down, then back up at Catra with a raised eyebrow. “Getting ready for bed, if that
wasn’t obvious.” She chuckled. “Even a goddess needs to rest.”

“No, I mean what are you doing here ,” Catra sneered, “in my room?”

“What are you talking about? This is my room,” She-Ra answered, still perplexed.

“Adora invited me to stay with her. Here! In this room!” Catra stalked a few steps forward.

“Everything that was Adora’s is technically mine now, including her room,” She-Ra corrected her.
Her tone was becoming more stern. She was unamused at having to justify herself yet again to the
Empress of Half Moon.

“Just because you have a connection to her doesn’t mean that you can just start claiming all of her
things!” Catra huffed. She was trying very hard to keep herself under control, but every sentence was
making it more difficult.

“For all intents and purposes, I am Adora,” She-Ra shot back, clearly done with this conversation.

Catra was certainly done talking. “NO, YOU’RE NOT!” she screamed and leapt at She-Ra. Her
eyes began glowing as the power of the Sun Gems, amplified by the bracers, began coursing through
her body.

She-Ra grabbed the soaring Catra’s arms and threw her to the side. Catra slammed into the far wall.
She dropped to the ground, landing on her feet. She stood up and swung her hand forward, sending
a force wave careening into She-Ra. It lifted the goddess off the ground and flung her into the door.
She-Ra shook off the strike and charged. Her mighty fist swung at Catra, but the catgirl was able to
duck and slash her glowing claw against She-Ra’s abdomen. She-Ra yelled out in pain and
instinctively kicked her leg forward. It connected with Catra, and sent her spinning into a pillar by
the balcony. Catra used the pillar to help herself to her feet.

Just then Glimmer teleported into the room, with her mother holding her arm with one hand. In
Angella’s other hand was a teacup.

“What is going on here?!” Glimmer yelled.

Immediately, both She-Ra and Catra were on top of her, each yelling about how the other one was
responsible.

Angella’s hand shot up, causing the entire room to go quiet. “One at a time, please,” she insisted.

“I can’t do it, your Highness!” Catra was the first to answer. “I thought I could, but I can’t be under
the same roof as… as her !” she scowled.

“Catra, I understand your feelings, but I can’t just banish She-Ra from my kingdom,” Angella
responded. She approached the catgirl. “We can find a room for you. A place to call your own.”

“I don’t want another room. Adora promised me this room!” Catra yelled, clearly on the verge of
crying.

“Please, Catra, just calm down,” Glimmer pleaded. Catra growled at her. Glimmer’s tone changed
instantly. “Look, I’m trying to help you here, cat!”

“If we all just calm down, we can talk about this,” Angella said.
“I’m done talking.” Catra stated. Her voice was calm, which was more off-putting than the anger had
been. “If she’s staying, then I can’t,” Catra said. She turned and rushed to the door. Catra flung it
open. Then stopped in the doorway to look over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, your Majesty,” Catra said,
before vanishing down the hallway.

She-Ra sighed. “It’s just a room,” she muttered.

“Oh, dear,” Angella mumbled, still staring at the open doorway. She turned and gave She-Ra a
strained smile. She patted the goddess of the shoulder then left.

Just her and She-Ra, Glimmer let out a giant groan that would have made Mermista so proud. “Can’t
this day just be over already?” Glimmer moaned, then blinked away.

For a moment, She-Ra just stood there, in the middle of her now messy room, and sighed heavily.

Out in the main Bright Moon courtyard sat Bow, Scorpia, Entrapta, and Perfuma, all gathered
around a stone table near one of the courtyard’s lampposts, which bathed the area in amber light. A
warm breeze blew through the evening, carrying the scents of the rows of flowers that covered the
courtyard. Bow had recounted all that had happened with Catra and Half Moon, as well as what
happened to Adora. Every once in a while Entrapta would look over to Clawdeen, which had been
parked at the end of the courtyard, with longing. Eventually, once everyone was caught up, they
began reminiscing about Adora. They were all happy to be together, yet there was a melancholy
feeling hanging over the gathering.

The mood got broken up before too long by the sound of the gates to the courtyard being violently
thrown open. They all looked up at the source and gasped at the sight of Catra storming through the
courtyard. Scorpia jumped to her feet. “Kitty!” she yelled out as she began jogging toward her best
friend.

Catra stopped and turned around at the sound of her nickname. Her face was a mess as tears were
rolling down her cheeks. As soon as she saw Scorpia she ran to her, slamming into the scorpion
woman with a hug.

“Scorpia!” Catra said, between sobs. Scorpia held onto her friend as tight as she could.

