CHAPTER XXXIV: HALFMOON
Fire was all around her…
She could see her red dress…
The one who took Katrina's life was carrying her…
She watched over her shoulder and stared as the village grow more and more distant…
They had reached a hill…
The fire was almost out of sight when her eyes focused on a figure…
A man in a silver armor…
His blue eyes met her mismatched ones…
He took a step towards her…
But then he hesitated…
He crouched to the ground…
The wails of an infant… her wails… resonated through the night air…
The man turned and ran away…
He left her… left her to cry…
The village burned…
Everything disappeared behind the hill…
Everything.
͠
"Don't leave me!" Catra screamed as she woke up.
She found herself sitting on a soft blanket… her arm outstretched towards nothing. She was breathing hard and only after a few moments she realized that her cheeks were wet with tears. Catra grunted in anger as she quickly wiped them away with the palms of her hands.
"What is wrong with me… why am I seeing this…" The feline muttered.
"Katrina! You're awake!"
The feline yelped and jumped on her feet. A mistake she realized she had made a little bit too late. Everything hurt. But why did everything… Suddenly, Catra remembered. Hordak escaping Bright Moon, taking Ivy with him… the spaceship teleporting him away and attacking them soon after… Ivy! Adora! Glimmer, Bow and Frosta! Where-
"Are you alright deary?"
The voice suddenly pulled Catra out of her thoughts and the feline jumped away, yelping in pain as she fell ungracefully on the ground. Her mismatched finally focused on the one who had just spoke. It was an old lady, with long, white hair. She wore a pink dress and a pair of yellow glasses. She started to step closer to the feline who hissed and crawled back.
"S-stay away from me!" Catra growled, claws half drawn.
"Don't you recognize me Katrina? It's me! Madame Razz!" The old lady didn't look scared by Catra's warning.
Suddenly, the feline's expression went from angered to confused.
"Where… where did you hear that name?" Catra asked, her voice turning shaky.
"That name?" Madame Razz tilted her head to the side before howling with laughter, "Silly Katrina! It is yours!"
Catra remained baffled for a moment before she snarled and stood up from the ground.
"You're not making any sense, but I don't care, I gotta find-"
"Your friends?" The old lady concluded her phrase.
The feline's eyes widened.
"H-how do you-"
"They're here!" Madame Razz stepped aside, showing Catra the rest of her home.
A few covers had been sprawled all over the ground, and a few figures were laying on them. The feline recognized them immediately. Glimmer, Bow, Frosta and Ivy. Even Adora's dumb horse, what was his name again? Swifty?
"They were a little roughed up, but nothing that Madame Razz couldn't fix! They have to rest… but after that, they'll be good as new!"
Catra's expression softened.
"You… healed them?" She asked.
"Of course! They're Mara's friends!"
Mara…
"Who's friends?" Catra asked, once again confused by the old woman's words.
"She-Ra!"
"You mean… Adora?" The feline asked, suddenly noticing the blonde's absence.
"Adora… Adora… oh! Adora! Yes!" Madame Razz suddenly looked like she had just remembered something, "Katrina! You have to go and save her!"
"S-save her? Where is she?" Catra's voice came out laced with panic.
"The ship took her! I wasn't fast enough…"
"Adora…" Catra muttered, eyes wide, gaze set on the floor.
She couldn't protect her… she couldn't protect Adora. After everything that had happened between the two of them, after all the pain they had inflicted to each other… after everything they had been through… the universe still gave them the chance to be together. Catra loved Adora, she was tired of hiding it, of denying it. Adora loved her… she was sure of it. And Prime… Prime made the fatal mistake of standing between them. He wasn't going to take Adora from her… Catra would have ripped her out of his cold, dead hands…
"I need to go… please watch over them while I'm gone." The feline declared, before a hand grasped her wrist.
"But Katrina! How are you going to save Adora if you don't have your crown?" Madame Razz asked.
Her… crown?
"Listen old lady, I don't know who this Katrina is supposed to be or why do you think that I'm her, but my name is Catra, and I don't have any crown so-" Catra yelped as the old lady dragged her outside, interrupting her.
