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: how things are supposed to be by maggiesbombshell
Where Adora tries to pretend she isn't crushing on her best friend. She fails. Miserably.
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 8 ~ Fragile Snowflake IV
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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.
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It takes Glimmer longer than she'd like to admit to find the woman in question.
She knows she went up, yes. Unfortunately, the ship is large, and up is still a lot. This does, however, leave her with enough time to come up with the weird realisation that she's looking for -not to mention working with- the woman that led the invasion to her home just some months ago.
Not the happiest of realisations.
Of course, that's also when she has to find the cockpit. Unlike the pristine clean of the hallway and rooms, it resembles... well, the closest comparison is Entraptas laboratory. Which is to say a chaotic mess. Devices and wires lay everywhere, computers half opened with even more wires interlacing from inside.
She sends the room a wary glance. It's almost taboo to claim the first one's used technology, that the ancient race had created and grown with it, but…
Glimmer isn't stupid. Sheltered as she is, as many painful whispers as there were in the academy, she can pick up on what went unsaid. And while her history lectures never quite stated it, she had been in a First Ones temple.
Thing is, it'd been designed so similarly to her own home, to the homes of her friends, that she'd never thought much of it. That the First Ones might have been technologically advanced. And maybe fallen because of it.
She's never been one for religion. Most princesses weren't ever since the start of the war. Once upon a time La Catedral had encompassed every country, every village and every family. But while it had dwindled, its core teaching remained firmly ingrained. And at its core, nothing was more integrated into the culture than the hatred and fear towards technology.
So when she finally finds Catra, it's with the growing realisation that, for all her people believed and claimed, this ship was a counter proof of Glimmer's beliefs. Even with the noticeable difference in design. The contrasting white and black with hints of crystal and grey, the sleek designed with a polished glow like it was made yesterday.
She's in a First One's made ship, and there's not a single magical rune or spell to be found.
And she couldn't help but wonder, did her mother know this? The same gods they worshipped used technology far surpassing what was taboo?
...
As she was saying, not the happiest of realisations.
Especially when one of the leading forces of her vortex of doubts was currently trapped under First Ones know how much ice with her. Alone.
She makes a note to study healing magic, if only so that next time, Adora has to help deal with her ex -not so ex but maybe still ex- girlfriend.
The woman in question lay underneath a table that she thinks might also be a computer, tinkering sounds and soft frustrated muttering drifting out almost ominously.
"How are you even up already?" She asks, rubbing her eyes in the hope of alleviating their weight.
"How did you sleep so long?" She shoots back.
"I slept six hours, tops."
"Yeah, case in point." She snorts, crawling from underneath the table with a small device in...
"...Wardrobe change?" Glimmer offers, with a lot less bite than she intended it with.
"Hmm, I'd rather not freeze to death." Her lips form into a smirk, eyes glinting in the dark as she turns towards one of the screens and-
Urgh, First Ones help me, she actually looks good in them. "What are you doing?" Is it normal? Does the Horde just have good-looking people?
"Fixing this, obviously."
"You don't say…" She feels the need to drawl.
"I have no wish of dying here. So if you have nothing constructive to add, I'll get back to trying to get this thing working."
"Right, because you're only trying to fix ancient First Ones' tech." She drawls, rubbing her forehead tiredly.
Catra snorts. "I've heard Entrapta rant about it enough to kind of know what I'm doing."
Glimmer flinches, remembering the eccentric scientist with overwhelming guilt.
She… hadn't been particularly nice to Entrapta. Not that she'd been cruel, but maybe… somewhat dismissive. Bow might have mellowed her views on technology but… but it was still taboo. Glimmer didn't want to be prejudiced. She didn't just choose what emotions she felt. But when Entrapta always talked as if it was better than magic, it was really hard to not snap at her. To snap at one of her fellow princesses, the symbol of magic.
Though maybe that was her oversight, since the older woman wasn't an original princess. For that matter, she wasn't even part of a noble legacy.
It'd been around the time when she'd been born. When their numbers had dwindled so much that the nobility had been granted the title of Princess, if only to cover the territorial rule while the war raged.
