A/N: She-ra and the Princess of power were made by J. Michael Straczynski and Larry DiTillio, I only take credit for my own added character's and storylines. Similarly, any references will be attributed to their original creators when they pop up.
Recommended story: A Commander Without an Army by A_Big_Old_Skeleton
One of the fics that got me thinking on the idea that would eventually lead to That You Are Here. Hordak fears the level of influence Catra has obtained over the army and assassinates her. Or rather, he tries to. Now she's left to wonder what exactly she's supposed to do with no one but her two closest friends to help her survive.
BTW, I also have an A03 account where I'm also publishing, if you prefer reading it there~.
Enjoy!
Book I: Of Shard & Concept
Chapter 7 ~ Fragile Snowflake III
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Content Warning! Implied depression, BPD, suicidal thoughts and other similar themes (if you squint you eyes). If any of the above is something you are not comfortable with, then you might want to skip this fic.
There's also LGBT, but what are you doing here if that's a surprise?
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"How are you not cold in that?" Catra grimaces, sending the princesses a suspicious glance.
"It's magic," Sparkles states with a smirk, twirling between steps to show off her clothes.
And, if nothing else, Catra's impressed that she can do that without nightvision.
But more importantly, "Er- no, that's a leotard."
The princess's eye twitches, sending Catra an irritated glare. "I meant the leotard is magic."
"Why would you put magic in a leotard?" She questions bewilderedly.
Not that she'd expect an answer. Catra can kind of guess, but it sounds so... princess like to put magic in clothes.
"To not need to walk around naked." Sparkles huffs, giving her a pointed look.
"That sounds like a waste."
"Thank you."
"After all, I look amazing, why hide it?" Catra continues, eyes searching in the near dark for anything that isn't ice or rock. "Honestly, I'm more concerned that you're putting your magic in staying proper instead of getting us out of here."
"Uh-huh. Right, that is not how magic works. At all." The princess drawls as she awkwardly follows Catra through the cave.
"So what? It's like, sewed into your clothes or something?"
"Eh, more or less."
"...Can you recharge it?"
"At home? Sure."
"...Great. Useful, you are not." Catra snorts, feeling faintly amusement.
"Says the one with the attitude."
She doesn't bother with a response. And she can't help but think it's a shame sparkles had terrible - and non-existent- vision in the dark or she would have realised the insulting look she was being gifted. Not that Catra could see well, but she could at least vaguely make things out.
Honestly, why would any species develop an inferior set of eyes?
...Urgh, humans sometimes made absolutely no sense, she thinks, sending Adora a pointed glance.
As it is, she's the one carrying the princesses, one literally, while also being the only one capable of seeing with the lack of light.
Truthfully, she's more concerned by the lack of flowing water than any weird princessness.
Because the only reasonable conclusions are that there's no more ice to be melted, or that the snakes stop melting it. And she hopes it's the former, but keeps her ears sharp for anything -which makes up most of everything- that wants her dead.
"Catra?"
The girl in question sighs. "Yes?"
"Is- is that… can you see that in the ice?"
"Hmm?" Her eyes dart to where Sparkles points. "I can indeed."
"Oh. Good. I'm not imagining that then."
"I mean, it might be a joint delusion." She offers absentmindedly, not particularly interested in the conversation.
"...Could you take this seriously?"
"Between something old frozen in the ice, and people eating snakes, I think I know who isn't taking this seriously."
"How aren't you creeped out by this?" Sparkles groans, staring at the walls wearily.
"About what?"
"Oh, I don't know? A dozen people inside ice?"
"You mean glowing people in the ice." Catra feels the need to correct.
"That doesn't make it better."
"And I don't think they're people." She continues, ignoring the princesses' protest. "For one, only half resemble humanoids."
"...You can tell?" She asks incredulously.
"Some better than others. But they seemed to be near-identical shaped. Though I'm not taking the distortion into account. Probably some extinct creature."
"But why are they here?"
"Well, the place is supposed to be ancient. And it did use to have a warmer climate. Honestly, I'm more concerned that with all these tunnels, the snakes seemed to have avoided digging through them." She points out, seeing little reason to falter on the path down the cave.