“I gotcha. I gotcha,” Scorpia gently assured her. Within a moment the rest of her friends were joining
in. The group hug in the middle of the courtyard lasted a while. Finally, at Bow’s suggestion, they all
piled into Clawdeen. Scorpia walked Catra over to the couch in the lounge and plopped her and
Catra onto it. Catra toppled over onto Scorpia.

Mira’Dea appeared almost as soon as the door was closed. “Greetings, everyone!” she said, her
voice was chipper. “Oh, this is such a predicament for me,” Mira’Dea continued as she made her
way to the couch. She sat on the other side of Catra, and took one of her daughter’s hands into her
own. “I have been so looking forward to meeting all of you. Especially the two of you!” Mira’Dea
leaned over and patted Scorpia on the claw. “You must be Scorpia.” Mira then turned to Entrapta,
who’s eyes were bulging out of her head and sparkling. “You must be Entrapta. More of my
daughter’s family. I only wish we were meeting under different circumstances.”

Entrapta closed the distance between her and the seated Mira’Dea in less than a second. “What are
you?!” Entrapta asked, completely enthralled. From the depths of her mass of purple hair came a
pointed metal object. It began prodding Mira, causing a disruption in her form briefly wherever the
point hit. “Fascinating!” Entrapta breathed.

Mira’Dea attempted to avoid the next prodding. “Do you mind?” She huffed. “If you must know—”
Mira began.

“—you’re some kind of digital light sentient AI,” Entrapta finished for her.

“Er, yes. That’s actually exactly what I am,” Mira said. She wasn’t sure how to respond. It was the
first time anyone had ever gotten that right. “I am an exact recreation of the living Mira’Dea.”

“You’re not,” Entrapta very matter of factly stated. Mira glared at her.

“Excuse me?” Mira huffed.

“You were an exact recreation of the other Mira’Dea. When you were first turned on that is,”
Entrapta added. “You’re a sentient AI, though. That’s being allowed to run indefinitely no less! The
ways in which you’ve grown and evolved since then are incalculable. You may have began as an
exact replica of someone else, but that’s not what you are anymore. You are your own person now.”

That wasn’t the answer Mira’Dea had been expecting to hear. She pondered it for a moment while
she sat next to her daughter.

Bow and Perfuma had been standing a few feet away, in front of the couch. Perfuma leaned in
towards Bow. “Is it wrong of me to be jealous of an AI?” she whispered.

The question got a little grunt from Bow. “You’re dating Entrapta, that kind of makes sense,
actually.”

Catra finally pushed herself out of Scorpia’s lap and sat up. She took her mother’s hand and gave her
a weary smile. “Mom, I don’t know what to do,” Catra sniffled.

“Don’t you remember?” Mira smiled at her daughter. She stood up, then pulled Catra up to her feet
as well. “What did you tell me when you, Glimmer, and Bow first boarded this evening?”

“Oh, mom,” Catra moaned. “After everything that’s happened today, I can barely even remember
what I did twenty minutes ago.” Catra closed her eyes. After a few seconds she sighed. “No, wait, I
remember what I did twenty minutes ago. Dammit, I need to apologize to Queen Angella.”

Mira’Dea caressed the side of Catra’s face. “The first thing you told me this evening was that you
needed to save Adora.”

“I know, but how?” Catra asked. “I don’t know anything about how She-Ra works. How would I
even begin to figure out how to get to her? Is that really even possible?”

“Oh!” Entrapta perked up. “The First Ones shard!”

Upon hearing that name, Perfuma seemed to shrink. “Sweetie, I thought you destroyed that thing,”
she said, a slight stutter to her voice.

Entrapta grabbed Perfuma by the biceps and began caressing them. She smiled brightly at the flower
princess. “I did, I promise. But! The data I was able to collect from it after it had infected She-Ra
could be invaluable.” Entrapta leaned in and nestled her cheek against Perfuma’s. “I hate to ask this
of you, but what do you remember of your experience with it?”
Perfuma took a deep breath. She turned enough to give Entrapta a quick peck on the cheek. “I
remember... feeling like I was in a tunnel. What was happening in the real world was at the other
end. It seemed so far away,” Perfuma said. Entrapta hugged her, squeezing tightly.

“My Brave Flower,” Entrapta whispered. Perfuma giggled. Entrapta pulled away and turned to face
the crowd. “That is consistent with what happened when She-Ra touched the shard. The shard sort
of… pulled your normal self apart from your powers. It was more drastic for She-Ra because, as it
turned out, it wasn’t just powers, it was a whole other entity.”

“That’s great, Entrapta. Really,” Catra said, “but how does that help us right now?”