And she remembered Princess Entrapta being such a controversial subject. How the few remaining subjects of Dryl had elected an orphan -one without the ability to wield magic at that!- as their ruling Lord. So when the nobles had been retitled, it'd been a vicious argument that lasted for years. The princess alliance hadn't wanted to name a non-magic wielder with the title, but some members of the neutrals had refused to leave their own titles while she was 'given special treatment'. The argument of whether she should be stripped of her title had been raised, but… well, the idea of losing a title by vote had raised even more outrages. In the end, Entrapta had been titled princess with great, great reluctance, dark muttering, and irritated politics, effectively leaving her stuck in the middle of a power play.
But for the most part, she specifically remembered Entrapta not attending any of these discussions.
And, if anything, that really should have been a tell that she just hadn't been interested.
"...Can I ask you something?" Glimmer fidgeted.
"Sure, knock yourself out."
"Last time you said Adora left Entrapta behind. Was that a figure of speech?
Catra frowns, turning to gaze at her warily. "What?"
"...We thought Entrapta was dead." She explains quietly. "And I didn't think about it then, but it... it sounded like you thought we left her behind."
"You didn't?" She's not sure why the faint disbelief hurts her. They're not friends, for all this temporary -very, very temporary- compromise had forced them together.
...maybe because they're supposed to be the bad guys, she thinks feeling exhausted. And what does that make me? When the bad guy thinksI'm the bad guy?
"No! We thought she was burnt alive! If we knew she survived we would have gone back!"
"...Well..." Catra says slowly, eyes darting towards the screen before returning to study her. After a moment, the sharpness in her gaze dulls slightly, letting out an irritated sigh as she returns to her work. "Next time you see her, you should probably tell her that."
"I-" Glimmer blinks, surprised by the lack of heat from the conversation. "Yeah… yeah, I guess I should."
"Mh-hmm. Well, with that done, why don't you make yourself useful and not touch anything. There's a window there, you can look pretty while I do the work."
Her eye twitches as she sends the woman an irritated glare. "Oh, trekldit off." Urgh. Catra might just be the most confusing woman Glimmer has ever met. She can't figure out what goes through that head, one minute she's being as sarcastic as Glimmer, the next...
No idea. Glimmer simply doesn't understand her.
"You weren't this entertaining last time." Her pondering is interrupted. "How come you won't stop swearing now?"
"Swearing? With Bow? He's almost as bad as mum." She shivered, remembering the one time her mother had caught her swearing. First Ones forbid she'd learnt the swear from her mother to start with. "Don't worry, my language will return to a pristine state the second we return."
"Oh? And here I rather enjoyed this side of you." Glimmer stills, feeling a slight heat creep to her cheeks. She stomps it. Viciously.
"It's all stored just for you." She chooses to lift her chin instead. "Not like there's anyone else I can swear at."
"Hmm, I'm guessing Adora was scandalised."
"That's an understatement."
"Yeah, sounds like-" Catra stops, blinking as the screen starts to make a noise. "Say, how long would you say we've been underneath ice?"
"Er-, maybe a day?
"Probably." Tilting her head, her expression turns thoughtful as she starts twisting a button. "If I know Entrapta, then she's probably using some scanners right now." Standing up, she reaches for one of the switches and flicks it upwards. "And-" The screen's light switches on, black and white flashing erratically. "I can probably contact her if I make enough noise in her scanner."
"...Right. Do you even know what-?"
"Catra!?" Entrapta's overly cheerful voice echoes from the screen. Though this is the first time Glimmer has ever heard any trace of concern in it.
"Oh, good, it works."
"Wildcat! Thank Hordak you're okay!" Another voice echoes from the screen, this one slightly more distorted than the other. "Where are you? Don't worry, we'll get you out as soon as we get there!"
"Calm down, Scorpia." Catra lips twitch, eyes warming with fondness. "We're in the snake's nest. Inside some first one's vessel-" Entrapta's faint squeak is all Glimmer needs to know that she wants nothing to do with it. "And I needed her advice on some things."
"I'm all ears! What does it look like? Did you get data? New tech? Anything?"
"Yes. And it's emitting heat. So... I was hoping you could tell me how to crank it up higher?"
"Er- what?"
"Uh-huh." Catra smirks at the screen, lazily leaning her face into her hand. "If we suddenly heat up the whole place, it'll melt, and maybe, say... explode and push the whole vessel upwards?"
"...what?" The insanity of the plan is enough that Glimmer and Entrapta speak synchronized.
