Felinia had already been waiting outside of Mara's ship for the last fifteen minutes before everyone else showed up.
Glimmer led the group of Bright Moon, consisting of Adora, Catra, Bow, Mara and Angella. It was midday as they emerged from the trees towards Mara's ship, and Glimmer's eyes widened upon seeing Felinia. "How… How long have you been waiting here?" Glimmer asked.
"Uh… Not long! I just… wanted to get a head start and all…" Felinia admitted with a nervous chuckle. Glimmer crossed her arms.
"So I assume you've done a quick check-up on the ship's interior and looked for anything out of line?" Glimmer asked as Felinia scratched the back of her head.
"Of course!" Felinia answered with an awkward chuckle, avoiding eye contact with Glimmer. But even though she wasn't looking, she could feel Glimmer's death stare burning at her. "I, uh… Yeah, I have no idea how to get in. I was hoping one of you would come earlier and open the door…"
Glimmer sighed as Mara stepped forward, opening the door of the ship as she smiled down at Felinia. "I'm sure you put in a lot of effort to open the door, Felinia," Mara spoke with a soft, kind tone.
"But maybe tell the truth next time," Glimmer huffed as she walked towards the ship, leading everyone inside. Some looks of empathy were shared with Felinia as everyone boarded Mara's ship.
"What did you say you called this again? Darlene?" Mara asked Adora as she headed for the pilot's seat.
"Darla. Don't ask why. You'd have to pick at Entrapta's brain to understand her and the names she gives out to her inventions, and I dare say, that could prove to be one of the most dangerous things a person can do," Adora chuckled as she stood by Mara as she got comfortable in her chair.
"Alright… I think I can do this. It's only been a thousand years," Mara spoke to herself as she got familiar with the ship's controls, glancing around and slowly recognizing each button, lever and switch. She flexed her fingers and started pressing at some of the buttons ahead of her. Slowly, the ship started to light up as Mara chuckled to herself.
"Light Hope, can I get a status update…?" Mara instinctively spoke those words but as soon as she said them, her eyes went wide and her smile dropped. Of course, no answer came. A cold shiver went down Adora's spine as she saw Mara's mood almost instantly shift from excitement to misery.
"Mara…" Adora spoke softly, reaching out to place a gentle hand on Mara's shoulder.
"… I'll get us there soon," Mara spoke coldly as she went back to getting the ship off the ground, cutting herself off from everyone else and refusing to look at Adora. Adora understood her mood, and decided to leave her be, going to sit next to Catra.
Soon enough, as everyone found their seats, the ship slowly began to hover off the ground and go straight up. It was a much cleaner take-off than anyone had been able to achieve before, and everyone was thankful that Mara still remembered how to fly her own ship.
As Mara set a course for Beast Island, Catra looked at her feet and thought about a name she had just heard from Adora: Entrapta. It wasn't too long ago that she sent Entrapta to Beast Island in full knowledge that she may actually die there. The guilt that drowned Catra from that action still stuck with her.
In her dreams, Catra always saw Entrapta's corpse, and she always blamed herself. The fact Entrapta lived was a miracle in and of itself, and Catra had wanted to punish herself for nearly killing Entrapta almost every day. Of course, it was only one of the many actions that caused Catra guilt, but it was up there with one of the worst.
Catra wasn't the only one anxious about Beast Island. Adora and Bow exchanged a glance as the ship started heading towards the place they almost died in alongside Swift Wind and Micah. They both had nightmares about their experience there, and the droning signal buried its way into their brains for long after they left.
Adora slowly nodded to Bow, letting him know that they have each other and everyone else around them, and they wouldn't be in any danger this time. After all, ever since the planet was cured, maybe Beast Island was cured alongside it? Maybe it wasn't so dangerous anymore?
Still. The nerves they felt wouldn't go away until they saw the island for themselves. The butterflies in their stomachs only grew larger and grew larger as they made their way towards the unknown.
Towards Beast Island. And towards their trauma.
The first thing everyone noticed as the ship approached the island was the droning signal that buried into their brains.
