CHAPTER XVI: OLD FRIENDS

"Hordak?"

A voice… that's the first thing the former Horde leader heard as he slowly opened his eyes.

"E-Entrapta?" Hordak croaked in a low voice as he noticed the pigtailed princess standing a few feet away from him.

"Oh, thank the First Ones, you're awake! I was starting to get worried."

"W-where are we?" The former Horde leader asked as he sat up, holding his head.

"We're currently in Bright Moon's castle." Entrapta explained.

Hordak's eyes widened in shock before an angered scowl appeared on his face. He quickly stood up from the floor on which the guards had left him and tried to reach for the pigtailed princess. However, as the former Horde leader extended his arm towards Entrapta, his hand came in contact with the magical barrier that had been created around him. He hadn't noticed it, but as soon as he touched it, the light wall lit up, brightening the room's darkness. Hordak recoiled backwards, holding his own wrist tightly, his face contorted into a grimace of pain.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He roared.

"King Micah wanted to kill you. Me, Glimmer and Adora managed to stop him but… you still acted antagonistically against them… against the Rebellion. The best we could achieve was for you to become a prisoner." Entrapta answered.

The moment she stopped speaking, the scientist princess flinched back as Hordak slammed his hands against the magical barrier which surrounded him, not caring the slightest about the pain it caused.

"So that I can help you?! So that I can betray my own creator and master for you?!"

"Yes."

Hordak couldn't stop himself from letting out a strangled noise of surprise.

"I won't give you anything. Now, release me!"

"I won't." Entrapta spoke determinately.

The former Horde leader's expression changed from one of anger to one of puzzlement.

"It's useless to keep me here! I won't tell you anything about the great Prime!" Hordak roared.

"I don't care about that!" Entrapta shouted back, twice as strong, effectively stunning him. "If I free you now… you'd just go back to him…"

"It is my duty, what I was made for… to serve my master and obey his-" Hordak began to speak but the scientist princess cut him off.

"Then I won't do it."

"W-what?!" Hordak stuttered, bewildered.

"If you go back to him… he'll wipe your memories away… he… he will wipe you away…" Entrapta whispered, pain flashing in her eyes.

"Even if that was the case, I have to go back to Horde Prime anyway! He's my creator!"

"And I'm your friend!"

Silence fell upon the room. Hordak's eyes became wide with surprise. He had fought his entire life to climb the ranks of Prime's armies, he had become his right hand and when his master had casted him away… he did everything he could to go back to him… to show Horde Prime he was still worthy to be at his side. However… the emperor of the known universe… his creator… would have erased him if it wasn't for Entrapta…

Entrapta…

The weird scientist princess had appeared in Hordak's life out of nowhere. He didn't trust her… he felt disgusted during the first days of their collaboration… a princess roaming his laboratory… unthinkable! But… as time went by… Hordak stopped thinking about Entrapta as a princess, as one of his enemies and began to notice all the small things that made her and her company… so enjoyable. Such an intelligence, such a curiosity and…

Something warm…

Something Hordak had never felt before in his life…

Entrapta had been the only one to ever made him feel that strange yet soothing warmth in his chest…

"Even if… even if you are… you can't choose for me…"

"I don't care if I can't… I'm going to do it anyway… I won't let you die." The scientist princess countered in a hushed tone of voice, her gaze low as she spoke.

"Entrapta…"

The way Hordak pronounced her name… so softly… made the pigtailed princess raise her eyes, a slight glimmer of hope visible in them.

"Let me out… please…"

"Will you help us?"

"Horde Prime… Horde Prime is…" Hordak hesitated, conflict clear on his face before he let out a long exhale. "Horde Prime cannot be defeated. Surrender to him and he might think about your collaboration as something valuable. You'd be saved."

"And you'd be gone… just like all my friends…" Entrapta's small, hopeful smile had vanished. "I guess you don't have anything else to say… is that right?"

Hordak gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tight. Once again, his expression betrayed his interior conflict but sadly… Entrapta's hopes were once again dashed.

"That is right princess… leave me…"

Entrapta let out a small whimper.

She turned around and rushed outside the room.

She didn't even notice Hordak's hand outstretched towards her.

͠

"My Queen!"

"What is it?!"

"The Horde… they've breached our defenses!"

"How many are there?!"