"The ship is- what? Millennia old? The only scratch is the paint, which means it's rather durable. Seeing how we're under the water level, if we flood the place, the ship will float upwards."
"Er- Catra, It'll also sink downwards, the water will pull you with it." Entrapta points out.
"Only if we don't leave fast enough." Catra counters, claws going through her hair, making her look much more believable than Glimmer would ever admit.
"...Okay," Entrapta sighs. "Okay. Let's fix the camera so I can see what I've got to work with."
"Already on it." Catra smiles, placing the screen on the table before she turns to meet her gaze. "Sparkles? Bring Adora up here, if we go the violent way I'd rather she didn't hit her head again." And then she smirks -something Glimmer notes happen far too often- returning to her work with a final piece of sarcasm. "There's few enough brain cells as is."
"Wait, wait, wait. You're going to blow the place up while we're inside it?"
Catra slowly blinks once."...Pretty much, yeah." Maybe noticing her doubts, Catra sends her an amused smile. "You can either help me break out, or watch me break out. But either way, I'm breaking out."
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"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Glimmer hisses quietly, eyes darting through the hallway.
"Because overpowering an ancient battery is bad enough without working it remotely." Catra tilts her head, looking at the maze of corridors as she softly hums. "I think the engine room is this way. Probably." She remarks to herself, walking down one of the halls as Glimmer just stares.
She better be better at reading maps than Adora or Glimmer might just scream. Snakes be damned.
"I meant blowing the place up."
"I like blowing things up."
"I like blowing things up when they're not me." Sparkles hisses with a scowl.
"Hn. If you have any better ideas I'm all ears, sweet cheeks."
"How about waiting for your robots to dig us out of here?"
"One," Catra lifts a finger. "we have no idea how deep we are, and I'm not keen on eating any food that's still in here. Two," She lifts another. "that would include having to sneak past the snakes, swim past the snakes, and climb past the snakes."
"Argh! Of course it's- Fine! If we're blowing this place up we might as ad'fier well make it big!"
"That's the-!" Catra stopped, blinking as her eyes darted forward. Glimmer raises an eyebrow, eyes darting towards where Catra is-
Through the door is a large hangar filled with countless containers.
And snakes. Sleeping snakes. Deadly, house-sized snakes that had almost eaten them alive.
"...Let's not go this way." Catra whispers, sharing a look with Glimmer as she nods, because for all she's desperate to leave she's not quite at the point where-
Both girls blink, staring at plate-sized glass-like spheres. Crimson red staring back at them blankly. And then it lets out a growl like screech.
In an instant, Catra pulls out her knife and strikes forward -she'd rather stab first and ask later- with nothing but spite and reflex. Stabbing its eye as she watches it fracture with the following of pained screams.
She doesn't particularly care.
"Run!" Catra hisses, grabbing her wrist with one hand as she holds her knife with the other. They run into the hanger narrowly escaping the first set of fangs, watching as it hisses dangerously from the narrow railing.
"Why are we running towards the snakes?" Sparkles asks between breaths.
"Find a door, princess. We can talk after survi- Jump!"
She doesn't even give her a chance, throwing herself from the fence as she pulls Sparkles with her. Her feet slammed into the floor some few meters under before awkwardly rolling in hopes of decreasing the impact.
It still stings.
Grimacing, Catra forces herself up, reaching for the princess's arm as a shiver goes down her spine.
A dozen pairs of snake eyes open, staring at them with nothing but instinctual hunger.
And for a moment, she can only stare back.
But-
Catra is sapient. She is capable of thought and ideas. She has always believed she is no less than a human, should be treated no lesser than a human.
But she isn't human.
Her eyes sharpen, claws extending as instinct takes over and she runs towards the containers, their messy shape offers a labyrinth of twists and turns that make it a challenge for the snakes to follow.
They do, of course, turning and slamming and causing the containers to start falling over each other as the ship starts to shake.
Catra is a predator. Maybe a predator turned prey, but that means nothing for her instincts that so keenly -almost overwhelmingly- tell her where the next fang strikes. Where the containers will fall. Where she can survive.
It's terrifying, how sharp and clear everything moves around her.
She moves nothing like she was taught. No elegance or grace in her movements that Shadow Waver obsessed over. Not quite animalistic, her hand tightening around Sparkles wrist as her eyes scan the large room.