"Oh brilliant, people eating snakes are terrified of them! Absolutely brilliant."
"I mean… they might just find them creepy?" She offers, feeling somewhat amused as she shifts Adora's weight.
"Oh, trekldit you!"
"What does that even mean?"
"What? You don't know?"
Catra's eyes darted towards her in faint expiration. "Sparkles, why would I know your weird princess language?"
"...You strike me as someone that would swear a lot."
"And princesses strike me as those that wouldn't. Unfortunately, nobody's perfect."
"Not from lack of trying."
"Yeah?" Catra's eyes narrow. "...Well-, trekldit you!"
"You don't even know what that means!"
"Then you should explain the weird, non-existing words." Catra snarks, lips twitching when the princesses cheeks puff out in offence.
"For the love off- they do exist! Literally, everyone uses them! Look, there's only some few dozen to start with, and-"
"Actually," Catra interrupts, "That's the first I ever heard of it. Who's 'everyone'?"
"Er-, the army?" Sparkles sends her a weird look. "Anyway, as I was-"
Catra stills, ears twitching frantically before she pulls sparkles onto the wall, covering her mouth as she signals for silence.
"Did you hear that?"
"I'm flattered. You actually think my hearing is better than yours?" She snarks, sending her an irritated glare from being interrupted again.
"Not really." She snarks back. "...pity, since I'm fairly certain I've just heard the beautiful sound of thunder."
"So we're close to the surface?" She asks hopefully.
"Who knows. We might be close to a hole to the surface, but I'm not particularly enjoying our… chances…"
"What's wro-?" In a single, sharp movement, Catra grabs her by the collar, pulling her back as she falls on the floor. "Mph- ad'fier!?"
"...We found our hole." She says slowly, staring downwards as Glimmer blinks and tries to follow her gaze.
"Right. I can't even see my feet. You're going to have to tell me where to walk." When she doesn't offer an instant response, Glimmer turns to her in faint worry. "Catra?"
"...Huh. Right. So… it's less some few steps… and more off… a kilometre or so. Probably more." She wrinkles her nose in dissatisfaction. "Also. I don't think it qualifies as a hole."
"...I'm guessing that that's a lot."
"Duh. It's one thousand meters and more."
"...In feet?"
Catra blinks, momentarily bemused by the comment. Then her lips twitch. "...You use feet to measure length." She asks, mirth almost visible in her tone.
"I- yes?"
"...Right. Because that works."
"I wasn't the idiot that came up with it!"
"Word of advice, Glimmer. Ninety-nine percent of the population is made up of idiots. Treat it as such."
"Valid point." She concedes with a sigh. "Rough approximate using a human's foot?"
Catra lets out an irritated breath as her eyes momentarily dart towards the large carven. "Close to five thousand, then."
She doesn't instantly reply, and for a moment, Catra worries she broke another princess, not a pleasant thought since that would equate to more baggage.
...Or she could just leave her behind. But while appalling, she would rather not risk encountering the snakes alone. So, with far more patience than she had, Catra turned towards Sparkles expectantly.
"... Malz'mi. She finally mutters. "Sechertz'mi! Of course, it's not easy. Anything else?"
"Well, It's also filled with water, and I have no idea how deep that is. Though, more importantly, this seems to have become a shipwreck storage area… thingy."
"Is there more?" She questions with a grimace.
"I'm fairly certain this is where our -oh, what did you call them?- slithering fiernz'ya have made their nest."
"...Going backwards and finding another path it is."
"It's probably already blocked. And even if it isn't, this is probably our way out."
"Of course." She lets out a tired groan, and Catra notes the slight ragged note in her breath. "Any way downwards?"
"...We're on a cliff...cave…" She struggles to find the right word, unsure how to describe the cavern. Entrapta would probably have a specific obscure name for it, she thinks fondly, "But no. We could jump, but as I said, no idea how deep it is, and there could easily be an old shipwreck underneath. I don't particularly want to be impaled."