“If, like you said, Adora really is still in there somewhere, then that means it should be possible to
pull the two entities apart,” Entrapta mused.

Catra perked up. “How would we do that?!”

Entrapta stroked her chin for a good minute.

“No idea!” she finally announced. Catra let out a big groan and collapsed back onto the couch.

“Sounds like what you need to do is learn about how She-Ra’s powers work first,” Mira stated.

Just then their conversation was broken up by Glimmer teleporting into the center of the room.
Everyone jumped back. She gave the room a quick look over. “Bow! There you are!” Glimmer said.
She gave him a hug. Once she released him, Glimmer turned around to face Catra. “Hey,” she
simply said.

“What do you want, Glider?” Catra asked.

“Back to that, are we?” Glimmer huffed.

“Dear, that’s not her name, it’s—,” Mira began correcting.

“—I know!” Catra huffed. “I know what her name is.” Catra pushed herself up. Her and Glimmer
stared at each other for a moment. “What, did She-Ra send you to tell me that she wants my ship
now?” Bow, slight grimace on his face, instinctively backed up a few steps.

“Why are you taking this out on me?! I’m on your side, you idiot!” Glimmer yelled.

Scorpia and Mira’Dea both reached out for Catra’s hands, hoping to get her attention. Catra
instinctively swatted them away. Her half-retracted claws scraped against Scorpia’s solid claw and
caused Mira’s hand to glitch for a second. Perhaps the most worrying thing to Scorpia was that Catra
never even stopped to look back at them.

“Maybe I’m just mad because you were the one that was here to take care of Adora and you
DIDN’T!” Catra fired back.

“Well, maybe I should be mad because you let me ride around on this thing for HOURS with my
father’s remains just yards away and you didn’t even tell me!”

“I thought it would be best for you and your mom to find out together!” Catra screamed.

All the screaming made Perfuma back up a few steps, which was when she noticed that Entrapta was
no longer at her side. She looked around until she found her girlfriend. Entrapta had retreated to the
corner of the room. She was leaning her shoulder against a wall, and staring intently at the other wall
in front of her. Her pigtails were wrapped firmly around her. She jumped slightly when she felt
Perfuma’s hand touch one of them. Perfuma simply stood next to her, gently stroking a few purple
strands of hair. It was about the limit of physical contact she could take right now, and in that
moment, Entrapta deeply appreciated that she had a girlfriend who understood that.

“And I chose to believe my best friend when she told me over and over again that she was fine! I
trusted her! You think I’m not mad about that, too?!” Glimmer was basically snarling.

Catra was searching for a comeback. Instead of anything witty to say, the only thing Catra was
starting to feel as Glimmer stood in front of her, seething, and the rest of her friends and her mother
stood around them, all with looks of worry and discomfort, was shame.

“I’m sorry,” Catra mumbled.

It was a simple statement, but it was all that Glimmer needed to hear to come out of her anger spiral.
She took a deep breath.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Glimmer muttered. “Look, I came here to help. Believe it or not, I
am on your side. And if you think Adora’s still in there…

“... then I owe it to her to at least try to get her back.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the entire room. No one wanted to speak as Glimmer and Catra
just stood there, staring at each other intently.

Finally, Catra extended her hand out. Glimmer regarded it for a moment, then shook it.

“We’ll get her back. We have to,” Catra said. She pulled away from the handshake and began pacing
with her hands pressing the sides of her head. “I just need to figure out where to start!” Catra
groaned. She let out a loud grunt in frustration.

When Catra turned to pace back across the room, Mira’Dea was waiting there for her. She caught
her daughter by the arms. Catra stiffened up at the initial touch. It was forceful in a way that Catra
was far too familiar with. It seemed that Mira’Dea understood that almost immediately. She loosened
her grip, and began rubbing her thumbs up and down, caressing the fur of Catra’s arms. “My
daughter, take a deep breath,” Mira encouraged her. Catra relaxed her posture, and closed her eyes.

Glimmer grunted a little laugh at the sight of Catra being mommed. Mira’Dea looked over her
shoulder. “You too, miss Glimmer.” Glimmer shot Mira a raised eyebrow. Mira gave a little huff.
“Look here, I have vivid memories of changing your diaper, young lady. You will do as I ask.”
Glimmer gulped at Mira’s forcefulness. She closed her eyes and did what the magicat elder told of
her “In fact, it would probably help for us all to take a deep breath for a moment.” The rest of the
ship followed her lead.

Catra took one more deep breath, then opened her eyes. “Thanks, mom,” she smiled.

“Of course,” Mira smiled back at her. “Now, I know it’s painful, but you have to think back, little
Catra. Did Adora tell you anything that might help?”