The ship was a maze of patterns. And the First Ones had proved to love their corridors. More importantly, they'd proved to love building them in different sizes.
But that's when time catches up with them.
Minutes later, her mind will flush the adrenaline, exhaustion allowing her thoughts to understand what happens and what could have been done better.
But right then? Then, all she knows is that one container too many falls. The vessel shakes, and then a resounding crack resounds around them. She doesn't allow Sparkles to stop, far too aware that the snakes haven't stopped moving, searching, hunting. Her eyes frantically search the hangar as a dozen of slithering serpents continue to chase.
But the floor shakes. And it tilts. And it tilts.
And then it tilts.
"Hold on." Glimmer snarls, hand sparkling with magic as pieces of metal flooring tear off the ground. She takes the lead as the torn pieces float, becoming more and more obvious as the whole place starts to lean sideways. And then she sees it. A half open hallway at the end of Glimmers makeshift path.
Her mind barely registers the sound of tons of water flooding the hanger. Far too relieved at the sight of the exit in front of them.
And then there's a jaw but a meter away from her, falling from the wall turned ceiling, wide and sharp and full of so, so many teeth that Catra's first note is that it has far more than a set of teeth. As in Its mouth was filled with multiple sets of sharp teeth all ready to tear them apart.
And then Glimmer snarls -again!- as sparkles engulf them. Catra momentarily feels her entire body fall apart, torn apart to the smallest of pieces.
And then they appear, just a few meters away, standing on the wall of the hallway -large enough that Catra assumes it's for large vehicles to use-, the door in the middle of underneath with nothing but chaos and watery hell greeting her eyes as she vomits. Eyes watering in pain as she drops her knife in an attempt to rub her throat.
Any complaints and sarcasm she might have had disappeared when Glimmer lets out a pained, choking sound, sliding down the sideway wall as her hand presses on her upper-mid chest. Her eyes water as her body convulses violently, letting out a pained chock as something silent leaves her voice.
Between the asphyxiating caused by the vomiting and the aching of her muscles, it takes her a moment too long to realise that Glimmer isn't vomiting her food as she lets out a near-silent sound.
She's vomiting blood.
Catra's mind is slow. It feels like it's caught in a tar. Slowed by her body reaching its limit.
It also takes her a moment too long to realise something is falling down the hallway. Fast. Again.
But she moves. Because if there's one thing she's learnt from Shadow Waver, it's that you never stay still when there's a knife at your throat.
Pushing the girl out of the way, she lets out a low growl. Her mind blanks, catching the longest of the snake's teeth as the world momentarily stops. Stuck in the middle of the collapsed princess and a hole to hell as she lets out a pained choke.
Pinned on the ground Catra snarls as the snake returns a growl. Wriggling and grappling as it tries to tear her apart.
And then she blinks, watching it recoil back without reason.
And then she corrects herself.
Glimmer lets out a snarl, stabbing it in a movement similar to her own as one of its eyes fracture.
Not one to lose an opportunity. Catra eyes sharpen as she twists her body.
With no limbs to grab, and lost its jaw to greed as her hands hold firm, it swirls helplessly as she pushes with everything she has left.
And it falls, swallowed by the shadows and glacial dark blue as the resounding thud echoes towards them.
And then there's silence. Nothing but the faint echo of water flooding underneath them as they simultaneously fall onto the door turned wall turned floor.
"We," Glimmer murmured, her body twitching as she let go of the knife. "are not doing that again. Ever… Ad'fier."
Too tired to respond Catra can only nod. Blinking, her eyes dart towards her arm, veins grown -and they'd just started receding- as her arm shakes frantically. And for a moment she stares, wary as small amounts of blood but not quite blood slowly starts to soak her arm.
But Catra has long since decided to die standing. So she stands, eyes darting towards the sidewalls, the ceiling, and finally to the now perpendicular standing floor. Picking her knife as she gently returns it to her sheath, her eyes dart towards her companion in concern.
"You with the living, Sweetcheeks?" Her voice feels dry and cut as she forces herself to walk towards Glimmer. Grimacing when she realises half the outfit is red mixed with pink.
"Don't call me that!" She half growls between coughs. It's a pleasant sound, she thinks. Not the usual prissiness she's attributed for months and far more of a fighter than Catra could have ever expected. "And yes. I'm malz'mi well living after that!"
