You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

-Paulo Coelho

Even if Mermista wasn't chipped, her anger would have been more than justified.

After all, Catra played a rather big part in destroying her kingdom— possibly forever. So really, what are a few water blasts in comparison to that?

Still, it's unpleasant. Despite however just it is, every droplet makes her fur stand straight, her nerves going into total overdrive with stiff panic. She wants nothing more than to run. Water always makes her want to run.

Catra takes refuge behind a stack of crates, doing her best to catch her breath and get out of Mermista's view. Melog is right behind her, and presses their tail to her thigh, making them disappear from view. She's gotta admit, even though their connection is, admittedly, weird, Melog is incredibly useful. She rests a hand on their head in a gesture of thanks, her heart fluttering when Melog curls their head upward into her palm.

She doesn't have long. Mermista will find her in a matter of seconds, and the barrage of water will begin again. Catra doesn't need much time to recover, but a few seconds would be nice so she can think of a plan to get out of this predicament.

Should she try speaking to her? She shoots that down a second after she's thought it. Speaking with Scorpia had gotten Catra nothing but a rather painful wake up call. No, she needs a better plan. Given that Mermista's powers are rather inconvenient, she needs something quick, something fast that'll get her out of here.

Catra peeks behind the crates and tries to find an escape route. Invisibility wouldn't fool Mermista for long, but if she can just—

A blast of water hits the crate, exploding it to pieces. The force of the explosion combined with the water sends both Catra and Melog reeling, sputtering for breath. Mermista smirks, holding her hands up.

"Didn't take you for much of a hider."

Yeah, well, clearly she doesn't know her that well.

Catra ignores Mermista and manages to push herself to her feet. She has about ten different words she'd like to say to her, some inappropriate, but she bites her tongue. Taunting her won't help. It'll only waste any energy she has, and right now she needs it to get away. Lucky for her, she barely has to consider the thought for more than a second. Before she can blink, Melog is by her side, and without having to say anything she climbs atop of them and directs them towards the door.

To her credit, the water really sent her into a frazzled, desperate state. Otherwise, she really shouldn't have expected it to be that easy.

Mermista blocks the door with a wave powerful enough that it knocks Catra off Melog and sends them both flying in different directions. Catra's soaked to the bone. Her ears are ringing from the force of the impact. She can just barely make out Melog's mewling.

The water burns her lungs. It's bringing back memories that she wants to stay forgotten.

It's so tempting to stay there on the floor, to let the dark thoughts consume her and lose herself in the memories of the past. Catra hates the feeling of being soaked. Her fur, damp to the touch, plastered against her skin. Her tail, too heavy to move properly. The last time she'd felt like this—

Melog is by her side again. Catra's vision is still blurry, plagued with black spots, but she can tell. She feels their equally damp skin, pressed against hers protectively. She presses a hand to Melog's skin, letting them help her clear her head. Slowly, the dark memories ebb away from the forefront of her mind. She stops sputtering for air. The pain becomes a little more bearable.

Once everything is clear, Catra opens her eyes to see a pair of feet standing before her. Waiting. She glances upwards, hating this little predicament. She's in the perfect spot, vulnerable to another attack, and Mermista knows it. To her credit, the controlled girl just grins.

Then, the grin falls. Her body shudders, and suddenly her eyes tinge a very familiar shade of green.

"We meet again, Little Sister."

Melog growls, immediately shifting into their more primal form. Catra clenches onto them, trying to keep her jaw from clenching. He's here. Horde Prime knows she's here. And if he knows that she's here… Her heart starts racing. The pain in her ribs suddenly makes itself known two-fold, and every breath she takes feels far more labored.

Adora.

She can't let him get to Adora.

Catra starts to move, but Mermista is quick to stop her. She steps on her chest, holding her firmly with her boot. It takes everything inside Catra not to scream from the pain. Thankfully, repressing is one of the few things she's good at.

