AN: Please note that previous chapters have been lightly edited, but that doesn't change the story at all. You don't need to reread anything (unless you want to) to understand the story from here on in.
More role-swapped characters are revealed in this chapter! It may not be who you were expecting and I'm hoping to shock some of you guys. You're hard to surprise. We've known for a while that multiple people who were part of the Horde aren't in this AU, but the last of these reveals should be here.
Before we begin, a quick shoutout to Rymu who inadvertently predicted this entire chapter less than an hour after I finished it. They may be psychic.
Enjoy!
Adora stood over the cliff, looking down at Catra with contempt.
"You broke our promise, Catra." She tilted her head, taking in her friend's predicament.
"Adora! Help me up!" Catra yelled, her grip slowly slipping. Adora knelt by her hand, leaning on her staff. "
"Making demands, are we? Someone's ego has taken a recent boast."
"Why? Why are you doing this?"
"We said as long as we stayed together, they couldn't do anything bad to us. And then you left me, and look what happened. Look where you ended up." Adora studied Catra's predicament with a distant fascination.
"I never meant to leave you behind!"
"Don't lie to me!" Adora slammed her staff into Catra's left hand, loosening the latter's grip and leaving her dangling by a single hand. "You've always been jealous, just waiting to get out of my shadow! Admit it!"
"I…. I…."
"Didn't even say goodbye. What a lousy friend." Adora shook her head as Catra dug in her claws, the cliff coming loose under her grip.
"This isn't who you are! You help people! Help me, please!" Catra pleaded.
"You still think you're a person to me?" Adora chuckled, standing up. "You're a Beast, just some animal I decided to let in from the cold because I was lonely. And then you had to go and bite the hand that feeds you? I'll show you what happens when you undercut your betters." She grabbed Catra by the wrist just as Catra lost her grip. The Magicat dangled over the abyss with nothing but her bitter ex-friend keeping her alive.
"Adora…. I…."
"What? Sorry now? It's a little late for that."
"Please-"
"Shadow Weaver was right about you. The best thing you ever did was serve as a sheath for my knife!"
Adora let go, and Catra tumbled into the darkness screaming.
"Catra!" Catra's eyes flew open to see the concerned face of Arachnia standing over her. She yelped and tried to shift away but immediately felt the stabbing pain in her chest. "Stay still, now." Arachnia persuaded, backing up slightly. Catra settled back into her bed and tried to follow the queen's advice.
"Your Majesty, what are you doing here?" she croaked, her voice raspy.
"Your monitors went off. I was worried." Arachnia said, glancing at a piece of tech by Catra's bed. "Your heart rate is very high. Were you dreaming?"
"Yeah. A nightmare." Catra admitted.
"It's alright now. I must admit, I'm thrilled to see you awake. The whole kingdom has been worried."
"How long was I out?"
"Six days."
"Six days?" Catra repeated, shocked.
"Your body was recovering. Magicats have excellent healing abilities, but such a wound was a stretch for you to handle alone. Luckily, a few of our healers helped you along, and Entrapta set up a few monitoring devices for us when she returned." Arachnia explained, relief clear on her face now that the shock of Catra's sudden wake-up had worn off.
"Entrapta was gone?" Catra frowned. "Did she and Scorpia go on a mission without me?"
"Not exactly. You see, Catra-"
"My Liege!" the door was thrown open and Octavia burst in. Catra's tail flicked in annoyance. This couldn't be good.
"Yes, Captain?" Arachnia asked.
"A beast has been spotted on the castle grounds, My Liege." Octavia warned.
"Octavia, we do not use such derogatory language." Arachnia chided firmly.
"No, I mean-"
"It's coming!" Someone shouted from down the hall.
"An animal has invaded, ma'am! An unnatural one." Octavia looked toward the voice and went wide-eyed, hefting her spear. "Begone, creature!" she yelled, thrusting her spear and disappearing from the doorway.
"What on Etheria….." The queen left Catra's bedside and readied herself for battle, eyes glowing with power.
"Get back here!" Octavia shouted from the hall before a giant cat burst into the room, covered in small scratches.
"By the Black Garnet, I strike!" Arachnia growled, leveling her pincer at the cat while it bounded toward the bed.
"Wait!" Catra shrieked, and the queen faltered long enough for the animal to knock her over. However, as it reached the bed, it skidded to a stop, towering over Catra's bedridden form.
"Get away from her!" Arachnia prepared to strike again before Catra held up her hand. The cat nuzzled against the outstretched hand, and the queen dropped her defensive stance.
