The first few minutes seem to be a play I see through a glass window, all fuzzy and blunt. The rebels gather in the middle of the castle yard one by one, the news are shared, there are gasps and words of suprise. There is a global anxiety towards the sky but it stays quiet. The bombs have stopped, replaced by the deafening silence of expectation.

I hear their voices but they do not reach my brain.

"I saw her. I tried to catch her back but I was too late," someone says, probably Flowerina.

"Come, come, we can see what is happening on the screen of my telescope" Entrapta calls, and I follow the crowd, uncertain of where I am.

The telescope shows no movement, and we all wait, suspended to the blinking lights that indicate artificial objects in our orbital space. I suddenly realise I am still holding the second thing I collected on her desk. I show it silently to Glimmer who whispers:

"What is that?"

"I don't… know. It was on her desk this morning."

"Then let's play it"

I m echanically give the record to a hand stretched in my direction that puts it in the robot called Emily . Her voice wakes me up and it hurts fully when after a second I realise it is just that: her ghost.

"- This is so strange talking to a recorder, I wonder how Entrapta does it… So… let's start… hmm… dear everyone.

The thing is… I do not know where to start. My whole life, I did what I thought was right, hoping that it would keep me and the people I love safe from harm, but I failed. I have been helpless or mistaken so many times.

I was trusted into protecting Etheria and I was failing because I dared having doubts. But as someone very important to me told me recently, if there is something that can be done to save us then I have to at least try. So… I will do it. I will go to Horde Prime and give him the fake Heart of Etheria. I do not know how I will do it… but I have to try."

She pauses for an instant and breathes several times in the microphone.

"I am scared, everyone. So, so scared… But all I know is that I have to do it. I cannot let anyone die at my place."

Another long pause. I can almost hear her cry a little on the over side.

"There is little chance that I will come back," she adds. "So I ask to all of you… stay together, and keep on going. You are the best thing that ever happened in my life, each and every one of you. My only hope is that I will stay somewhere in every heart of my Best Friend Squad."

I hear Heart twink laugh between sobs. It sounds weird and right at the same time.

"So all of you, please, have a good live and thank you for the faith you had in our fight. Bow, please, keep shooting and crafting and loving everyone.

Mermista, I know you love Sea-Hawk, so stop being ashamed of him and make him the prince of Salineas, I know you wish for it deep down.

Perfuma, you are a great princess, take care of your people the way you took care of us all.

Frosta, stay strong and stay brave. You have already achieved so much at such a young age. Do not let anyone put you down.

Glimmer, you are my best friend in spite of all what we disagreed about. You will be the greatest Queen.

Entrapta, I am sorry I stole your material. You are the greatest mind I have ever had the honour to meet. I hope your lights will illuminate Etheria for a long time, because they will need you.

Scorpia… I had little chance to know you and to fight with you, but you have a big heart and you do give great hugs, and you stayed faithful to someone I deeply care about for a very long time, so I am counting on you to keep being an amazing woman.

And Catra…"

I can hear another cry, longer this time, and her voice shakes more and more.

"I… I am sorry things were the way they are. I just want everyone to know that I love you and I forgive you with all my heart. I hope one day the world will see you the way I do now. You are the strongest person I know, so please do not let the bad things take over yourself. You deserve so much better than that.

You are my world too, little cat.

Goodbye."

The recording ends with a clicker sound. There is a long silence, maybe one minute, maybe several hours, and no one dares to blink or to move. We are all looking for the same thing on the screen.

Then it happens. The lights suddenly turn off, without previous warning, and we all run towards the window to see a bright star in the daily sky blow up in a small and pale ring that grows larger then small and then disappears completely as if it had never existed at all.

And this is it. Nothing comes out of the explosion, no bomb falls down in retaliation, no corpses to mourn on. Just a group of badly-assorted people and a plain blue sky.

If only I did not prompt her to go back and fight. If only I did not come up with this stupid idea that needed someone to be sacrificed. If only I had woken up a little early and convinced her not to go. Or to let me go with her.

I want her back. I need her. She cannot leave me like that! All the things I would do just to have her back, even for a minute, even if I have to die. She lefts a hole in my chest no prothesis will ever repair, and it is calling for her like the emptiness when standing on top of a cliff. My need for her is bigger than this whole planet and I just want to die.

Maybe my story stopped here. Maybe the rest would be a dream of my sick mind full of raw desire for Adora.

The earth starts to quake. I hear a princess scream. Entrapta quickly clicks on all her monitors to see where it comes from.

"It's the Heart of Etheria!" she yells. "It was probably disturbed by the rip in space and time and it tipped the fragile balance of energies in its core! It's going to explode! We are all going to die!"