"Good to know." Catra's smile feels more like a grimace, pulling the princess up as her eyes return to the perpendicular floor. "Because we have a lot of climbing left to do."
Sparkles look up, looks at Catra, and then looks back up. And then she lets out a low, pitiful moan. Catra would have laughed if it didn't project every one of her emotions. Instead, she half carries the half-dead princess to the best looking climbable area.
Because if she's going to die, she's sechertz'miwell not doing it alone.
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The room starts to heat as she closes the engine room behind her.
Relief and fear mixing through her as the room starts to brighten. It feels like hope and a death sentence all in one, nothing but chance and luck to decide which it'll be in the end.
This better work, She thinks, working with nothing but stubbornness and spite as she closes the last door. And the elevator better work as well, she scowls, placing the princess down as she waits for the room to move.
Entrapta had speculated it would take some of the excessive energy in an attempt to stop the overheating. And it wouldn't work but would be something useful to know for when she returned to the command centre of the ship.
And move it does.
Of course, for all her brilliance, even Entrapta would need days to figure out how to work the vessel.
For that point, Entrapta would need days to pilot the vessel. Which had been Catra's original hope when she'd first manage to plan around the graveyard. But Catra wasn't completely comfortable with letting her move to well-fortified locations, much less an area soon to turn into another war-front.
An entire crew learning would lead to a minimum of a month of engagement before they could take the vessel.
This led to the question of whether she could afford a prolonged engagement.
Which. No. Definitely not.
She'd almost hadn't noticed, between battles and organizing, but-
But the Horde's line of supplies were dwindling. Decades of constant use leaving them with a decreasing limit. Of course, for something like plating it could simply be scavenged and reforged. But the more fragile parts? The hardware that was used in all these robots, vehicles and weapons? ...it led her to... morbid thoughts.
Of course, part of the reason it was becoming such a significant problem was the large quantity that Lord Hordak used for his own projects. Catra wasn't about to question her Lord's motivations and ideas, but… it seemed… unwise, to put so much into a single project.
One, that from her understanding, had been failing for years.
Either way, the problem still laid that within a year, these weaknesses would become visible.
Currently, she was careful in how she used her units, how many locations she deployed them and how far they were scattered.
Beginning a campaign in a snowy wasteland? Where fuel was frozen, where the robots became far more fragile? Where hardware would easily fail without costly upkeep?
No, she simply couldn't afford that.
Closing her eyes, she hears the door open. Knowing that there can only be a few minutes to strap the princess into chairs, she opens her eyes.
She has a job to do.
But her mind spirals.
So what could she afford?
What can I afford?
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Her first thought is that she's dead. Painfully so, yes. Feeling squashed, frozen and in pain.
Pain mostly, actually. She's had magical exhaustion before, of course, but that was in the academy. Where it was strictly monitored with the best Etheria had to offer, not half-frozen at death's door with no one but one of the Rebellion's greatest foes carrying her half-dead body.
It's been a very stressful day.
And this is from the woman that she had to console Adora repeatedly over for every bed she accidentally killed.
Her second thought is that she's going to haunt Catra for this, even if the woman in question would have probably died with her.
And then she blinks, realising that Bow is blabbering something while frantically checking through her injuries.
"Bow?" Her voice feels dry and sore. She forces her eyes to stay open, finding her best friend holding her while the other sleeps peacefully.
"Oh, thank the First Ones! You're alive!" He lets out a shaky, relieved breath.
"…Don't feel alive…" She mumbles, grimacing as he helps her up. "What happened?"
Whatever his answer is, she ignores it at the sudden flash of memories invading her mind.
A faint explosion... no, it hadn't been as much an explosion as it was the echoing of freezing that shook the entire structure. And then the violent shaking of the ship, the millions of tons of water slamming into it with a terrifying drumming sound.
I must have lost consciousness. She grimaces, eyes darting to where the other princesses frantically checked over Catra in a manner that disturbingly reflected her own.
She'd rather not think about it.
"Adora?"
"She's okay." Bow assures her, smiling as he shows her the sleeping woman. "The sword didn't fall, and whatever the virus was, it started disappearing after a few hours."
"I see." She murmurs, feeling the hours of exhaustion catch up to her.
And then her eyes meet Catra, who studies her for a moment before nodding. She forces herself up, sharing a quick word with Scorpia and Entrapta before they start walking away.