"I know this cat." Catra explained quickly as the enormous animal licked her hand, its tongue as big as her palm. "I kinda…. made it."
"What?"
"I was really nervous on my first day here, and then this cat showed up, but I couldn't use my powers, so I accidentally zapped it and made it big. And green, for some reason. But, like I said, it was an accident." She elaborated.
"That was no accident! It was fate!" The cat spoke up. Both women's jaws dropped.
"You can talk?" Catra demanded, recovering quicker than the queen.
"As of recently, yes." It agreed.
"I didn't think cats could talk." Catra mused.
"You can talk, can't you?" The cat challenged.
"Eh, that's fair."
"This is extremely unprecedented." Arachnia muttered, still slightly in shock. "There's a talking cat in my castle. How odd."
"I am Clawdeen." the cat pulled away from Catra's petting and introduced herself to the queen. "I have come to aid the Rebellion and serve as She-Ra's mighty steed."
"Took a vacation to annoy Mermista, though, right?" Catra chuckled, remembering how aggravated the sea Princess had been at the Ball.
"Yes, well, I was hungry and finally big enough to make it past the farmers." The steed cleared her throat and looked down at the ground. If a cat could blush, Clawdeen would be bright red. "Once I realized you were in distress, I made my way here. I must admit, the security around this place isn't great, but it worked to my advantage."
"They weren't expecting a talking cat. A talking cat." Arachnia scratched her chin. "What an oddity."
"Is she okay?" Clawdeen asked.
"Probably. She's seen weirder. She runs this place." Catra shrugged.
"Oh! Your Majesty!" Clawdeen ducks her head and goes into a bow, folding her front two legs under herself.
"No need for that. A friend of Catra's is a friend to the Rebellion." Arachnia waved off the cat's formalities. She seemed to have mostly recovered.
"Nobody's been mauled to death in here?" Octavia reappeared in the doorway. Her helmet was hanging off her head and she had a growing bruise on one of her legs but otherwise seemed fine.
"You could have checked earlier. If we were in danger, we'd be dead now." Catra rolled her eyes. Octavia growled.
"I wasn't talking to you, kitty. I was talking to the queen, not some kid who got stabbed by her ex, the psychopath."
Catra hissed and tried to push herself up but Clawdeen jumped onto her chest, carefully avoiding her wound. "She's not my-"
"Octavia, those statements were completely unprofessional for someone of your station." Arachnia reprimanded, cutting off Catra. "Apologize immediately."
"Sorry you got stabbed, kid. Stay dead next time." And then she disappeared from the doorway.
"I am going to have such a talk with her later." Arachnia fumed. "I apologize for her behavior, Catra, that was uncalled for."
"What did she mean when she said stay dead?" Catra ignored most of Octavia's words. The Captain of the Guard had hated her with an irrational fury since she arrived.
"Oh, um…." The queen swallowed hard and rubbed her arm with her pincer.
"You were dead, Catra. Your heart stopped. For a while, too." Clawdeen said lowly, still laying on Catra's chest.
"I was dead?! Next time, lead with that!" Catra exploded. "How did you even know if you were off tormenting the fish farmers."
"Our sacred bond, of course."
"Our what?"
"I'll leave you two alone for a moment while I alert the Alliance you've awoken. I'm glad you're doing well, Catra." Arachnia excused herself and swept out of the room with the grace befitting a queen. Scorpia was definitely going to have to become more graceful before she took over.
"We have much to discuss." Clawdeen got off Catra and sat down at the head of her bed, far enough to respect Catra's space but close enough for easy conversation.
"Why are you here now? Why not during any of my earlier missions?" Catra adjusted herself slightly, still laying down but with her head elevated so Clawdeen wasn't looking down on her.
"Well, as I said, I've been exploring the limits of my powers and growing used to my new form. It's not every day one wakes up and finds out they can talk." Clawdeen shrugged. "But mostly, it was because I wasn't sure you needed a steed at all. You made me on accident and seemed to be doing well on your own. I figured we might both be better off on our own."
"And then you changed your mind, I assume?"
"One night a little under a week ago, I got this…. sense that I was needed somewhere. I just ran, following my instincts, when our bond broke. It was debilitating. I'd never even felt it before, but the loss was overpowering." Clawdeen's expression was pained. "I just laid down in the middle of the Woods and couldn't get up again. Until a day later, when the bond reforged itself, just as strong as before. That's when I knew I had to come find you. We're not supposed to be apart."