"Let's evacuate the building. Now!" Glimmer orders.

She has not said so that another quake makes a bunch of metal scraps fall from a cupboard on the head of someone. Chaos ensues as everyone promptly get out.

We come back on the castle ground, joined by every person who was not at the council or who stayed ignorant of everything that happened since yesterday's night: guards, servants. I see some faces I know, some that surprises me and some I had never seen in my life. I spot my three companions of the Horde, Lony, Rogelio and Kyle, huddled together but too far for me to ask them how did they possibly ended up here.

Suddenly, the shaking stops, but the relief is cut short as the Moon Stone begins to glow of an unseen light, and worst of all, rise in the sky.

"What the… how?"

I do not know who said that but I agree with their word. The sky is growing cloudy and I can hear thunder strikes. I spot Entrapta in the crowd. She is on Scorpia's shoulder, who is taller than most people so I can see them from afar. They must have come out after me, because they both look sketchy and bruised.

I push stunned people around to make my way towards them.

"Guys! Are you all right? What is happening? Trapt', you have any idea?"

"It's like the other time all again! The other Crystals must be activated as well. But why?"

It is not entirely clear if she is freaking out or having the time of her life. I look for a place to climb above all this and see the state of our surroundings, but there is nothing around, except the Castle. Before anything else happens, I take off and run towards it.

"Wait, Catra!" I hear Bow shout. "The building is weakened by the quake! It could fall down under your feet! It is not safe! Come back!"

I ignore him completely and start to climb. Tower after tower, column after column, I rise above the crowd on the top of a white pyramidal structure. I have not felt so good for a long time. Every step is the discovery of a little bit more of landscape under my eyes. The storm is wreaking havoc on every side around Bright Moon, as the Moon Stone continues rising until it disappears behind the clouds.

I could just end it here. Jump. Die before it becomes to much to bear. The timing is perfect: there is en end-of-the-world vibe to carry my death, an audience to witness me as I fly.

But then I turn back and I see that I am not alone. All, they all surround me, the entire Adora team, every person she has ever met, who have ever believed in her, and I am in the centre of that team. They are much more people than I expected, all huddled on several steps between the ground and me, wherever they found a space to climb as close as they could to me.

"Listen, Catra" Glimmer shouts above the howling wind. "I know you are sad. We all are. But please come down."

"NO!"

"We all loved her." Bow adds. "She's gone. You need to let go."

No. I never let go, as Madam Razz once told me; and I am no princess but the whole in my heart will be the Runestone from which I will dig my power.

Glimmer grabs my ankle. I can see she is crying and also shining of a dim pink aura. They all do, each and everyone of them of a different light, whether princess or not, magical beings or simple organic flesh, from Queen Glimmer to the simplest man. And each of them rise a hand, or a pincer, or a tentacle, just to reach another one, and soon, we are all touching each other and we all grieve together for my Adora.

All their buzzing lights slowly rises toward me. I feel like all magic in the world is flowing through me, and I hear the voice.

But it is not Adora, or anyone I know. It is the She-Ra, all the She-Ra since the beginning of times. The wind becomes stronger.

"Cat-Ra" says the soft etherial voice.

It has no origin and feels like a dream. The world spins around at top speed and I can feel myself be this small dot on the surface of an entire planet all thinking like the biggest brain in the universe.

Thunder opens clouds as if it were all a cosmic play, and I see another small dot falling from behind the sky, and everything is just too big to handle. The wind tries to push me away.

"Hold on."

The whole planet seems to have grown mad. Hold on what, I have no clue. All I know is the inexplicable feeling that if I ever let go, the whole world will die. So as all the magic of Etheria comes through me, I hold on.

"You are the bond, Cat-Ra" says the voice. "If you let go, she will be lost forever."

And as it grows closer and bigger I get better sight of the small dot. I look at it as my eyes become pure light. It's Adora, not She-Ra, the Adora I have always known, glowing faintly and falling fast through the sky.

I reach my hand to her, and she begins to slow down. It becomes harder and harder to hold the tide, as if all my insides were pulled out, and she keeps slowing down. With my last strengths I reach my arms to her. She looks incredibly small for the child of the cosmic battle between me and the sky. The flow of magic leaves me at a calm and progressive pace, as she lands in my arms like a baby or a flower, and all I can think to say is:

"Hey, Adora."

She opens her eyes for an instant, and smiles.

"Hey, Catra."

And as the final blast cracks the sky open and rain starts to pour like it has never did in my life, I know deep down that whatever happens, from now on there will be no harm.