"Yeah, neither do I." She grimaced distastefully. "If I threw some light downwards, would you be able to see it?"
"...I thought you were out of magic?"
She shifts for a moment in conflict before letting out a resigned sigh. "I'm out of family magic, yes. Sorcery, on the other hand, works by pulling magic in. And no, I can't transfer."
"Huh. Okay. I probably would be able to see -as long as it's not too bright-, depends if it can go underwater.
"For a few seconds, yes.
"Good to know. Any chances it'll-" Her lips twitch."-catch our slithering fiernz'ya attention?"
"... Malz'mi! I didn't think of that. Maybe? ...They seemed more interested in the artefact. But there seemed to be something magical in it?" She bites her lip, frowning as she considers the idea. "It could. That's into the theoretical area, and education is a bit of a luxury these days, with most of the sorcerers being… well, dead."
"Right... Last time I checked, Mystacor was neutral." Catra drawls, sending her a suspicious look. "Or is there something you want to say, Sparkles?"
"They died in the first rebellion." She hisses, "But when father died, they hardly had enough sorcerers to-" She stops herself, sending her a frustrated glare. "Point is, yes, they're neutral now." She snaps, torn between frustration and anger.
Which... honestly? she hadn't expected Sparkles to let slip even that much. From what she'd read from Shadow Wavers notes, it went on tangents on how Mystacor were cowards and how infuriating it was that they still could hide from her.
From what she understood, that seemed to do with nothing with cowardly, and everything to do with complete resource exhaustion.
Figures, she thinks irritatedly, the little intel she actually leaves me and it's wrong. And then she frowns, or maybe biased? Did Shadow Waver have any personal experience with Mystacor?
"Right." Thought for later. Get out alive first. "So worst case, we jump blind. I won't be able to swim and pull Adora at the same time."
"...Urgh. Right, we'll have to pull her… together" She sounds pained at the idea of teamwork.
Catra sympathises.
"Hmm. We'll swim towards the centre. Can you see it?"
"...kind off. I can make out some of its silhouettes. What is it?"
"No idea. Seems like a ship." She frowns, eyes narrowing as she notes that-"Hey sparkles? Does the rebellion -or anyone- make metal ships?"
"Er- No? Apart from the Horde, there are only decorative engravings."
"...well, that isn't a Horde ship. I'd recognise those death traps anywhere. It's also far too big... though..." Catra leans forward as if to take a better look before she lets out a fascinated sound. "Huh, I think where we're trying to swim is also where the snake's nest is."
"You still want to swim there, don't you?"
"Well, seeing how it's the most likely route to the surface, how it's the only dry land -or ship- I can see, not to mention is the main chance of shelter, then yes."
"Great. Fabulous. Did you see any snakes?"
"Nope. But the room's more prolate than spherical, so I'm fairly certain that it emits heat... Oh…" Catra blinks, suddenly feeling rather silly. "We just found the first one's tech. And it's the demon's nest."
"Takes one to know one." She snips with a huff. "The ad'fier is a prolate anyway?"
"No need to get snippy, sweetcheeks, and it's a stretched sphere. Entrapta made me learn all their names when she started developing new robots. Now can I get that light?"
"Of course, kitty-cat." They share a smile, their eyes meeting as each reflects the complete opposite of the present demeanours. "Do try not to fall."
A small orb of light slowly falls into the water, the faint sound of frizzling echoing throughout the cave as underneath the water becomes momentarily visible.
"Huh."
"What?"
"I think I just found some more frozen people." Catra contemplates absentmindedly, suppressing the amount of disturbance the picture gives her as her glance darts through its surroundings.
"Lovely, anything deadly?"
"Apart from everything? Not really. I suppose we might as well-"
A rumbling sound echoes throughout the flooded cavern, both girls still before slowly sharing a look.
"D'yavigo."
"Jump, now!
Through the air, Catra has a moment to note three separate thoughts. First, while not instantly deadly, if she is proven wrong, then the centre's lack of heat will leave them dead like so many others have clearly also suffered.
Secondly, a snake is floating towards the magic. And it moves much faster than she -or sparkles- can swim without taking into account the comatose weight.