"How you have fallen," Mermista sighs in a voice that doesn't belong to her. The voice is shThe same voice that's seared in Catra's brain, unwilling to be forgotten.

"Let go of her," Catra finds herself saying. The absurdity of her words doesn't escape her notice. If the tables were turned, she's sure that Mermista would have thrown her to the side. Catra wouldn't even blame her. She'd probably respect her for it.

But no, now she's here, defending a princess she doesn't even like, for the sake of— what, being a better person? Man, sometimes being a good guy is seriously inconvenient.

Mermista cocks her head to the side, Prime's expression never leaving her. "I will not keep her long," she states, her voice clouded with Prime's oozing tone. "This fight is of no significance to me. Your fighting is futile." The princess raises her hands, and two waves of water appear, spiraling menacingly beside her. Catra scoots back on reflex, trying to keep her hands from shaking.

As much as she hates to admit it, he has a point. Catra can hold her ground with most of the princesses, but Mermista? Her powers give her a significantly upper hand.

Okay, so she needs a new plan. Escape is going to be nearly impossible to achieve on her own, not unless she feels like getting drowned by a tsunami. She definitely wants to avoid giving Mermista any more leverage than she already has. Melog won't be much help here, the water seems to affect them almost as much as it does her.

Catra holds back a sigh; she's going to have to call for help. If Mermista and Scorpia are here, there might be more controlled Etherians here than she initially thought. That means that the rest of the rebellion will have their hands full.

Great. She's going to have to ask Sparkles for help.

"I don't know," Catra says, her eyes quickly darting to the side. The nearest control room is just a short dash away. If she can distract Prime long enough to loosen his guard, she might be able to lock herself inside and call for help. It's not her greatest plan, but right now she isn't left with much of a better option. "I'd say my chances of winning this fight are pretty high. Especially when you chose to occupy the weakest princess."

Mermista's eyes flash for the faintest glimmer of a moment. Catra smirks. Maybe she doesn't need to distract Prime.

"Like seriously, water powers? How lame." A blast of water shoots by her ear, and Catra acts quick, dodging the blast.. "Seriously, I'm not even trying. If you wanted a real shot of winning, you should have taken over Scorpia. Now those are some powers."

The green hue of Mermista's eyes fades, and the girl groans before shooting Catra a nasty scowl. "You are so annoying!"

Bingo.

Catra takes her chance and climbs atop of Melog, and both of them race for the control room. She only has a few seconds, so she needs to be fast. Not even a moment later, she hears a rush of water and knows that Prime has taken control of Mermista again.

They reach the control room, and Catra acts on pure instinct, slamming the door closed behind them and smashing keys on the control pad to lock it shut. The lock clicks just as Mermista arrives, and Catra can hardly think as she grabs the communication tablet and pounds in Glimmer's coordinates.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," Catra hisses as the line tries to connect. Silence. Of course, Sparkles remains ever unreliable. She begins entering the coordinates again, and then it dawns on her that it's far too quiet. Mermista should have been pounding the door by now.

Before she can really mull over the thought, water begins streaming in from the cracks in the wall. Catra shrieks, immediately clambering on top of the equipment, her heart beating so loudly she can hear it in her ears. Melog follows after her, trying to stay dry but clearly panicking.

"Foolish Little Sister. You think you are so very clever, but you continue to place your trust in your rash decisions," Mermista simpers in Horde Prime's voice. Catra trembles as the water starts to fill the room, covering the floor. She tries thinking of an escape route, some way out of here, but there isn't one.

A smooth chuckle comes from the other side of the door, loud enough to be heard over the rushing of water. "You could have flourished under me. But no matter. You will be eradicated soon enough."

Catra can barely hear anything at this point. Everything seems as if it's happening in slow motion. The water fills the room, and no matter how much higher she climbs, it will be futile. Even if she calls Glimmer, there's no way she'll get here in time. Still, she has to try.

She finishes punching in the coordinates, clenching the tablet for dear life as her hands tremble from fear. Moments later, Bow and Glimmer's faces appear on the screen.