"At least eight hundred soldiers, the same number of bots and a two dozen of tanks!"

"We can't defeat them…"

"We can! Use your power against them my Queen!"

"No, even with my power… I can't risk my crown falling in their hands… take it."

"W-what? M-my Queen, I can't!"

"You can, take it to our true home…"

"I… I… I am at your command My Lady…"

"Go… take our people to safety and… wait for the Queen to come back… only then we'll have the power to fight back."

"Goodbye… my Queen."

"Mathias… where are you?"

When Catra woke up, she found herself breathing heavily, her forehead slick with sweat. She grabbed her hair and pulled, grunting loudly. What was happening to her? What was the meaning of her dreams? She had one before Adora came into her room, and when finally, she managed to relax enough to fall asleep again… the dreams came back.

The voice speaking… the one the second voice referred to as 'Queen', she had heard it in the first dream… it was… oddly soothing, warm… it made Catra shake her head violently. She didn't know those voices, she had never heard them before and yet… whenever she heard them… they felt so real… as if memories were trying to resurface after being pulled into a dark corner of her mind.

"J-Just dreams… they're just-" Catra murmured, but suddenly, she became silent as a voice cut through the darkness of her room.

"Wildcat?"

No…

Not now…

She couldn't face anyone else right now…

Scorpia stepped into the light glow of the magical barrier surrounding Catra's bed, her pincers conjoined behind her back, a nervous, small yet genuine smile on her face. The feline did her best to conceal her fear, a weak, trembling, mocking grin growing on her face.

"So, princess Scorpia steps away from her new, glittering friends to come and see lil' old me?"

"What's wrong Catra?"

The cat girl's eyes widened in shock, her mouth slightly agape as her grin shattered. It was as if Scorpia didn't even hear her talking… as if she had immediately been able to see past her façade. She took a step forwards and that's when an incredulous, slightly hysterical laugh bubble up Catra's throat.

"You think you can talk to me like that? After you left me?!"

"I know I hurt you, I'm not asking you to forgive me… but I needed to save Entrapta." Scorpia tried to explain.

Of course she would play the 'I need to save my true friends' card, of course she had to remind Catra of her mistakes.

"Is she…" Catra's voice was barely more audible than a whisper, she interrupted herself before finishing, but Scorpia heard her anyway.

Catra hated how the scorpion princess' smile grew more hopeful.

She… she hated it…

"Entrapta is fine." Scorpia said in a warm tone of voice.

But what Catra hated the most, was the relief she felt as she heard those words.

"If you're so happy she's fine, why did you send her away in the first place?" A mocking voice spoke inside Catra's mind.

"Shut up…" Catra muttered under her breath, holding her head.

"Catra…" Scorpia whispered, as she slowly raised her pincer towards the feline.

"You've got what you wanted right?! So why are you still here?!" The cat girl hissed angrily.

"What are you talking about?" The scorpion princess raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I saw you… on the ship… now you even got the powers of a princess… and you've got brand new friends so you can drop the act and leave already!"

"I never wanted those powers Catra, I never wanted to become a princess." Scorpia smiled weakly, slightly shaking her head.

"What?" Catra asked incredulously.

"I wanted to be your friend. I cared about you so much… I still do…"

As she heard those words, Catra turned away, her gaze set on the room's floor. She didn't want to believe it… she couldn't believe it… because the truth was that despite how strong Catra wanted to look, she was at her limit. Another betrayal? Another person leaving her? Someone she cared for coming back only to stab her back? It would have broken her. But despite that, despite the feline's fear, despite her best attempts at driving her away, Scorpia didn't give up and instead, she chose to press on.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

The scorpion princess' sudden question silenced the cat girl, who now wore a confused expression. What was she talking about?

"What do you mean?"

"Why didn't you tell me about Shadow Weaver?" Scorpia asked as she took a step towards the magic barrier surrounding Catra.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about…" Catra stuttered as she wrapped her arms around herself and turned away.

"That's what Adora told you in the Crimson Waste, isn't it?" Scorpia pressed on, taking another step towards the cat girl, and despite her pained expression, she kept speaking. "She told you that Shadow Weaver had come to Bright Moon…"

"Shut up…"

"She… she tricked you…"

"Shut up!" Catra yelled ferociously.

