CHAPTER XIV: ONE MORE PROMISE
Horde Prime fired his weapon.
The incandescent, white ball of pure energy traveled across the air and met its target.
Catra felt Adora's body collide with her own, and the two got thrown a few meters backwards.
"Ugh…" Catra groaned, slightly pushing Adora, as to give the blonde a hint to move.
But Adora didn't move an inch…
When the feline raised her head… her face lost every trace of color and her eyes widened in horror. Adora's shield laid shattered in pieces on the ground. Horde Prime's shot had pierced it… but the broken shield wasn't what Catra had been staring at.
…
The shot had pierced Adora's chest.
"A-Adora? No… no, no, no! Adora!" Catra cried, groaning in pain as she shifted to hold the blonde's head in her lap.
There was a time when the feline believed that the horrifying sight she was staring at would have brought her an immense satisfaction… that it would have finally filled the void the blonde had left in her heart when she went away. To think that Adora would one day pay for what she did to her, it made Catra's pain turn into bitterness, then anger and in the end… hatred… hatred for the one she once loved the most.
But now…
The only things she felt as she held Adora between her arms were an unrelenting desperation, and a terror she had never felt in her entire life.
"C-Catra?" Adora replied weakly.
Her face was pale, her lips slightly stained with blood and her eyes… her eyes were almost closed.
"And so… another one of my enemies falls. Oh, pardon me… two of my enemies." Prime shifted his aim and pointed his crossbow at Catra.
The feline held Adora tightly, hiding her face in the blonde's hair. Once again, every hope seemed to be lost. But how could Catra feel any differently? She had never let herself have faith in others… but that day, faith would have proven her wrong. It would have proven to her that other people, the one who cared about her and Adora… would have never left them alone.
An arrow flew through the air, planting itself in Prime's armor and exploding a second after. The tyrant grunted in pain as he took a step backwards. Then, a purple sphere of light flashed in the darkness of the corridor that lead to the training room, colliding with his face. What came next was a mixture of ice, roots and water, followed by a series of red bolts. Everything hit Horde Prime square in the chest at full force, making him fall to the ground. His crossbow fired a shot towards the ceiling above him…
"Damn you!" The tyrant screamed as a pile of rubble collapsed on top of him.
Bow, Glimmer, Perfuma, Mermista, Frosta and Scorpia quickly entered the training chamber.
"I bet that won't hold him for long, come on guys! We gotta-" The scorpion princess spoke in a cheerful tone of voice, but immediately fell silent as her eyes fell upon Catra and Adora.
The feline turned towards the group, a terrorized expression on her face.
"A-Adora?" Glimmer muttered.
"Oh no…" Bow covered his mouth.
"It… it can't be…" Perfuma muttered, her breathing uneven.
Glimmer crouched down and took Adora's hand into her own.
"Glimmer…" The blonde muttered weakly.
"A-Adora… what did you do…" The young queen said, her voice cracking.
"Is… everyone… safe?"
"They are… they're all okay, and you'll be too." Glimmer declared, wiping her tears and standing up, the fear on her face replaced by a blank expression.
"Glimmer? What are we going to do?" Frosta asked, tugging at her tunic.
"I'll teleport everyone away. Once we reach Bright Moon, my aunt will know what to do." The young queen explained swiftly.
"Will she be able to-" Bow began to speak but was cut off.
"Yes… yes, she will." Glimmer said.
Everyone began to gather around the young queen, but before she could conjure her spell, Adora grabbed Catra's wrist.
"Catra…"
"Shh, don't waste your energies… w-we're going to Bright Moon, okay? A-and there, Sparkle's aunt will cure you, okay?" Catra explained, hating how her voice must have sounded so weak, but she couldn't do anything about it.
"No… you need… to stay…"
"W-what?"
"I saw… your message. Your people needs… a guide… you need to give them… hope."
"I… I can't leave you now."
"They need you… bring them to Bright Moon… I promise I'll… be waiting for you… I promise."
Adora smiled. Another promise made to the person she cared the most in the entire universe. One she was sure she would keep. Catra looked at her for a few, endless moments, before standing up.
"I'll… I'll go… I'll bring the survivors to Bright Moon and… and you better be there to welcome me." Catra tried her best to sound smug.
It made Adora chuckle slightly, but it soon turned into a fit of cough.
"I'll go with you." Scorpia took a step towards Catra, but the feline raised a hand.
"If Prime gets out of those scraps and decides to attack Bright Moon, Sparkle's gonna need every princess on Etheria to stop him. You gotta go with them… and… do me a favor Scorpia…"
"Of course!" The scorpion princess replied quickly.
"Watch over her until I arrive… okay?"
Scorpia nodded swiftly. Catra turned towards the group of princesses, giving them a look that was both apologetic and pleading.
"All of you… please… watch over her…"
Glimmer looked at the feline for a few, long moments before nodding. Every princess did the same and as Catra turned away from the small group and began to travel through the Fright Zone's corridors to find another exit… she prayed Adora would keep her promise this time. She ran as fast as she could, dodging falling debris and looking everywhere for an exit.