As they slam into the water, Catra grabs the other's hand, dragging both bodies deeper as they swim towards one of the shipwrecks underneath them.
Her third thought is proven true because while wrecked, it's clear that it is also made up of some metallic material. Tilted to the side, half sticking out and partially frozen, it's likely to have air pockets they can use to their advantage.
If nothing else, sweetcheeks is smarter than given credit, either realising what she's thinking or realising it's their best chance to survive as she grabs Adora's other hand and starts to pull as they enter through one of the broken doorways.
And she's proven right when they both hit the smaller pockets -pocket's, pocket?- surface, gasping for air as if they never breathed before.
"You're crazy!" Sparkles states, gasping for air as she helps pull Adora's head to the surface. "Brilliant, but crazy. No wonder Entrapta loves you."
"We're going to have to do this to get to the middle." Catra thinks out loud, ignoring the princess as her ears twitch frantically. "That's a good six... well, two thousand feet."
"That's fine. Juliet made sure I could hold my breath during the basic training. Not that she included iced water..." Sparkles shivers. "Better not give her ideas."
"Right." Catra drawls, amused by the princesses priorities. "I'll swim ahead and find another pocket. Keep Adora afloat and Hordak's shake, make sure she's still breathing."
"I thought cats didn't like water?
Too tired to snap with fury, she simply rolls her eyes. "And It's a stupid assumption. Monkeys don't touch fire because they'd get burnt, humans don't touch fire because they'd get burnt. Cats don't touch the water because it weighs down their fur, I don't like water because It weighs down my fur." Sparkles blinks, blindsided by the response. She doesn't particularly care, choosing to give her a pointed look instead. "Now keep her floating."
"Er- sure, try not to get yourself killed."
Catra lets out a huff, giving the princess a final, unimpressed glance before taking a calming breath.
And then she inhales sharply, reluctantly grateful that she was taught how to swim during her years as a cadet. She dives underwater, carefully peeking from the debris of the ship as she shoots the snake a wary gaze.
Aware that the princess -and herself- have a limited amount of air in supply she carefully continues moving, eyes darting for any seemingly intact structures of the vessel.
Truth be told, it's safe to admit she has no idea what she's doing past surviving. Even if they do make it to the centre, there isn't any telling whether they'd actually have better chances of survival. It's the Horde all over again, she ponders tiredly, legs slowly propelling her through the water. Her heart pounds her chest loudly, eyes repeatedly glancing upwards as she's careful to not alert the growing number of snakes that float on top of the water. They move in a circular motion, very much knowing their prey as they search for their food.
Well, it's not quite floating, since none of them actually stop. It's more like it's gliding on the water. She's fascinated by the thought. Those things destroyed the outpost, not to mention they survived the extreme harshness of the weather and ice. Yet they glide as if they were completely weightless.
Magic was weird like that.
...Or maybe it might be lung capacity?
Huh. Now she's even more curious. Maybe if she-
It feels like her chest explodes. A sudden slashing splash that resounds through the water from one of the creature's sudden movements. Low on air and mind filled with panic, there's a foreboding moment when she thinks she might just die, hidden but corned in the debris, prime for eating.
But after seconds of near silence, she realises that she isn't found, and the snakes are slowly returning to their nest.
She barely stops herself from letting out a relieved breath. She shakes her head, eyes darting through the frozen graveyard, aware of her limited time as she swims towards the sturdier-looking ones. The knowledge that if she doesn't find another pocket of air, she'd be forced to hit the surface fuels her with what little energy still remains inside her.
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"Let's go near the snakes, she said. Nothing could possibly go wrong, she said."
Catra sends her a weary glance. "We're far more likely to be heard if you keep at it." She points out before scowling. "And I never said that."
"How exactly are we pulling her up?" Sparkle sighs, staring at the large vessel wearily.
Oh good, she's had bad experiences with First one's tech as well. That makes Catra feel slightly better.
And worse, since it's setting a precedent.
...Mostly worse, actually.