In almost an instant, a flash of memories came back to Adora and Bow upon hearing that sound. Their discomfort was more obvious, but at the same time, they had grown used to it. Everyone exchanged worried looks as Mara began to dock.
As she lowered the ship, there was a bit of rocking and rattling. "It's a bit of interference!" Mara explained as the ship shook about violently. She seemed to still have control of the ship as she slowly lowered it atop the island, but the shaking combined with the signal was enough to make Glimmer nearly sick.
Everyone looked outside their windows to see the nightmare before them. To Adora and Bow, it almost looked the exact same as when they left it. Clearly, there was no curing an island like this. It shouldn't even exist in the first place.
"Alright… Darla should be fine, but we better make this quick. Conditions are unstable," Mara said as she finally parked the ship and shut it off, opening the door for everyone. Adora went over to Mara before anything else,
"Hey. You okay?" Adora asked quietly to Mara.
"I'll be alright. It just… stings a bit. I think I just need to focus on this… Get my mind off her and all," Mara explained as everyone slowly set foot on the island outside.
"I'm always here to talk, okay?" Adora put a hand on Mara's shoulder.
"Thanks," Mara smiled, "I just want to focus on this for now. We'll talk later, okay?"
Adora nodded as she and Mara were the last to step foot on the island, and everyone had visibly tensed up as they looked at the area surrounding them. Discarded bits of metal, rough structures and buildings, and almost everything was sharp to touch. Even the trees looked intimidating. All of this haunted by a gray sky and cold, bitter wind.
"Alright… We all know what to do. Check out the place, see if there's any threats or any way to repurpose this island. Or… destroy it," Glimmer spoke, before putting a hand to her forehead. "Ugh, I feel sick…"
"Glimmer!" Bow cried out as he spotted Glimmer suddenly crumbling to her knees. He put a hand on her back, noticing Glimmer looking more pale than usual. "I think the signal is doing this to you…"
"The signal?" Glimmer asked.
"It's First Ones tech," Mara suddenly spoke up. "All of this is… it's practically junk, but I recognize all of it. Scrapped projects… Materials… This place is a dumping ground. I recognize the signal too. It was… It was a torture method."
"What the…" Adora's eyes widened upon hearing this horrifying detail. She had known that Beast Island was a First Ones dumping ground, but the signal being a torture method, although horrible, just made too much sense for her.
"It definitely feels like torture… I'm gonna throw up…" Glimmer mumbled. Bow rubbed a hand on her back in circles and Glimmer instinctively reached out for his arm, holding onto it tight and pressing her body against Bow's.
"Are you going to be able to carry on in this mission?" Angella asked as she knelt down in front of the weakened Glimmer.
"I… I have to. It's… It's my duty…" Glimmer attempted to stand on her feet, but slipped, causing Bow to catch her again.
"This signal… What is it doing?" Angella asked Mara.
"It brings out fear… Anxiety… It affects some more than others, but it is usually pretty powerful. I don't know anyone who wouldn't break after some time with it," Mara explained. Angella looked to Glimmer, and slowly began to realize that if this signal affected those with a high level of anxiety more than others, then Glimmer must be going through so much.
Angella wondered if it was all because of her. She had to hide this self-doubt like usual, but it just made sense to her. Her presence would no doubt be causing a lot of grief and confusion for her daughter.
"Glimmer, come on. It's okay to just wait on the ship," Bow spoke softly, but Glimmer shook her head.
"I'm fine… I'm fine," Glimmer spoke, although mostly to reassure herself. "I have to keep standing. I'm fine."
Slowly, Glimmer stomped her foot on the ground and raised her body up, still feeling the deep sickness in her stomach but opting to push through and stand. She clenched her fists tight and shook her head. "I guess if we can be thankful for anything, we haven't spotted any monsters yet," Glimmer commented.
"So far," Adora responded, "but last time Bow and I were here, there were a bunch in the bottom area. We practically got overwhelmed."
"Why were you at a place like this?" Angella asked Adora.