"Oh! Madame Razz knows where it is! You must have forgotten it at home, didn't you?"
The feline groaned. What was Madame Razz talking about? Why did she know the name of the woman of her dreams? Why did she call her by her name? What was this crown she was blabbering about? And where was she taking her?!
"Listen lady, I need to- woah!" Catra yelped as she ducked under a branch.
She didn't realize that they had begun to run, and pretty fast too. How was this old lady dragging her at such a speed?
"I need to go and save Adora!"
"You won't save her if don't have your crown! The runestones are powerful, but not enough to defeat the Great Shadow Above! Only She-Ra and her most powerful ally can hope to banish him!" Madame Razz tried to explain.
It made Catra even more confused.
"Her most powerful ally?! A-are you talking about me?!"
"Of course! The Queen of the Magicats have always been destined to bring peace to the universe alongside She-Ra! Or… have they already done it? Bah! Who knows!" The old lady giggled.
"Q-Queen of w-what?! Alright, that's enough!" Catra declared as she untangled herself from Razz's grip. "You're not making any sense! I-I'm not a queen or a princess or anything like that! I grew up in the Horde!"
Madame Razz stared at her for a few moments before turning around and starting to wipe the forest's ground with her broom.
"Wha… are you listening to me?!" The feline walked up to the old lady and gripped her shoulders, "Adora could be hurt right now! Prime could be doing who knows what to her and I…" Catra suddenly felt tears starting to stream down her cheeks, "I love her… and I need to be there for her… please…"
The old lady reached up and brushed the feline's tears away with her thumbs.
"Oh… oh, dear Catra… I didn't recognize you… but I see you now. You've been… seeing things, right? In your dreams…"
Catra's eyes widened in surprise.
"H-how do you know?"
"I can't tell you who you are, deary, but I can show you where you'll be able to know… where you'll be able to remember." Madame Razz took a step backwards.
Suddenly, Catra's eyes fell on the ground that Razz had just wiped with her broom. Where there was once dirt… now the feline could see a large, circular platform made of stone. It had strange symbols engraved in it and… tall, thin figures with long manes and… ears that looked exactly like hers.
The figures were all kneeling in front of a figure that stood in the center of the platform. It was just like them but… much, much larger. The figure stood on four legs and looked more bestial than the other ones. But what surprised Catra the most was her crown…
The same crown Katrina wore in her dreams…
It looked like…
Her mask…
"What… what is this?" Catra asked as she turned towards Madame Razz, who had begun to walk away.
The old lady turned her head and smiled.
"Your home. Face whatever awaits you down there deary… and you'll have the power to save the one you love."
And just like that, Madame Razz walked away. Catra tried to call out for her but she was already gone, too far into the woods to hear the feline calling. Catra gulped and turned towards the stone platform. It was strange but… it was almost as if she felt like all of her dreams had been trying to guide her here. Home… as Madame Razz called it. Catra didn't know what she was going to find wherever the old lady had brought her… but she had saved both her and her friends… and the feline decided to trust her.
Whatever was down there…
Whatever power Madame Razz was talking about…
It would have helped Catra save Adora…
That's all that mattered.
The feline took a deep breath and stepped over the platform. Everything seemed to go quiet for a moment… then… the platform began to vibrate… and to descend underground. Catra gulped as she was brought lower and lower into the ground, until the light above her completely disappeared.
She always hated darkness… it would remind her of Shadow Weaver… and the times she had locked her up into that old, malodourous storage room near the cadets' barracks. But right now… Catra felt a strange sense of ease pervading her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and suddenly, after what felt like an eternity… the platform stopped.
A dim light appeared in front of her, then another, then another one. A trail of small flames lit up a small pathway. Catra looked around and found out that the platform had brought her into a cave. The path in front of her seemed the only way out.
"For Adora…" Catra muttered, as she began to follow the trail of lights.
Step after step, the feline began to wonder if the path the lights were guiding her on would have ever come to an end. It was far too quiet around her, and Catra didn't like it one bit. It made her thoughts unbearably loud, impossible not to listen to.
"If you were stronger, Adora would be here with you."
"You're walking this path alone."
"Just like you've always done… just like you'll always be."