Sucking in another deep breath, Catra closed her eyes. She remained silent for a moment as she tried
to organize the day’s events. “She… she said she had found a solution, but the price was too high,
according to her. I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for it, though.”

“What else?” Mira asked.

“Hmm… Adora did mention an ‘Aunt Casta’ helping her a few times.”

“Castaspella?!” Mira’Dea and Glimmer both gasped at the same time.

Hearing the weird unison made Catra open her eyes. “Wait, do you two know her?”

“Yes!” Glimmer beamed. “She’s my aunt!” Catra looked Glimmer directly in the eyes.

Then Catra looked Glimmer in the eyes some more.

A chuckle started coming out of Bow. He slapped Glimmer on the back. “She doesn’t know what an
‘aunt’ is.”

“Am I supposed to?” Catra asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mira’Dea sighed. “Oh, my sweet girl, did the Horde teach you anything ?”

“If we could move past this ‘Catra’ shaming session, that'd be great!” Catra huffed. She tried to
recompose herself. “So, maybe we should go see this Castaspella. Adora mentioned that she made
her illusion necklace...” Catra was saying. At the mention of the necklace both Bow and Glimmer
sighed, more as a reflex than anything else. They already knew what Adora had done, but it still
stung nonetheless. “...as well as her sleeping gems.”

“Sleeping gems?” Glimmer repeated. “Aunt Casta made Adora sleeping gems?” Catra nodded at her.
It was a perplexing thought to Glimmer. It was uncommon for Mystacor Head Sorcerers to go
around making magic trinkets for non-magic users. It was a clear signal to Glimmer that Castaspella
and Adora had been up to something together, and Glimmer wanted to know what.

“Hmm. Adora made a lot more trips to the Crystal Castle for training over the last month than she
usually did. I wonder how many of those were spent at Mystacor instead,” Glimmer grumbled. “I
don’t know if we’ll find anything or not, but I’d certainly like to talk to my aunt about what her and
Adora were doing,” Glimmer stated. “Alright, let’s go to Mystacor.”

There was a little gasp behind Catra. They turned to see Mira’Dea, a look of delight on her face. “Oh
how I’ve missed Mystacor!” she exclaimed. “A shame I won’t be able to actually experience it.”

Catra looked at the people gathered around her. “Before we go any further. I need to make sure you
all realize what we’re talking about here. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get Adora back. Even
if that means stopping She-Ra. Permanently.”

“What are you saying Catra?” Bow asked with a gasp. Catra just gave him a stern stare. “Look, I
miss Adora too, and want to help get her back. But you’re talking about being willing to end a
centuries-old sentient being! She didn’t have anymore control over this than Adora did,” Bow said, a
worried expression upon his face.

“Maybe,” Catra replied. “But she has my girlfriend, and I’m not going to stop until I get her back.
Whatever it takes,” she said, her voice eerily calm.

Scorpia stood up besides Catra. “We have your back, Kitty. Let’s go save Adora,” she smiled. She
held her claw out to Catra, who placed her hand on top of it. Then Glimmer place her hand on top of
Catra’s. A purple hair tentacle snaked in on top of Glimmer’s hand. Perfuma and Mira’Dea put their
hands in at the same time.

“I am with you, always, my daughter. On one condition, though. We must be careful. This is
powerful magic we’re dealing with. If there’s one thing I learned from being married to your mother
for so long, it’s that one doesn’t meddle with magic they don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll be careful.”

That just left Bow, who had yet to put his hand on the pile. He looked at the stack of appendages for
a moment, then sighed. “For Adora,” he said, putting his hand on top.

Catra smiled at him. “Whatever it takes.”

For the most part, the Black Garnet chamber was dark. All the lights and monitors in the room were
turned off. Only the red glow of the Black Garnet lit the room. Shadow Weaver sat at the base of the
Black Garnet. Her hand was pressed against it, as red and black mist swirled around her.

It had been a laborious trek back from the Radiant Sanctuary in her weakened state. The amount of
energy she had to expend to get back to the Fight Zone hadn’t helped her injuries. Only basking in
the power of the Black Garnet could help her. It had been hours now, and she still didn’t feel fully
healed. It wasn’t the punch to her face, or even the deep scratches carved into the cracked skin of her
back. No, it was the direct blast she had taken from that sword.

Shadow Weaver admonished herself. She knew she needed to be careful, and if it had just been
Adora, perhaps she could have been. Catra, however, had always been a wildcard that flustered
Shadow Weaver. Deep down she knew that thought would bring Catra joy. It made Shadow Weaver
chuckle to herself.