"We had to rescue Entrapta. It's… also when we found your husband," Adora admitted, and Angella's eyes widened for a bit.
"I see… Was it just you and Bow?" Angella asked.
"And Swift Wind," Bow replied.
"Why wasn't Glimmer with you? Was she on another mission?" Angella asked. Immediately, Glimmer felt another wave of sickness hit her as she remembered the events that led up to Beast Island. She didn't even want to go there in the first place and had attempted to stop Adora and Bow from going.
"Well…" Adora hesitated to speak for a few moments, trying to come up with any excuse she could think of.
"… I forbid them from going," Glimmer suddenly spoke. Angella's eyes turned to her daughter as she spoke, her head hanging low out of shame. "They had to sneak out because of me. Because of me, we might've never found dad. We might've let Entrapta die. It would've been all my fault."
"Glimmer…" Angella gasped, trying to find the words to comfort her. Adora and Bow could only stare as Glimmer looked at the floor, her face melted into pure hatred for herself as she pushed forward, going deeper into the island.
"Let's just… get this over with," Glimmer sighed. However, she was suddenly stopped as Felinia placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You can't let the self-hatred set in because of your mistakes, Queen Glimmer. I know that you're an amazing…" Felinia attempted to comfort Glimmer, but her voice trailed off as slowly, Glimmer's glare shot directly to Felinia's eyes and almost into her very soul.
"I don't need your pity," Glimmer snarled, before shrugging Felinia's hand off her shoulder and pushing forward. Felinia stood and watched Glimmer walk on, and grabbed at her own wrist, shrinking slightly.
"You okay?" Adora asked as she approached Felinia, who only gave a small nod. "Don't let it get to you. I think the droning noise is getting to her. How are you dealing with it?"
"I…" Felinia looked at Glimmer for a bit longer, before looking back to Adora. "I'm… actually doing okay. For some reason, this signal… isn't getting to me as much as I thought it would."
"Oh…" Adora spoke quietly, a tad bit of shock flowing through her body. She wasn't quite sure how to interpret Felinia's words, but she eventually gave a small smile. "I… guess that's good?"
"I suppose…" Felinia said, moving forward timidly as Adora looked to Catra for a few seconds, trying to judge Felinia's words and yet, reaching no conclusion.
It was no better the deeper they pushed. The island was empty and yet it only brought about misery and bitterness in the group as the signal droned on and on. Every now and then, Mara would point out a piece of First Ones tech she recognized and Bow would take it for himself to use or show Entrapta later on.
Eventually, after carefully avoiding all the sharp material and rusted buildings, they found a large row of cells on the main part of the island. The cells stretched on until it reached the other end of the island, and they climbed to five stories high. The cells were left outside, so the harsh weather would be all that the prisoners would have if they were vacant.
The cells were all isolated too. They had just enough space between them to make conversation with other prisoners nearly impossible. Opposite the cells was a large building that Adora assumed to be the HQ of Beast Island. It reached higher than the cells, and was topped with a spotlight.
As Catra looked to the empty cells, she had flashes of Entrapta locked in one of those horrible boxes. The bars were razor sharp and the bed was practically non-existent. The cell was designed to drive anyone crazy, and Catra had doomed her to a place like that.
"Hey. You okay?" Adora asked as she grabbed Catra's hand gently, noticing her fearful eyes as she looked at the cells.
"I…" Catra stuttered for a bit, before she let out a sigh. "I… sent Entrapta to a place like this… I knew it was horrible, but… It's so much worse than the tales we were told as kids. And I just… sent her to die…"
"Catra… Didn't Entrapta forgive you for that?" Adora asked as Catra grabbed both of her hands.
"That still doesn't change what I did… Who I was…" Catra mumbled, but Adora only responded by resting a hand on her cheek and tilting her head up, looking into her eyes.
"I know the past hurts a lot. But we're all here for you. I'm here for you. We forgave you, Catra. No one is holding your past against you anymore," Adora explained, stroking her thumb against Catra's cheek gently. Catra reached up and placed her hand over Adora's, sighing in comfort. "Besides… When Bow and I found Entrapta, she seemed almost the same as usual."