"I… am working on it." She frowns at the ladder -and she's curious why a ship would have a ladder built on it- as she wonders how she's supposed to-
"Can you pull her up?" She counters with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, I can. How to climb while holding her is where it's tricky."
"Urgh. I can't believe I'm doing this. Try not to move much." Taking her cape off, she ties it around Catra's and Adora's waist. "There. That should work." Eyes narrowing she gives Catra a pointed look. "Once we're up there, I want it back."
"Hmm," Catra blinks, reaching out for the ladder as she starts to climb up the ship.
"Oh no. No need to thank me." Sparkles snarks as she follows suit.
"You realise, It's your princess I'm carrying."
"Yeah, and for some ridiculous reason, that's also your friend."
"Ex-friend." She feels the need to correct.
Sparkles snorts, mirth sparkling in her eyes. "Don't you mean ex-girlfriend?"
Catra blinks, tilting her head bewilderedly as she stares inquisitively. "...I know she's a girl, that's literally what I just said."
"I- no, that's…" She blinks, staring at her with a strange look. "Actually, this explains so much." She mutters the end to herself, seemingly having reached an important revelation.
Catra narrows her eyes, sending the princesses another weary look before she reaches the final step.
"Right," Catra drawls, eyes scanning the deck for anything particularly murderous.
She's pleasantly surprised when nothing murderous greets her.
"Oh look," Sparkles snarks, "there's no giant snake hiding behind the fence!"
"You're right." She nods, startling the girl with her easy admission while she traces the suspiciously spotless surface of the vessel. That alone would have made her suspicious. "There might, however, be baby snakes that call the mother snake."
Sparkles stills. "...Ah. Yeah, no. I almost rather you hadn't said that now."
Catra hums as her eyes dart towards the centre. "There's a door here. Help me open it."
"We're really going inside the ship that has the things that want to eat us?" She grimaces, walking towards her before tilting her head curiously. "...why is there a wheel on the door?"
"...I think it's watertight?" Catra offers thoughtfully. "Huh. Your First ones really did know what they were doing. And It's better than staying out without cover. Besides, there's at least some light coming from in there" As the door opens, she smirks. "See it's bright, warm, not to mention-"
"The ad'fier Happened to your arm?"
"...Hmm. Let's just say I won't stop you from destroying the off switch." She deflects, examining the hallway, the faint, red color of light emanating from the corners of the ceiling as it illuminated the inside of the vessel.
And it was still too clean for her taste.
"...Pfft. Karma much?"
"I don't know what that means. But from your tone, no it isn't." Catra huffs, sending the princess an irritated glare. "Now stop distracting me and help me find a way up." She snarks, walking towards the staircase. Hoping that, for once, it's as easy as it appears.
"...Er-why up?"
"Because that's the most likely place to have any comms." Catra points out, feeling no need to add the 'duh' to her sentence.
"Shouldn't we find a place to let Adora rest?"
"…Fine, either works at this point." She mutters, shifting the sleeping beauty as they start walking down the stairs.
"Don't drop her." The princess warns as she walks in front of her.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to land on you."
"Thank you." She huffs, opening the closest door on the floor before letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank the First ones, there are beds.
Catra stares bewilderedly as the princess sinks -she means that literally- into the bed. Had… had the first one's made some sort of flexible metal?
Huh, she thinks incredulously, weird.
"Well," Catra drawls, eyes carefully scanning Adora's head after she lays her on the second bed. "She's still alive, somehow. Honestly, not even a year and you already forgot how to shield a fall, dummy."
"Not everyone gets to land on their feet." Sparkles murmurs from where she lies.
"Yeah. Myself included." Catra had swung between conscious and unconsciousness. But from her aches, she's fairly certain she fell on her shoulder into a body of recently melted water. From there she'd probably been dragged through the current until it was too thin to continue pulling her.
She had, however, remembered to shield her head.
"Anyway, scoot over."
Sparkles stares incomprehensibly. After another moment, Catra lets out a huff and slides to the lower side before closing her eyes.
"What?"
Only to open one as she stares at the disbelieving figure. "What, what?"
"I-, why are you in my bed?"
