Catra knew that something was wrong when she smelled blood and burned flesh, although she didn't know what exactly was wrong until she was almost directly upon the scent and her blood froze in her veins—that was until it began to boil.
What happened? I haven't heard of another battle since that a week ago. She wondered, suppressing a growl in the back of her throat as she tried to tread as quietly as possible toward the pair and even from a distance she could see the stark contrast of almost black bruising that littered olive skin.
And she felt sick.
Why would anyone do this? What could she had possibly done to deserve—no, no one deserves to be treated like that. She thought bitterly as she tried to focus her attention on the conversation and not on how badly beaten that the girl was.
"We should be safe in this forest tonight then we'll go to the nearest village tomorrow."
She's probably hurt far worse than that if her scent is anything to go by. She needs help now. Catra knew, but how could she go about this without causing a scene?
But she had to do something.
My Mom is gonna kill me but there is a high possibility that she will die if I don't intervene—Wait, did I just call Cyra—You know what, that is a future Catra problem. Right now I need to move, and fast.
Pushing her mask back into place unto her head Catra wasted no time to step out of her hiding place crouched in the underbrush.
"Well, Well, Well, What do we have here?" She said, watching as both of the 'intruders' flinched—at least until they recognized her—and saw the way she was dressed.
"Catra! We thought that you were dead."
"Anu!"
The old man was used to a lot of interruptions during the day but never a door slamming open or a teenager practically barking at him.
"Catra? What in the world is it? You look as though you have seen a ghost?" he questioned, recalling the alarm earlier that morning and Cyra's panic when she had heard that Catra had ran off to investigate.
"I need a huge favor from you at least until I can talk to Cyra. Hordak seems to be getting rid of anything he deems a threat to his rule and unfortunately that included one of my...friends. I took them to the ruins of Valmere but I need you to try to heal her...at least as much as possible until I can get better treatment for her." Catra explained, still out of breath.
Anu couldn't hide his surprise at this but instead of criticizing her, he only only nodded.
"Alright. If you are sure but you are the one who needs to talk to Cyra about this." he stated as he stood, grabbing his staff and heading toward the door.
Great, now I need to deal with the hard part and I just hope that I got Anu in time because electricity tends to due more harm beneath the surface than it does on the outside. She thought, trying to level her emotions before she headed toward the throne room, figuring that she may as wells check there first.
"Catra! What the hell were you thinking or were you even thinking? Did you stop to think how worried it would make Aunt Cyra or did you just worry if we'd kill some of your friends?"
Catra really resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that voice as Amur came over to her.
"Now is not the time Amur, Where is Queen Cyra? I need to talk to her." Catra stated, earning a scoff.
"Why? So you can turn her over to the Horde? That was your plan all along wasn't it? Gain our trust and then turn our rune stone over to Hordak?" Amur retorted, hand going to the handle of his sword as he added "I trusted you at first but then you attack someone who has been nothing but nice to you, even-though you didn't deserve it and now this. But I guess it's what they always say, Once a monster, always a monster."
Catra had heard this tone before during her years in the Fright Zone—From Lonnie.
"Yeah well I guess by that stander then you will always be an asshole huh? What are you going to do? Attack me? You forget, I fought She-Ra and trust me...Magical buffers make people ten times stronger than some hate-filled grudge." Catra retorted as she lowered herself to the ground, preparing herself for an attack.
"What the hell is going on here? Amur, if you want to keep that sword I advise you not to use it as a go to every time your temper flairs. Catra, what the hell were you thinking? Are you trying to get yourself killed running head long into the unknown like that?" Cyra's voice boomed from behind them, causing them both to flinch at the sharp noise.
"You would take her side!" Amur accused, earning a glare from the queen.
"I am taking nobody's side. I want to know what in the stars are going on and I want the whole truth and unless you can hold your tongue, boy I would suggest you go make yourself busy elsewhere."
Once Amur had left, Cyra sighed and turned toward Catra, taking note of how nervous she suddenly looked, however, before she could say anything the younger Magi-cat spoke up.
"I know I screwed up and I know that we have no reason to trust the Horde but something happened and I just can't let anyone die, especially not when the someone who is hurt is even in this situation because of me to begin with." Catra began, trying to not to shrink back under the queen's narrowed gaze.
"Explain what you are getting at. What happened out there?" Cyra replied, her tone never losing it's edge although it lacked the accusation that had been obvious in Amur's tone.
"Two of my former teammates—and I know that this sounds bad but hear me out—were the ones that the patrol saw. One left the Horde, the other was almost killed by them." Catra began, her mouth suddenly dry as she tried to explain the situation.
"Hordak marked one them, Entrapta as a probability...a danger to his throne and he ordered Scorpia to be the one to carry out the execution order. Scorpia was able to get her out of there but not after some of the other soldiers got hold of her and that's why I came and got Anu...She needs medical...badly and I don't care what you say or do. I am not watching any more people I care about die because of the Horde."
Catra felt her resolve faltering under the penetrating eye of the woman before her.
"I know you don't trust them but Scorpia was willing to go all the way for one of the only people who gave her a chance and didn't judge her on appearance alone and I won't let that be in vain...I can't imagine how it feels for her to abandon her family and everything she's ever known like that." Catra added after a few minutes.