"Really?" Catra asked. Adora was hesitant to nod, considering it wasn't the entire truth.
"She… was definitely hurt, I think. But she never lost her drive for what she loved. I'm just glad we were able to get her out of here. She's really grown as a person ever since," Adora smiled. Catra held onto Adora's hand for a little longer, and kissed her palm.
"I'm going to go check out that huge building," Catra said, nodding to the HQ. "Thanks, Adora… I just needed someone to talk to. This place just brings out bad memories."
"Hopefully we won't be here for long," Adora comforted her. Catra gave Adora a quick kiss on the lips, before heading for the large spiral of stairs up to the top of HQ. She slowly gained a larger view of the island, but only found more land that she never wanted to explore.
At the top of the large structure, Catra found a room with working electronics. The first thing she noticed was a camera feed, showing all kinds of footage from the island. It was even capturing their ship docked at the south end of it. Catra could see everyone outside through the cameras.
She also had a few computers in front of her that seemed to control many aspects of the island. It was, after all, mostly connected through First Ones technology. It seemed the island could be put on high alert, or all the cell doors could be opened, or death traps could be activated.
"What've you found?" Catra heard Glimmer ask as she entered the room a bit after Catra.
"Some interesting stuff. Security cameras, operating systems…" Catra scanned the computer screens alongside Glimmer, until eventually, she found a long list on one of the computer screens. It was a lot of green text on a dark background.
"What's this?" Glimmer asked.
Catra scanned the list and read out a whole bunch of names. None of them were really recognizable, but the names were listed in alphabetical order. "Could it be…" Catra whispered to herself as she scanned the list in the E section.
Sure enough, Catra found Entrapta's name amongst the list. "These are all prisoners… Entrapta's name is here," Catra realized.
"You said that any prisoner who went to Beast Island never came back, right?" Glimmer asked Catra, and she nodded.
"It's what we're told in the Horde. So all of these names… They… must be dead people," Catra shivered. Each name was a story. An identity. All of it stripped away from this horrible island. Perhaps these people were innocent or only made one small mistake. They were locked in those isolated, cold cells to die in whatever way this cruel island decided.
"What've you two found up here?" A voice suddenly sounded as someone else climbed the stairs.
It was Felinia's voice.
Catra and Glimmer looked at each other for half a second with horror as they realized what could happen if Felinia saw these names. There were hundreds of them. All of them dead. And if Felinia saw them…
"DON'T COME IN!" Catra suddenly screamed, sprinting outside the room as her heart instantly shot up to lightning speed. She rounded the corner to see Felinia about to peer into the room. Her eyes met with her sister's, and the horror of the situation struck all at once.
In a moment of panic, Catra tackled Felinia to the ground, putting a hand over her eyes to prevent her from seeing anything. "What are you doing?! Catra?!" Felinia started yelling, struggling to get Catra off her.
Catra so desperately wanted to explain the situation, but she had no idea what could trigger Felinia's curse. Maybe the mere mention of the list would be enough. There was too much unknown variables and Catra simply had to struggle to keep Felinia down.
Soon enough, Felinia's screams weren't the only ones.
On the ground floor, Angella suddenly crumbled onto her knees and put her hands over her ears, screaming bloody murder, unlike anything Adora had ever heard. She screamed without reason, her eyes shot wide and terrified.
At the same time, Mara pulled at her own hair and fell to the ground, curling up into a ball as she started to shake all over, becoming a haunted mess. Felinia's curse started to affect them as she panicked without any sense of reason.
"Let me go! Let me go, please!" Felinia begged as Catra continued to keep a hand over her sister's eyes. Her cries, combined with the horrifying screams of the powerful Angella and Mara, were enough to drive fear into anyone nearby. Catra especially.
"It's a list!" Glimmer suddenly yelled. Catra looked at her with wide eyes, frightened that those words might have been enough to trigger Felinia's curse. But eventually, Felinia's panicked movements stopped, as did Mara and Angella's screams.