"Because there are two beds, and I'd rather not sleep in the one with an injured person. Now zip it, I'm tired."
She ignores Sparkle's high pitch squeak as she forces her body to relax, feeling the weight of her eyes as she yawns in exhaustion.
Eventually, Sparkles seems to reboot, muttering to herself as she reluctantly lies down on the other side of the bed.
Catra almost laughs at the expression she makes.
But hours pass, and by the third, she lets out a resigned sigh and opens her eyes as she leaves the bed.
She hadn't expected to sleep, but she wouldn't have been against that particular surprise.
As it is, she moves to the neighbouring room, following the same routine she's become far too accustomed to in the last few months. Stretching her joints after making sure that nothing is broken or too strained.
It's only when she catches sight of herself that she realises how terrible she actually looks.
There's a mirror in Scorpia's room, she knows, but Catra herself had never bothered asking for one for her own.
As a matter of fact, the only thing that is in her room is her bed -significantly less comfortable than the one she's using- and a small dresser at its side.
Looks aren't important, but between the profound bruises under her eyes and the faint, pale light from the hallway, she looks like a corpse that hasn't realised it's reached death.
Well, at least for the most part. She thinks dryly, eyes darting to her right arm. It looks… rather worse than it had… Well, however long ago it's been since she fell down here.
While previously having run through the veins of her hand to the forearm, it now resembles a mix between a bruise and burns. She's somewhat befuddled that it's actually visible. Catra, like many others, has scars. That being said, her fur had always hidden them, to the point that not even Adora had realised she had any.
Well, Rogelio might have, she supposed, but he didn't exactly count.
Is it spreading? She can't help but ponder, touching it with one of her left hands claw.
While originally violet, it was now taking a darker, almost ash-like shade, having turned the surface fur almost translucent. She hadn't lied, when she told Entrapta it didn't hurt. It didn't. She felt a faint something, but apart from describing it similar to discomfort, the feeling was… she almost wanted to call it elusive.
And weird as hell, she thinks as her finger places some pressure on the forearm, somewhat grossed out when the veins surface, a faint red contrasting with the dark ash.
That's enough of that, she decides, eyes returning to the mirror with a frown.
She'd left their clothes where she'd first met Adora, and her headpiece -which had always been a challenge to keep on- had been knocked off throughout her descent. Embarrassingly, she only now noticed it missing.
But… well, Catra can only speculate, but if this was some sort of cargo ship, then there would have probably been people here when it-, when whatever it was that happened here happened.
Which more importantly, meant that there should be clothes.
And Catra had never had the option to choose her own clothes before. Ironic, really, seeing how her clothes had almost become a point she liked to make.
It'd only been some few years ago when she'd been at the lowest of the food chain. And when she'd been denied a set of cadets clothes, forced to wear the set she still had up to today, she'd decided to do so with pride.
It got better, mostly because she still wore the same clothes meant as an insult when she could send them to Beast island with a snap of her fingers.
It was an amusing thought.
After searching through a dozen rooms, she finally finds clothes that won't rub her fur the wrong way -which hardly shortens her options, to her delight- and that actually fit her tastes.
A relatively thick tank top, a half cloak that almost reached her elbows and fingerless gloves similar to the ones she'd had before. The trousers were baggier than what she'd intended, but the material was thick and it didn't irritate her fur. They were all in a darkish grey colour, and Catra couldn't help but think that they'd been intended for some form of camouflage, though where was beyond her.
It's also when a more important thought hits her.
If the vessel still has power, and that power is used to heat the vessel, would that mean that the bathroom still works?
It does.
And it's warm water at that.
There's a grossly exaggerated idea, as Sparkles showed, that Catra doesn't like water. That's untrue. Catra dislikes cold water since damp cold fur was horrible, she loathes seawater, since salt-filled, freezing and damp fur was a nightmare.
Hot, clean water?
Ahh.
It's midway through her bliss that the thought hits her. If the power still works, then wouldn't that mean some sort of communications should also still work?
And yeah, I know Entrapta, it's probably broken, but it was still emitting a strong enough signal that they found it in the first place. She could just... well, as her princess would put it, hack into it and play around.