"You were right, though. No offense, but you were an accident, Clawdeen. I thought you'd go back to being a regular cat. I didn't mean to cause this." Catra felt bad having caused the innocent animal pain. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, after all.
"It's alright. I want to accept this life instead of ignoring it. We are supposed to work together." Clawdeen pressed.
"How would we even do that?"
"Wherever you need to go, I can take you. When you need help in battle, I can aid you. All I would need in return is food and the occasional head scratch."
"That doesn't seem like a fair deal to you."
"Some friends in exchange for helping save the world? Isn't this the same gig you've convinced yourself is going on here?" Clawdeen raised an eyebrow and Catra growled.
"My situation is a little different. Besides, I know that's not how this is."
"We're connected, remember. I sense your doubts. Your fears."
"Well keep my fears to yourself, please. I don't need you gossiping about me."
"Oh, I would never. I abide by hero-stead confidentiality." Clawdeen swore. "But, if I could offer a bit of advice-"
"Must you?"
"You're going to have to face her again." Catra paled at the cat's words.
"Don't, Clawdeen." She warned.
"But you are afraid-"
"Clawdeen…"
"Of how deep she's gone. How far she'll go-"
"Clawdeen!"
"You think she'll-"
"Shut up!" Catra exploded. Clawdeen folded her ears back and hung her head.
"I'm sorry. I was trying to help."
"You were doing a terrible job! When I tell you to stop, you have to stop." Catra put her face in her hands. "But…. I shouldn't have yelled at you."
"Thanks." Clawdeen perked up slightly. "I'm new to this job and to complex thought processes in general. I'm hardly used to my own ideas and thoughts, let alone trying to help you with yours. I hope you'll forgive my beginner's blunders."
"I don't really need a therapist cat, but I'm glad you're exploring your new abilities. We'll need them to defeat the Horde."
"Really?" Clawdeen asked excitedly.
"You seem nice enough and the Rebellion always needs more members. Besides, having another cat around will be fun. We could steal fish from the kitchen together." Catra grinned.
"Not to brag, but I've become a champ in the best few months." Clawdeen challenged playfully.
"Oh, when I can stand up again, it's on."
Someone knocked on the door and didn't bother waiting for a response before coming in.
"Catra!" Scorpia poked her head in.
"Scorpia, remember what we said about knocking?" Catra sighed.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry. We're all just super excited you're awake!" she paused. "Wait, is that a giant cat?"
"What do you mean 'we'?"
"She means the rest of us." Entrapta's voice came from behind the door.
"Yes, but- oh, never mind." Catra cut herself off. Scorpia came into the room and the entire Alliance, plus Sea Hawk who was basically an honorary member, shuffled in. As soon as they saw her, everyone started talking at once.
"Great, She-Ra's not dead." Mermista deadpanned. "Wait, is that the cat that attacked my hatcheries?"
"Catra, I'm so glad you're alright!" Perfuma beamed.
"You were right; this Alliance-stuff isn't so bad. I got to punch so many people earlier!" Frosta yelled.
"The monitor seems to be functioning normally, though the heart rate seems to be slightly exaggerated. Maybe if I switched out the electrodes…" Entrapta mused.
"Catra, how was your adventure in unconsciousness?" Sea Hawk asked excitedly.
"Okay, one at a time, please!" Catra ordered, causing the noise to die down.
"How are you feeling?" Scorpia went first.
"Like I was stabbed."
"Well, there's good reason for that." Sea Hawk nodded as though he had solved the problem.
"What do you remember?" Scorpia ignored him.
"I was dancing with Adora, and we were just talking. But, then she started acting really squirrely, and I felt this sharp pain in my stomach. Then I woke up." Catra didn't bother with her dreams.
"How are you processing that?" Perfuma asked, concerned.
"Getting killed by my old best friend? I should have known it would happen eventually. We made our decisions and went separate ways months ago." Catra sighed. She knew Adora was there for nefarious reasons. She just never thought an assassination, let alone her own assassination, was the goal.
A small part of Catra couldn't believe Adora would ever raise a hand against her when there was actual danger, but a larger part of her knew that she would do anything the Horde told her to. She believed that Adora saw herself as the good guy and she would do whatever it takes to "save the planet," even at Catra's expense.
Catra always knew that Adora would pick her duty over her. She never thought it would put them on opposite sides.
"You can talk to me if you need to." Perfuma insisted.