"A list…" Felinia whispered to herself. Slowly, Catra took her eyes away from Felinia as she stood up. "A list of names?"
Slowly, Catra nodded, her heart still racing at the thought of hundreds upon hundreds of Beast Island prisoners coming back as clones. But eventually, Felinia shook her head and whispered. "That's… That's okay…"
"That's okay? What do you mean?" Catra asked.
"They won't come back," Felinia whispered to Catra, quiet enough so that Glimmer couldn't hear. Catra stared with wide eyes at her sister as she said those words, and Felinia recognized the confusion. She grabbed Catra's wrist and pulled her downstairs to a location isolated from everyone else.
"Felinia, what is going on? Why do you seem so calm now?" Catra asked as she followed Felinia to a secure spot.
"That list won't do anything to trigger my curse," Felinia explained as she stood far away from the group. "I've never had clones come back from reading names. I read books all the time and I've never had someone come back from that."
"But… you said…"
"I know I said to you that reading a name triggers the curse when we first met a few days ago. That…" Felinia smirks a bit. "That was just a lie."
"A… lie?" Catra was baffled.
"In truth, I think the curse works by bringing back a clone that represents that person's memories of them. It's only a theory, of course. But what we see as Mara is, let's say, Adora's version of Mara, since I heard about Mara from her. It might not be completely accurate to who Mara really is, but it's accurate to what Adora's memories of Mara is. Again, that's just my assumption. I have had clones say irregular stuff that couldn't be possible from that person's memories… But I think memories have to play a part in forming a clone at the very least. Maybe the clone draws on memories of everyone around them? I still haven't figured it out really," Felinia explained.
Catra could only stand in silence at this revelation. She purely had no idea what to say.
"In short, I can't draw on memories from a text because… Well, texts don't have memories. It's just as simple as that. I assume clones draw on memories of real people," Felinia smiled. "But let's just keep that between you and me, okay?"
Felinia had never acted like this. This sudden confidence, even the sly smile… It almost reminded Catra of herself. Of who she used to be. "Why would you… lie about something like that…?" Catra asked.
As she said those words, Felinia's smile slowly faded. "Isn't it obvious? If we keep some information to ourselves, we get somewhat of an advantage over these people," Felinia explained. "Come on, Catra. I know you understand. It was the same with mom. We all hate being sidekicks. We all hate being second best."
Catra felt her heart drop.
"I think it just runs in our blood. Being underneath someone… It's not us. Mom hated being beneath the Horde. I was always a bit more tame… But even I have my limits. So, I have this little bit of information over the rest of them. I'm not completely under them, so to speak. It's just a bit of a white lie, really," Felinia chuckled. "Haven't you had those moments in your life? Those times where you just hate being considered powerless?"
Catra could only stare at Felinia in horror. She hated the fact that Felinia was right about her assumption of her. Her confession had driven Catra into a state of absolute confusion, but soon enough, it was overcome with anger as she glared at her sister. "What… is wrong with you?" Catra seethed.
"Catra…?" Felinia spoke quietly, her form shrinking yet again under Catra's glare.
"You lied to my friends! All for what, some dumb, non-existent power?! Felinia, you freaked us out there! This isn't some game or hierarchy that you need to come out on top of!" Catra growled, putting a hand on Felinia's shoulder and shoving her against a nearby wall.
"I'm not trying to come out on top, I just… don't want to be seen as completely powerless…" Felinia mumbled. "I thought you'd understand…"
"I understand that isolation has probably driven you crazy. News flash! Most people don't do this!" Catra berated her sister, before letting out a sigh of frustration as she let go of Felinia. "Look… When we get back to Bright Moon tonight, you're going to have to explain this to everyone. No more half truths. No more power structure. We're all equal here, and I don't want you trying to gain the upper hand on anyone."
"But…" Felinia started, but soon stopped herself as she looked at Catra. She looked at her sister, almost enraged, and eventually, Felinia sighed. "Right. I'm sorry."