She spends the next minute, in boiling warm water, pressing her forehead on the wall, blaming it on the exhaustion before she finally decides to return to work.
Cleaner -no dirt under her claws, her fur and hair feeling lighter than ever- and warmer, she reaches out for the clothes and starts to dress.
She hesitates for a moment, staring at the half cloak before deciding she might as well keep warm. Unlike most, it's light and soft on her fur and she almost leaves before her eyes drift to the edge of the room.
Raising an eyebrow, she reaches for the handle of a knife, tilting her head as she brings it towards the faint rays of light.
It was far more ornamented than she would usually ever be seen with, but between the dark tones of black and grey, it was clearly not a princess weapon.
Not that she knew much about knives to start with. It was a single-edged one, slightly longer than her forearm with a slight curve to its design.
Biting her lip, her eyes darted through the room as if trying to figure out the owner's personality just from a glance.
It's one thing that Catra took the person's clothes, another entirely to take their weapon.
They were probably dead, true, but this was important.
For those in the Horde, your weapon was the only thing that was truly yours. It was the only possession you were truly buried with. She still had her stun baton next to her bed in HQ. For all it was inconvenient more often than not, beaten, dented and cracked to the point where it didn't even produce electricity anymore, it was her weapon.
And for a moment, she starts to put it down, perhaps even where its partner had died centuries ago, but-
Her tongue slowly rubs the top of her teeth as she unsheathes the blade, eyes reflected on the sharp weapon before she lashed her arm, the blade offering no resistance.
For a moment, she stares at the mirror. And then she raises the blade, carefully cutting a fringe that took her years to grow.
Sharp feels like an understatement with how easily it cuts.
Or maybe she has low standards. Hordak knows it wouldn't be the only area of her expertise.
And her hair now looked a bit of a disaster. She took into account the extra weight of the water, but... yeah, better she leave it as is and let Scorpia deal with the rest... at least she could see now.
Some material underneath the tank top covered her stomach, working surprisingly well at keeping her warm. She'd also been worried that the half cloaks fur might make her look like a princess. It didn't, thankfully. If anything, it meshed well with her hair.
She didn't look amazing but... well, better than a corpse.
"I'll take care of it." She promises nonetheless. Words echoing softly for a stranger. "So let me use it here, yeah? Who knows. If these things did kill you, then your partner gets to have revenge." She waits for a moment longer, as if waiting for a silent approval before she closes the door behind her, walking back towards the princesses, blade firmly strapped to her belt.
Now to look for a comm and try to remember the knot's and mazes that Entrapta called wires.
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Sparkles princesses lesson on being educated:
Trekldit - Meaning curses. From the word треклятый, which sounds like treklyatyy, and maldita sea. From there, it's trekl + dit.
Sechertz'mi and Malz'mi - Meaning the same, from the words черт возьми, which sounds like chert voz'mi, and maldita sea. Ergo mal + z'mi & se + chert +z'mi. The meaning is similar to cursed hell, but doesn't quite translate the same.
Ad'fier - Means hell in both russian and Spanish. Ergo ад, which sounds like ad + infierno.
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As always, a huge thank you to Hubris Plus, Sathroe and Tara for reading through the draft! This wouldn't be anywhere near as easy to read without their advice and help!
And as for me, I'll stop trying to predict how long each story will be since fragile snowflake was initially struggling to reach the 5k... it's about to reach the 20k... at some point, I really should realize this story just doesn't like doing what I tell it to.
None the less, I did think everything was important story-wise, either for building up the later chapters -much, much later- or simply to make their characters more three dimensional. So... sorry, but not sorry? Wops...
That being said, I've finally finished writing for the sake of canon divergence, and can now start working on the direction I wanted the story to take -Chapter 8 is almost finished, some polishing and one scene to be done-.
But anyway, if you felt I should have written something differently, be it personality and/or displays of different states of mentality, please leave a comment! Any advice is welcome and appreciated!
Anyways, Ill See you next time! Ciao!
~ Sapphire and Emeralds