And after what seemed an eternity, the feline managed to find one. The commands to open it had been engulfed by flames, and the sliding door had opened halfway. Catra jumped, passing through the crack between the door and the wall, finally finding herself in the open. She looked above and saw the sky. The smoke had caused it to turn gray, but as Catra began to make her way towards the Whispering Wood's border and took a long, deep breath… she realized… she had done it.
And as the realization hit her… that she had actually managed to survive… that despite the bruises and the pain that coursed through her whole body, she had won a battle seemingly impossible to win… she didn't notice what was waiting for her under the shadows projected by the forest's first trees.
Catra didn't think many of the Horde's people would have followed her. After all, she did admit that what happened to the Fright Zone, happened because of her. She believed that many would have risked staying and becoming Prime's new puppets rather than following the one who had betrayed them.
"No one will show up. The Horde will hate you for what you revealed to them." The voice inside Catra's head chuckled darkly.
But once again, the voice would have been proven wrong…
Because as Catra reached the first trees, her eyes widened at the sight of what had been waiting for her. Hundreds of people had gathered around the Whispering Wood's entrance, alongside a few dozens of transport vehicles and tanks.
"Catra!" A voice called her name.
Ivy made her way through the large crowd, rushing towards the feline and catching everyone's attention. The little girl stopped in front of Catra, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she realized that the feline was fine. Internally, the cat girl did the same as she saw that the child was fine.
"Y-you won!" Ivy exclaimed excitedly, raising in the air her fists.
"Did you have any doubts?" Catra chuckled.
"Uhm… are you hurt?" The little girl asked shily.
Catra looked and felt as she had been definitely hurt. Her left cheek was swollen, she had a bleeding cut over her right eyebrow and a lot of other bruises she would have discovered the next time she'd shower. But now it wasn't the time to think about herself. She needed to reach Bright Moon… as fast as she could.
"Don't worry about me kid, I'm tough you know?" The feline flexed her bicep.
"See? I told you she'd come back!" Ivy turned towards some other Horde kids, who immediately turned red and avoided the cat girl's amused stare.
"Catra…" Another voice called her.
"Lonnie." Catra answered as she raised her gaze and noticed the dark skinned girl approaching her. "What happened to-" She began to ask, but decided to remain silent as she noticed both Kyle and Rogelio emerging from the crow and reaching her side.
"We ran into Adora and the other princesses… we told them we were headed towards the woods, just like you told us to do, and Scorpia decided to stick with them. Stubborn as always." Lonnie paused for a moment before giving the feline a good look. Catra looked terrible. "So… you made it out alive."
"Yeah…"
"Ivy told me what happened when we reached the woods…"
"And?" The feline asked in a cautious tone of voice.
"And it makes me think that you've… that you've really changed… or at least you're trying." Finally, Lonnie let her blank expression vanish and gave Catra a small, yet genuine smile.
"What are you talking about?! She's amazing!" Ivy spoke with stars in her eyes.
Catra noticed that all the people who had been waiting near the Whispering Wood's edge had begun to gather around her, listening to what the child was saying.
"She took down one of the monsters who was holding me! And when their boss came out, she fought twelve of them on her own to save me! And she won! She's the strongest person in the world! No, in the entire universe!"
Catra felt her cheeks burn. This freaking brat… no one had ever made her blush like this… and now, this little girl with her simple words had managed to do it. It wasn't that the feline didn't like what she said, it simply made her feel something that she hadn't felt in long time. And even if Catra didn't immediately understand what that was, when she looked into Ivy's eyes… she knew. She was proud of herself. The people around them were chattering, some of them had confused expressions on their faces, many were smiling, a few chuckling at the girl's words, but not maliciously.
"Commander?" A soldier stepped forwards.
"That's not my title anymore." Catra answered, shaking her head.
"Uhm… I…" The man stuttered.
"She's right." Lonnie's voice caught everyone's attention. "She's not Hordak's second in command anymore. Every person who would have wanted to follow that Catra… they should know now that that person doesn't exist anymore. But this one?"
The dark skinned girl put a hand on Catra's shoulder.
"This person is the one I'll call my leader from now on…"
Catra's eyes grew wide at Lonnie's statement, and her disbelief grew even more when she felt the people around her starting to chant her name, raising their fists in the air.
"Catra! Our new leader!"
"Hordak wasn't there to save us, Catra did!"
"She saved us all! Long live our new leader!"
The Horde's new leader.
A good one, in the end...
Hi guys! Here we are with the last chapter of this bomb! I hope you liked it, I hope you liked the story so far and I know… I know… "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY LEAVING US WITHOUT LETTING US KNOW ABOUT ADORA'S FATE?". Well, yeah. Hehehe… I'm evil, I know. However, the next time you'll here from me, you'll have the last chapters of this story! Yes, exactly, I'm planning on writing six or maybe seven more chapters that will wrap up the story and bring it to its conclusion, so stay tuned! Oh, I almost forgot… the trailer for season 5 looks amazing! I can't wait to see it and discover how it will all end! Well, the note is getting far too long, as always I wanna thank you for all the kind comments, your appreciation is what keeps me writing, so keep that up! See you soon!
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