"I'm fine, but thank you." Catra brushed the offer aside. "All of you."
"You're welcome!" Entrapta grinned. "When Scorpia told me that you were hurt, I was worried. I felt anxious the entire way back from the Fright Zone."
"Wait, what?"
…..
The Alliance did their best to explain, but after a long period of everyone talking over each other with varying versions of the story, Scorpia politely kicked everybody out. With just her, Clawdeen, and Entrapta left, the mission recounting was a lot smoother. Perfuma hung around too and refused to leave because she insisted Catra needed a comforting presence to deal with her trauma. Catra didn't bother arguing with her.
"I'm sorry you guys had to go to the Fright Zone without me. That place can be a pain to navigate if you didn't grow up there." Catra said.
"We did alright. Not too bad for our first Alliance mission." Scorpia beamed.
"It got a little chaotic, but with proper team building, we'll be able to harmonize much easier." Perfuma agreed.
"Good, I was worried our auras wouldn't blend well." Catra smirked.
"You joke, but it is a real concern." Perfuma said evenly, clasping her hands together.
"Right."
"Anyway, to summarize, the Fright Zone mission was a rough but successful one." Scorpia mediated, wrapping an arm around Perfuma's waist unconsciously. Perfuma relaxed into the grip, and Catra smiled slightly. At least one good thing came from that terrible night, aside from Frosta's change of heart.
"I'm just glad I met Emily." Entrapta says fondly.
"I can't believe Scorpia let you steal a Horde bot." Catra deadpanned.
"I didn't let her do anything. She's a grown woman. She can do whatever she wants if it's not a crime." Scorpia defended.
"Stealing is a crime, you know."
"Not from the Horde. We're at war, Catra, I can steal things if it's from the enemy." Entrapta said perkily.
"That's terrible logic. I love it."
"We liberated Emily." Perfuma reframed.
"Actually, I think we were supposed to." Entrapta added, fishing for her trackerpad. When she pulled it out, Catra frowned.
"What happened to your usual pad?"
"It's somewhere in the Fright Zone. Some tall guy with no midriff protection confiscated it." she explained dismissively. "This is my backup."
"Oh."
"I looked through Emily's program and she had a huge cache of sensitive data in her files. I think we were supposed to take her with us."
"You think someone in the Horde wanted us to steal their secrets." Catra frowned.
"We have a spy."
"We do?" Catra looked to Scorpia.
"Off the records, yes." She admitted. "But we don't talk about it. They're an official Horde member instead of someone we planted as a spy, so not technically a part of the Rebellion, so all we have to go on is the codename they've provided."
"How can you trust them, then?" Catra questioned.
"We didn't at first. A few decades ago, information started showing up on Horde servers we had hacked. No one knew what to think. After a while, General Grizzlor started sending small battalions to check the validity of the intel, and it was always good." Scorpia shrugged, moving her arm away from Perfuma. "All they ask is that we never look into their identity so they don't risk exposure."
"This seems very fishy." Catra folded her arms. "In a bad way."
"I trust Grizzlor, and he trusts this spy." Scorpia said definitively. "He and his boyfriend basically raised me when I was little. Cobalt taught me to fight when he wasn't training the cadets, Grizzlor told me war stories, even Octavia pitched in sometimes."
"This is Octavia we're talking about."
"She's not that bad. She just doesn't like you."
"She seemed mean to me." Clawdeen piped up from where she was lying next to the bed. Catra got startled a little. She'd almost forgotten the cat was there.
"She doesn't like cats." Scorpia reasoned. "She lost her eye to a Magicat kitten when she was stationed in their village."
"What'd she do? Steal its candy?" Catra chuckled.
"Who knows. But she's still bitter about and maybe a little scared of you."
"I doubt she's scared of me right now. I'm bedridden."
"Just try to be nice to her, please? For me?" Scorpia's eyes sparkled, and she made the face that Catra didn't have the willpower to resist. Catra sighed.
"Fine. But Octavia is losing the other eye if she calls Adora 'my ex' ever again."
"Wait, weren't you two dating?" Perfuma wondered.
"She stabbed me; what do you think?"
"I've considered stabbing an ex." Perfuma said flippantly. "Breakups can be difficult."
"It wasn't a breakup because we weren't dating!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! We were just friends. We hung out together all the time, told each other secrets, hugged a lot…. slept together….. wait, we were dating!" Catra yelled, trying to sit up again. Scorpia pushed her back down. "I don't believe this!"