The large monitor on the wall clicked on in a flash, pouring green light into the room. Shadow
Weaver slowly lifted her weary head up to meet Lord Hordak’s gaze. “Evening, my Lord,” Shadow
Weaver said with a cough.

“Today was a failure,” Hordak calmly stated.

“Not completely,” Shadow Weaver responded. “We are through the pass. There is now a Horde
base on the Midnight Sands Desert.”

“That was not the goal. You said that She-Ra was vulnerable. The only ones that look vulnerable
right now is the Horde . Your incompetence will appear as a weakness in the eyes of our enemies,”
Hordak angrily quipped.

“My Lord, I know that—” Shadow Weaver began.

“I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT!” Hordak exploded.

Shadow Weaver fell silent. Hordak took a second to recompose himself. “Heal your wounds,
Shadow Weaver. We have just barely gained a foothold into Midnight Sands. If you remain
convinced that this ‘Radiant Core’ is the only way out of Despondos, then I will not rest until the
gate to the Radiant Sanctuary is under Horde control,” Hordak stated. The monitor clicked off
immediately, giving Shadow Weaver no time to respond.

For a moment, Shadow Weaver simply sat there, hand still pressed against the Black Garnet as she
healed. She raised her other hand and stared at it. Then, Shadow Weaver swung her arm out. The
large monitor on the wall lifted up, then went crashing into the far wall, destroying it.
“... I will not rest until the gate to the Radiant Sanctuary is under Horde control,” Hordak stated. He
cut the feed immediately. The last thing he wanted to hear was any more of that witch’s excuses.
Despite the power and leeway he had afforded Shadow Weaver over various periods of time, he still
found himself hard-pressed to actually trust her.

Hordak turned away from the monitor. He was currently in his Sanctum, with various experiments in
different states of development.

“Shadow Weaver wasn’t the only one who failed her mission today,” Hordak scoffed as he turned to
the entryway.

Just inside the doorway stood Decepsha, with her arms folded. As Hordak glared at her, it felt as if
he was borrowing holes into her soul. She instinctively knelt down to one knee and bowed. “My
apologies, Lord Hordak. I beg for forgiveness!” Decepsha yelped.

“Get up,” Hordak ordered. Decepsha rose to her feet. “Did I make a mistake in choosing you for
this?” Hordak asked as he approached the spy. He was still staring directly at her. He got in close.

Decepsha gulped, and tried to clear her throat. “No, sir. I won’t fail again, sir.”

“How did you fail?” he asked, yet still maintaining eye contact.

“I… I was caught off guard,” Decepsha said.

In an instant, Hordak’s hand had a tight grip around her neck as he lifted her into the air. “No,” He
simply refuted. “No, you either severely misjudged, or you are hesitating.”

“Lord… Hordak! I… promise…” Decepsha struggled to say.

“Don’t tell me which it is. I do not care.” Hordak pulled her in close. “ Fix it ,” he ordered.

Before Hordak could actually let Decepsha down, he began coughing uncontrollably. He dropped
Decepsha and clutched his chest. As fast as he could Hordak staggered over to the nearest surface to
prop himself up.

Decepsha jumped to her feet and ran over to help support his weight. She helped walk him over to a
workbench where he could sit. As he did, he pushed Decepsha away. She immediately threw her
hands up.

Hordak glared back up at her. “There are still too many loose ends running around. I have asked you
to fix them. If you don’t, you’ll be the next loose end,” Hordak promised. “Now leave me be.”

“Yes, sir,” Decepsha saluted. Before she turned to leave, she hesitated at the sight of her leader.
“Are... are you going to be alright?”

“I SAID GET OUT!” Hordak screamed.

As quickly as she could, Decepsha fled the room. Once she was safely on the other side of the door,
she leaned back, and sighed. She winced as if something was greatly bothering her. She snorted a
deep breath in, pushing back the beginnings of tears. She took her hand and wiped the single tear
that made it down her cheek. The spy stared at her hand, focusing on the small damp spot on her
 index finger. Until recently, it had been years since she had cried, except whenever her ‘mask’ called
for it. This was the second time her body had done this in only the course of a few hours. It was a
disconcerting development.

“Remember the mission,” Decepsha breathed, letting her head flop against the closed door behind
her.

Chapter End Notes

Sadly, I didn't do what it seems like the show is gonna do, and have Micah actually be
alive. But he's home now, and that's something.

Okay, going to try to shoot for Chapter 24 on Monday, September 30th. I'd really
love to get 3 chapters up this month.

Next Time:
"Are you sure about this?"

Works inspired by this one

A Bellflower Ball by ShiveringMountain, can i hold your hand (to steal its
heat)? by ShiveringMountain

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