Catra shook her head, and left Felinia, going back upstairs. She felt anger and confusion at Felinia's actions, but most of all, she felt reminded of her past self in the worst ways. Just the way Felinia looked was enough to trigger those memories, and now she had to act like this?
Catra sighed as she entered HQ to see Glimmer looking at the security footage. "Anything interesting?" She asked.
"Nothing good," Glimmer said. "The cameras on the lower floor show a bunch of monsters. More than I can count. I assume these are the same ones Adora and Bow had to fight when they rescued Entrapta."
Catra looked at the footage, and sure enough, creatures, both large and small, inhabited the underbelly of Beast Island. None of them looked friendly either.
"What do you think we should do?" Bow asked as he entered along with everyone else except Felinia, overhearing Glimmer and Catra's conversation. Mara and Angella looked clearly upset by their actions earlier which were out of their control.
"I… I think this island is beyond saving. There's so much horror here…" Glimmer admitted. "Mara, what do you think? Anything useful?"
"Like I said, these are all scrapped projects and materials. I doubt you could find use for them," Mara explained. Glimmer lowered her head in deep thought, closing her eyes for a few seconds, before eventually, making eye contact with Bow.
"I think we need to destroy this place."
"Are you sure?" Bow asked.
"This signal… These cells… What way could we repurpose any of this? This island isn't helping any of us… It's just a harsh reminder of what used to be. A place of trauma," Glimmer explained. "To add onto that, the lower levels filled with monsters is dangerous. I don't want anyone stumbling on this place and getting hurt."
Bow looked to Glimmer and nodded. He always knew she had the right thing in mind, and he agreed with her this time. He went over to the computers and checked the system. After a few seconds, Bow nodded to himself. "Destroying this place might not be so hard, too. If I can overload the system with a bunch of commands, I think it might cause a chain reaction that'll lead to an explosion. This place is built entirely on tech, so if we stress that tech out, it'll combust."
"Can you do it in a way where all of us will be safe?" Glimmer asked.
"I can give us… a few minutes at most. We'll have to run once I input an overload command," Bow explained. Everyone looked to each other, and exchanged understanding nods.
"The only fate this place deserves is the bottom of the ocean. I'll say good riddance," Catra scowled. She took a second to look outside to spot Felinia, who was still standing in the same place as when Catra scolded her. Catra sighed, knowing her words must've hurt her sister.
"Anything else anyone needs to do before I launch this?" Bow asked. Glimmer shook her head, and everyone else was in unison.
"Blow this place sky high," Glimmer grinned.
And so, Bow launched the command.
The group had a few minutes to run down the stairs and towards the ship. It wasn't a long hike thankfully, but Catra had to make a quick stop for Felinia as everyone else ran on ahead. "We're destroying this place. You've got to hurry," Catra explained, grabbing Felinia's wrist.
But Felinia refused to move.
Catra tugged at her wrist but Felinia simply had a blank look on her face. "What are you doing?!" Catra cried, and Felinia simply looked up into Catra's eyes without a hint of panic on her face. Instead, she just looked betrayed.
"Are you even my sister…?" Felinia asked in a soft voice.
"What the… Felinia, come on!" Catra yelled, finally pulling Felinia and running towards the ship frantically. She practically had to drag her sister the whole way, who wasn't very good at pulling her own weight as they approached the ship, which was already taking off.
Catra pulled Felinia onboard just as Mara began to fly away from Beast Island. Everyone took a few seconds to look back at the island as it grew smaller and smaller, until eventually, it grew too small to see.
"You sure whatever you did worked?" Glimmer asked Bow, and right on cue, a small vibration shook the ship around slightly as an explosion occurred in the far off distance.
"Yeah… I'm pretty sure," Bow said after the vibrations ceased. For the first time in a while, everyone was able to take a breath. The signal no longer droning in their minds, and an island that could no longer bring harm to them. Beast Island would remain in their memories, and nothing more.
But Felinia did not share that relief. She brought her knees up to her chest as she sat in a far corner and looked at each person on that ship. She felt isolated. She felt alone.
Felinia was afraid of the people around her.