"Catra, wait-" Glimmer bites her lip, forcing herself to take a step as the woman stops walking, even if she doesn't turn to look at her. "...Is...is this war really necessary?" What am I even saying? "...I don't think you're a bad person. If we only just talked we could stop it without any more bloodshed. We could stop all these pointless deaths." She's horrified. What in the treklditis she saying? Did she hit her head? She must have, definitely.
"..." Catra looks up, exhaling softly before turning her head just enough for one of her eyes to meet Glimmer's pair. "Is war necessary?" There was something… odd, in her tone, as if she wasn't quite looking at Glimmer. "No, I don't think it is. So why do people find it necessary?"
"...I don't understand."
"Talking wouldn't change anything, Glimmer." Catra shakes her head as she starts to walk towards the Hordes ship. "We might breathe the same breath, fight the same war, but the worlds we see are too different for us to solve by talking. War changes people." She confesses softly. "Changes the reason for fighting. And this war has long since stopped being about honour and ideals." For a moment she stops, hand reaching for a pocket before she throws a-
Glimmer blinks, catching the artifact as she stares dumbly. "Wh-?"
"Make sure to grind it to dust." She shrugs uncaringly. "There's only so many near-deaths I enjoy." She starts walking towards the ship, free arm waves lazily as Entrapta and Scorpia follow. "Try not to get yourself killed, sweetcheeks. I can only deal with so much idiotism."
Glimmer doesn't hesitate, breaking the artifact in half -vindictively, more than once- before falling on the snow exhausted, watching as the woman she'd just spent the past day trusting with her life disappears into the snowfall. "Bow? Hug?" She asks, feeling Bow's arms hold her tightly.
She feels odd... lost, for some reason.
She doesn't know how to feel about it either.
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"You're sure the explosion killed all of them?" Catra asks, thinking of the slithering fiernz'ya. "And if you bemoan about not getting more samples, I'll throw this into the sea." She snarks, handing Entrapta a small device she'd salvaged from the vessel.
The older woman salivates at the sight, grabbing the artifact as she eagerly examines it.
"So, what happened after I fell?" She turns to Scorpia as the other woman... twirls.
"Oh, well... we actually fell with you." At Catras alarmed glance, Scorpia instantly backpedals. "It's okay. We fell on a... er-"
"It was a snow bridge." Entrapta clarifies. Surprising Catra by pocketing the device as she joins the conversation. "It was only a few meters down, so I'm assuming there was also some ice and rock keeping it up from falling after the shockwave..."
"But you got out?"
"Nope." Entrapta smiles proudly. "Emily found us!"
For a moment, she ponders whether she has finally become delirious. And then she blinks, realising that it's very much the words she's heard. "...Come again?
"She hacked into some of the drilling bots' cores and led them towards us. Oh, you should have seen the calculations she did to dig a cave without collapsing the bridge! They're beautiful!" The woman sobs emotionally.
Catra watches Entrapta's toy preen at the praise, happily jumping in an adorable manner around its creator.
Don't be silly, Catra. Just because Emily's a robot doesn't mean she isn't sentient!
Befuddled, Catra raises her hand and pats the robot awkwardly as it stills. "Not bad, I suppose." She murmurs in praise at Entraptas pet.
She pulls back her hand, blinking as she notices both women grin.
"What?" She hisses defensively.
"Oh? Us? Nothing, nothing."
"Urgh. Whatever." Catra huffs, ignoring whatever headache it would bring, "Where did you find the artifact, anyway?"
"Next to the sword," Entrapta explains thoughtfully. "My initial idea was an attempt to track it in the hopes you had it. But it appears there was some sort of... magnetic attraction that was activated. I was hoping to study it further, but..."
"No more murder viruses," Scorpia concludes solemnly, offering Catra a blanket.
Catra nods appreciatively, feeling exhausted as she leans back into the vessel's wall.
Only to grimace when it moves in the particularly violent moment.
"Entrapta?" She calls out with a grimace." As soon as we get home, I want you to start designing a new ship. I'll get the materials," She continues, watching as the woman's eyes brighten. "So make sure the thing's stable."
It becomes a slight blur after. She only half listens as Scoripa offers to get something warm to drink, or when Entrapta starts trailing off in her own spoken thoughts as she starts planning.