"Whoa! Are you okay?"

"Get us out of here, now!" Catra yells, her stomach wrenching as Melog starts mewling for help beside her. Hang on. They just need to hang on. Hopefully Glimmer and Bow will be able to get them out of this.

"What's going on?"

A beam falls under the pressure. By the way the water is rising, they only have a minute or two before the whole room will be filled. "This whole thing was a trap." Catra should have realized it sooner. She's good at strategizing, she excels at getting inside the enemy's head. Why hasn't she seen this coming? The water splashes her feet and she shrieks. "Why did I get the water princess?"

The water rises higher, covering her feet, then her ankles, leaving her nowhere to go, nowhere else to climb. She tries anyway and stumbles, dropping the tablet in the process. Shit. Now her coordinates are gone. It'll take a minute for Glimmer to find her.

A massive wave of water looms overhead through the window, and Catra swallows. She may not have a minute.

Melog continues to cry, and Catra reaches out for them, wrapping her arms around their neck in an attempt of comfort. "It's okay," she tries, though her voice trembles. "Glimmer will come."

Another beam falls. The control panels fizzle out. One goes off by Melog, zapping them with a quick shock. The alien cat slips into the water, dragging Catra down with them.

The moment her body hits the water, Catra gasps for air. She remembers the pool. The pain. How her life had been sucked out from under her and placed firmly in Prime's control. Everything she'd fought so hard to keep from thinking about comes to the forefront, and she splashes around the water, trying to get out.

There's a crackle. Catra looks up just in time to see water crashing down from the ceiling, the impact of which forces her underwater. She tries to swim, but her body feels sluggish. It's like she's moving through tar.

As she chokes beneath the surface for air, the memories return, clear as day. Her body tingles with the shock from the green pool. She feels the back of her neck burn, and the cold steel of scissors sliding through her hair. Catra grasps at the short strands, shivering in pain, convulsing for air. The more she strains for air, the more water she swallows, burying her deeper and deeper still into the blackness.

Though cruel, perhaps drowning with her memories is the most righteous form of justice she'll receive. Catra really thought she'd have more time. There's so much she left unsaid. So much she wanted to see, and do, with—

Something grabs her arm. Melog, probably. They don't deserve to go like this. She hopes that alien cats don't need to breathe to survive. If Glimmer ever gets here, maybe she'll be able to save them.

A familiar wave of nausea rolls over her, and a moment later she's out of the control room and on a dry pavement. Almost immediately, Catra starts coughing out water and struggles to breathe. Every inch of her is shaking, and the only thing on her mind is breathing. Someone keeps calling her name, but she can barely register it. The water is gone. Unfortunately, her memories aren't. No matter how hard she tries to pull herself out of the depth, she finds herself stuck in the blackness.

"Catra." Glimmer's voice. A squeeze on her shoulder.

Instinctively, Catra jerks back with a hiss. Glimmer backs off. She frowns, her face creasing apologetically. "I'm sorry. It took me a while to find you. My connection to you isn't as strong as…" she trails off, biting her lip.

"Where's Melog?" Catra rasps,trying to will her vision to return to normal. She's still shaking. If she wasn't clenching her teeth, they'd be chattering.

"They're fine. They need some time to recover." Glimmer hesitantly takes a step forward. "You okay?"

She isn't. As much as she wants to brush it off, Catra knows that Glimmer has already seen too much. It's been made clear that her problems, and her fears, aren't going anywhere. She pushes some wet hair away from her face and shakes her head. "No," she admits, slowly peeling herself off the floor and sitting upright. "But I will be."

To her credit, Glimmer only smiles. It's in that sappy, mushy kind of way that makes Catra want to punch her, but she can live with it. "Okay."

Later, when Perfuma offers her help, Catra makes a mental note to take her up on it. One day, when she feels brave enough to finally confront her issues, it'll probably come in useful.