"Did you really not know?" Entrapta asked. "It seemed like the obvious conclusion based on what you told us about this girl."
"Oh," Catra covered her face with her hands. "This is so embarrassing."
"It's fine, Catra. She's very attractive." Perfuma assured her.
"Please be quiet."
"Do you still like her?" Scorpia worried.
"No, I don't-" Catra cut herself off. "I'm not-" another deep breath. "We were close, but Adora tried to kill me. Clearly, our relationship didn't mean as much to her as it did to me."
"It's hard when a relationship falls apart, especially so integral to your life growing up." Perfuma offered.
"It's fine, Perfuma. Don't therapize me." Catra held back a growl. This was about the last thing she wanted to talk about after coming out of a coma an hour ago.
"Wildcat, it isn't healthy to repress dealing with complicated emotions." Scorpia said.
"If you're going to press this, I'd like you to leave." Catra did growl that time.
"But-"
"I don't want to talk about this. Please leave."
"Okay." Perfuma stood up first and pulled Scorpia to her feet. "We'll go. You need your space."
"Perfuma…."
"Out." Perfuma lightly shuffled Scorpia out the door with Entrapta close behind before she turned back to Catra.
"If you won't deal with your emotional pain, at least deal with the physical pain." She pulled a small bag out of her dress and tossed it onto Catra's bed. When the Magicat picked it and sniffed it, she felt her eyes dilate.
"Whoa…."
"Be responsible. That's catnip." She winked and disappeared before closing the door behind her.
"That stuff smells amazing." Clawdeen sat up and stuck her nose in the bag.
"Hey! This is for stab-victims only." Catra held it away at arm's length and Clawdeen sighed.
"Alright, alright."
"Are you going to go too? Surely there's a better place for you to stay than in my room."
"What, like the stables?" Clawdeen raised an eyebrow.
"Fair."
"Besides, we do have one last matter to discuss."
"If one more person brings up my repressed trauma, I will throw a fit." Catra threatened.
"That's not where I was going, but noted."
"Good."
"Catra, there was a reason I took so long, aside from hunger." Clawdeen offered. "I was checking up on Razz." Oh. Not what Catra was expecting.
"How is she?"
"She's anxious. Kept going on about how 'this wasn't supposed to happen' and things like that. It was pretty incomprehensible, but she said that once I found you, I had to tell you to meet her in the forest. She can help you heal and get back into the fray."
"Really?" Catra wanted nothing more than to be well again. She feared what the Rebellion would think of their She-Ra being out of action for a long time.
"Razz said to take the Sword and head into the Woods as soon as you can. There, you will find what you're looking for."
"Those were her words?"
"She called you 'Adora' the entire time. I don't think we should be looking too deeply into the way she words things." Clawdeen shrugged.
"You're right, you're right." Catra nodded. With difficulty, she sat up. It would be some time before she could stand, let alone walk. Hopefully, Razz's miracle cure could wait that long. "So when do you think we should go?"
"There's unfortunately no 'we' on this mission. Razz was quite clear that you have to go alone." Clawdeen said sadly.
"I see. Thank you, still."
"You're welcome. Happy to be on the team, even though I guess I won't be doing much for a while." Clawdeen grinned.
"You can help the Alliance out on missions." Catra offered. "Since it seems I'll be out of commission for some time, they'll need to get their cat power from somewhere else."
"Oh, I can bring the power. I bet the Horde doesn't have any defenses designed for tigers!" Clawdeen paced around the room excitedly.
"Why don't you go tell Scorpia that you can go with her on the next mission?"
"Can do! And on my way back, I can grab you a fish kebab."
"Wow, you really can read my mind." Catra grinned back.
"I'll be back!" Clawdeen scampered out the door and shut it with her hind leg.
Catra let her smile melt as she settled back to laying down. She sighed, looking down at the thick bandages under the layers of blankets covering her. What could she do? She couldn't just wait around for somewhere to replace her. There was nowhere else to go.
She needed to do something, and soon.
"Can't wait."
AN: Octavia, Grizzlor, and Cobalt are officially Rebellion members! Special thanks to "bishonerockmysocks" on Tumblr for their excellent headcanons on these three that inspired the reveal. I'm on Tumblr, as I've mentioned a few times, so check me out at "chippedcat" if you get a chance to see headcanons, fanart by awesome artists, and previews of upcoming chapters and projects.
Hope you like this story and please leave me some love if you can. See everybody next week! That chapter is going to be pretty lore-filled and I'm excited for it.