However, Scorpia didn't seem to be scared. It was now or never, the scorpion princess thought. She couldn't let Catra hold in whatever what was eating her from the inside, she had to make her talk, she had to make the cat girl trust her again… she had to help her best friend.

"Tell me if that's what happened!"

Catra growled, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Yeah! That's what happened! Are you happy now?!" The cat girl finally admitted.

Scorpia's expression changed. All the sadness, the anger, it was all gone, replaced by a weak yet hopeful smile.

"I knew it."

"W-what?" Catra's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"I knew that wasn't you… I knew that the girl who told me all those terrible things wasn't you Catra… I just… I just wish you had told me sooner."

"And that would have changed everything right?" The feline chuckled mockingly.

"Yes… I would have known that everything you were doing… you were doing it because you were hurt." Scorpia's tone was so kind, so compassionate.

"You don't need help, those who ask for it are nothing but weaklings!" Catra could hear a familiar voice screaming inside her head.

"I wasn't hurt!"

"You were! Stop denying it!" Scorpia shouted, with such force that she surprised both Catra and herself, "Why is it so difficult for you to just say it! Shadow Weaver… she must have given you a tiny speck of what she had always given to Adora… some kind of love… some kind of recognition… isn't that right?"

How…

How could Scorpia have seen right through her?

Was she that transparent?

"You don't know what you're talking about…" Catra countered weakly.

"And when you discovered she had tricked you… that broke you." The scorpion princess took another step towards the barrier.

"Stop!"

"Admitting that she hurt you doesn't make you weak!" Scorpia cried desperately.

"That's exactly what weakness is!"

"And who taught that?! Let me guess… was it her?!"

Catra's mouth hanged open in shock. There was no witty comeback, no snarky comment, nothing that she could have used against those words… because they stated the truth. Shadow Weaver had always taught both her and Adora that one has to count only on themselves, such was the cruelty of the world they lived on. To ask for help was an unforgivable display of weakness.

"I… I…" Catra tried to answer, but she couldn't. When did Scorpia become so good at reading her? At understanding what she's been through?!

Maybe…

Maybe the scorpion princess had always been good at that, it's just that…

Catra never actually listened to her…

"But you don't need her Catra… you don't need to prove anything to anyone… you're an amazing person, you're strong, determined and so fun to hang out with. You were… you still are my first true friend."

Catra bit her lower lip, shutting her eyes tight and shaking her head. It's in that moment that she heard the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer. She opened her eyes only to see that Scorpia was standing right in front of her. The scorpion princess outstretched a pincer towards her and pressed it against the magic wall.

"W-what are you doing?!"

"G-Glimmer explained this kind of m-magic to me. N-nothing can get out, but something or someone with enough magical power c-can… get… in! B-but… oh boy, I didn't expect it to be t-this painful!" Scorpia stuttered as she slowly pushed through the barrier.

Catra wanted to yell at the scorpion princess to go back, that she wasn't worth risking to get hurt. But before she could speak even one single word, Scorpia had already passed through the magical wall and now… she stood right in front of her.

"S-Stay back…" Catra warned, her voice starting to break.

"I'm not going to leave you Catra." Scorpia spoke determinately, although not unkindly.

"Stay back!"

The feline closed her eyes and pulled out her claws. She couldn't let Scorpia come any closer, she couldn't let her… even if the scorpion princess still cared about her, Catra was sure that sooner or later she'd find a way to drive her away… just like she did in the past.

"She'll leave you… leave you all alone… don't let her! Hit her!"

Catra did.

Her claws came down and hit something hard.

When the cat girl opened her eyes, she saw that Scorpia had defended herself by raising a pincer, but now… five, thin lines could be seen along its surface. Catra took a step back as she realized what she had just done. Her mouth was slightly agape, her lower lip was trembling, and her pupils had shrunken down to the size of a needle's tip.

"S-Scorpia I-"

Catra didn't have time to finish.

A pair of strong arms embraced her and held her tightly.

"I'm sorry…" Catra whispered as tears started to stream down her cheeks.

"It's okay, I won't leave you again."

The two held each other until they fell asleep…

And when Shadow Weaver silently strolled into the chamber…

Her eyes grew thin at the sight of the two girls…

"Weak… as always…" The witch whispered.

She swiftly moved her hands through the air and when Catra opened her eyes a few hours later…

The magic barrier was gone…