"I'm surprised you chose to destroy the ship." Entrapta suddenly admits, pulling her out of her exhausted half-asleep state.
Catra's lip twitched. "Are you angry about it?"
"...I'm a little bit sad, but I understand why you did what you did. I'd rather have my friend than a… very technologically advanced vessel made by an ancient civilisation millennia more advanced than us."
Catra smirked, hiding how moved she was by the remark. "And here I planned on how to get the ship without starting another war for it."
Which was a challenge in itself. The Rebellion might sneer at technology, but it seemed somewhere between 'keep it out of the Horde' side and 'religious significance' that I'd be happy to retaliate.
"What?"
"Hmm." And now she allowed herself to smile. "Remember a certain schematic I gave you just after the mine operation? The one with an experimental flying vehicle?" It was rarely used, being high maintenance and requiring a huge supply of energy. Truth be told, the only reason it hadn't been scrapped when she found it was due to it being an artefact that had belonged to Scorpia's royal family. Even after months, Entrapta was still stumped on how to make it more effective. "Say, oh, instead of making it fly, I asked you to make it so it could travel underwater.
Entrapta stilled, eyes widening as she looked at Catra.
"And say that, maybe, I might have closed some of the vessel's doors. Doors that I'm certain were watertight."
"I-It would take me months to build." She stutters, eyes slowly widening as a smile grows on her lips. "Oh! But Catra! The possibilities! I could- I could make our ships faster, stronger. Oh gosh! They still had power! I could make them fly!" She starts running through the deck as Scorpia returns, offering a mug to the two as she stares at the woman half curios.
"I... probably shouldn't ask." Scorpia lets out a fond sigh, sending Entrapta an amused glance. Shivering slightly in the cold as she quickly takes another sip of her own mug.
Catra frowns, opening her mouth before shutting it closed. She feels bluebell coloured eyes staring into her.
But-
But there isn't. There's only her, Scorpia and Entrapta.
Only the Super Pal Trio.
Memorise flash of an explosion, shaking and panicking as her eyes dart to the two women strapped to the chairs.
Of flooding rooms, of sinking water.
Of desperately pulling both girls upwards as the vessel's sinking creates a current that pulls them downwards.
Of a claw reaching out, a rope tied to her waist as she holds Catra tightly, nothing but a refusal to let go as she finally gasps for fresh air.
"..." Letting out a sigh, she opens the blanket, dragging both women under ignoring perplexed or delighted glances.
For a moment, nothing but the calming whisper of the crashing water and the faint engine is all that sounds through the night. The night is quiet, the sky is clear, the air is clean, and she feels...
"Thanks for getting us out." She whispered gently, leaning her head on the taller woman's shoulder.
"O-Oh, don't worry about it... Any time, really."
And Catra smiles softly, closing her eyes, feeling nothing but safe for the first time since Adora left. She may only half-listen to whatever is said next, but it's the type of listening that she only does when she feels safe. Maybe, just maybe, she can risk trusting one more time.
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Catra shouldn't have trusted Scorpia. Clearly, it was a decision made through sleep deprivation and exhaustion. She wasn't one to make mistakes, but clearly, this one needed rectifying. Quickly.
"Oh, you look great!"
Catra's eye twitches as she glares at the larger woman.
"I-I mean, I know pink isn't your colour, but it was the only one I had your size. It was mine back when I was twelve," She explains fidgeting, half hiding behind Entrapta in hopes of decreasing the receiving glare.
She looks ridiculous, is all Catra knows, pretending she isn't in a frilly, pink covered apron.
"We're going to cook. Now."
And Scorpia instantly stops fidgeting, smiling happily as she darts through the kitchen much like Entrapta does through her lab, explaining each utensil and apparatus as she starts prepping the food.
And if Catra smiles fondly when neither are looking?
Well, that's her secret to know.
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Catra's book on how to not be an idiot:
Hysterical strength: Occurs when adrenaline makes the heart and lungs work faster sending more oxygen to major muscles. Causes a boost in vision, hearing and strength greater than the body is usually capable of.
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As always, a huge thank you to Hubris Plus, Sathroe and Tara for reading through the draft!
And with this, we are firmly out of the canon timeline! It was supposed to be less than half this length, but...
The next chapter is when we really start to get into Catra's transition of mentality -though there were hints through the story so far-, so I'm really looking forward to working on that!
None the less, 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