"You don't even know who you are."
The thoughts got louder and louder as time went by. Catra covered her ears, gritting her teeth as she kept walking the path in front of her. It was exactly when the feline thought there would be no end to the gallery she was stuck in… that finally she saw it. A brighter light coming from a small hole at the end of the rocky road.
She began to run towards it, the booming voice inside her head growing weaker as she got closer to the hole. Then, finally, she reached it. Catra had to crouch to slide through the gap, and when she emerged from the other side…
Her mouth fell open…
A cave larger than any other she had ever seen appeared in front of her. She looked right and left and found out that she couldn't see the end of it. When she raised her gaze, her eyes grew wide as she noticed that the ceiling had to be at least six hundred feet above the ground. Behind her, Catra noticed how she had emerged from only one of the many holes that had been carved into the cave's wall.
But what took Catra most by surprise… was what the cave contained.
A city… surrounded by a tall, sturdy-looking wall of stones.
The entrance resembled the head of the creature she had seen at the center of the platform, but with its mouth opened…
The same creature that wore Katrina's crown.
Catra gulped, and began to descend the road that would bring her to the entrance of the mysterious city. Her mind must have begun to play tricks on her, because as she grew closer to the gigantic entrance, her ears started to pick up small noises… pebbles being kicked… doors being shut… voices whispering. However, as soon as she took one step beyond the entrance, everything became quiet… even quieter than her journey through the gallery.
"Catra…"
The feline yelped. Someone had just said her name. Someone had just called her. It was the strangest thing, because even though Catra realized that the voice came from inside her head, it seemed to be guiding her somewhere… somewhere close…
She kept walking, eyes darting around quickly, trying to spot anything that could be waiting for her, anything that could have been ready to hurt her. But the streets of the city were completely empty, illuminated by small fires which were contained in some kind of glass chambers, held high above the ground by tall pillars of metal.
The street she was following was the largest one. At its sides, Catra could see dozens and dozens of houses, shops and smaller streets, going far beyond where she could see. She kept walking what looked like the main street of the mysterious city as the voice beckoned her, calling her name, begging her to come closer… to come home.
"Come home…"
Catra shook her head. This wasn't her home, the Horde was where she had grown up, that is the place she had always called home…
But…
Was it?
Without even noticing, the feline had left behind her the city, and found herself in front of a large palace. It had to be as tall as the one in Bright Moon, and the point of its highest tower shined as a small ray of sun passed through a small gap in the cavern's ceiling, hitting it. The familiar voice called her again, this time more clearly. It sounded like… like she was begging Catra to reach her…
It was Katrina's voice… without a doubt.
"W-why do you want me to go in there…" Catra muttered to herself more than to the voice.
"Please…"
Catra gulped… and quickly passed through the castle's gates. It was so strange… a palace usually had guards defending it… Glimmer's was filled with tall women with shiny armors, spears and swords… but this one? It was as deserted as the city she had just walked through. But… she could still feel it… the smell of something… things… that were alive. She could still hear it… shushed whispers and quiet movements…
Was she going mad?
The voice inside her head only made Catra consider that hypothesis more and more.
But then…
Suddenly…
The voice stopped.
It was as if Catra could finally understand what was surrounding her. She raised her gaze and found herself in front of a large double door made of stone. Engraved in it, she could see two faces. One, looked exactly like Katrina's… the other… the other looked like the man she spoke to in her dreams… the man with blue eyes… the man who fled when…
Catra shook her head. She was tired of this nonsense. She was tired of these dreams… and she was tired of not having Adora between her arms. Whatever power Madame Razz spoke about… whatever truth she would find beyond those doors… she was ready to find out. She inhaled deeply, and pushed the doors open.
The room she found herself in, looked very much like Bright Moon palace's throne room. It was vast, well-lit by torches stuck to the walls, and by a large chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Catra's mismatched eyes traveled across the room and finally came to a stop when her gaze fell upon the two thrones at the far end of the room.
It wasn't the one on the right that made her breath stop… even though she had recognized Katrina's golden mask laying on it… it was the left one. And that simple looking stone throne had that particular effect on the feline because…
It wasn't empty.
