It was amazing how quickly her life had been absolutely ruined.

In all honesty Adora was absolutely amazed at how quickly it had happened.

All it had taken one poor decision on her part. One bad choice for her life to go right down the toilet.

But perhaps she should back up.

It had been a regular day at first, the usual things had happened and life went on. She hung out with Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle. She and Catra chatted and laughed through training.

It had been nice.

Then after training, Adora and Catra decided to head up to their regular spot overlooking the Fright Zone when Catra got an idea.

"Catra, that's a terrible idea." Adora told her best friend in the most firm tone she could manage.

"No, no it's perfect!" Catra insisted. "We go in, see what exactly is in there and get out. Then we will literally have been everywhere in the Fright Zone."

"Catra." Adora said slowly. "You've had some pretty bad ideas, remember snail armour? But this idea takes the full ration bar of bad ideas."

But Catra just rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, don't be such a square. What's the worst that could happen?"

"We get caught and sent to Beast Island."

"Then at least we'll be there together." Catra nudged her side gently. "Besides, we're just some rookies and Shadow Weaver always sticks up for you. If we get caught, odds are that we'll just be put on some horrible assignment."

Adora bit her upper lip in worry. "But trying to get into lord Hordak's personal sanctum…"

"It'll be fun." Catra claimed. "Trust me."

Normally Adora would say something along the lines of, 'yes I trust you, but this is just a bad idea' but today something shifted and she decided to go along with her friend's idea.

An hour or so later and they had managed to get to get just outside the vents to the sanctum, Catra unscrewed them while Adora kept a watch out.

"Come on Catra." Adora stage-whispered to Catra.

"One more minute." Catra hissed back as Adora's heart started racing.

There were footsteps coming nearer, if they were discovered then they would be in major trouble.

"C- Catra!" Adora whisper yelled with more urgency than before.

"Hold on…"

The footsteps grew louder and louder…

"…Now." Catra said triumphantly as she moved the grate, entering the ducts followed shortly by Adora herself who put the grate back on just in time for the patrol to pass them.

"Too close." Adora breathed. "That was too close."

"Just this once, I agree." Catra replied. "Now come on, lets get in and out."

They crawled along the vents and ducts, keeping a reasonable pace so that they wouldn't make too much noise. But of course finding the precise vent that would lead to lord Hordak's sanctum was a difficult task, even more difficult when one didn't have a map of the vent system.

But they managed and after what seemed like a full hour of searching, they finally managed to find it. They left the vent, taking the upmost care to make absolutely no noise.

The sanctum was different from how Adora had imagined it, looking much more like a weird science lab than a private place for the leader of the Horde to live in.

They stood there for a few moments, taking in the almost electrifying atmosphere before they both jumped at a loud noise.

It was lord Hordak himself, looking absolutely furious at something. He torn through the room like a thunderstorm, cracking desks and floors in rage.

Adora looked at Catra, and Catra looked at Adora.

In silent agreement they agreed that they needed to leave. Now.

Catra went first, slipping up into the vents, ready for Adora to follow her.

Then it happened, one split second, truly bad decision.

Adora decided to steal one last glance at lord Hordak, but because of this her foot hit a wrench, sending a loud noise that seemed to echo around the room which suddenly became very quiet.

Adora paused for a moment before making a mad dash for the vent, but she was too late and the last thing she saw before the dark of unconsciousness took her was Catra's scared face obscured in the vent.

The choice to take one last glance at Hordak.

That is what cost her everything.

What happened next was fairly simple.

When she came to Adora found herself tied to a chair and was interrogated by lord Hordak himself. Lots of questions about spying and treason in what was the single most terrifying experience of her life.

But she realised quickly that she couldn't say anything without also implicating Catra, so she gave evasive answers and refused to speak when asked certain questions.

The pain came next, quite a brutal beating if memory served her well and it often did.

The final blow had knocked her unconscious again and next she knew Adora was in the middle of a cell. Even worse, according to her guards Adora had been found guilty of treason with the maximum penalty being inflicted.

Adora was to be sent to Beast Island.

Then Shadow Weaver came to visit.

"Leave us."

Adora slowly opened her eyes and forced herself into a sitting position and turned to see her visitor.

Shadow Weaver.

"My dear Adora, what have they done to you?" Shadow Weaver said in what was a softer version of her regular tone.

She gently moved her hand over the side of Adora's face, causing her to wince as pain from her untreated wounds flared back up.

"My dear, this should help…" Shadow Weaver moved her hand in some form of spell and Adora could feel many, but not all, of her wounds/bruises heal.

"Thank you." Adora said, the first time she'd spoken in days.

"Always my dear." Shadow Weaver said. "But Adora, I need to know, this business of you and you alone infiltrating Hordak's sanctum, is it true?"

Adora's head dipped down, thoughts of Catra in her head. "Yes."

Catra hasn't even been down to see her yet, most likely because she didn't know where Adora was or couldn't find a way to see her.

"But you weren't alone were you?" Shadow Weaver said knowingly. "Catra was there as well, wasn't she?"

Adora said nothing, but clearly her face told it all.

"It doesn't have to be this way you know." Shadow Weaver said with her voice as sweet as poison. "Say it, say Catra was with you and I can get you out of here. All the blame can go to her, it was all her idea after all, wasn't it?"

For one dark moment, Adora considered the offer. But the moment passed as quickly as it came. Her loyalty to her best friend proved too strong.

Catra would not suffer because of her again.

"It was me and me alone." Adora said defiantly, looking Shadow Weaver directly in the eye.

"Don't be a fool." Shadow Weaver hissed. "I know that this was Catra's fault, if you don't turn her in then you will suffer."

"I was alone." Adora repeated.

Shadow Weaver stood upright.

"Then I cannot help you." She said, sincere sadness in her tone.

Shadow Weaver left, leaving Adora alone.

A few days later and Adora was taken out of her cell and to the throne room, Hordak himself had sat on his chair, looking rather bored or maybe it was vengeful? Adora couldn't remember.

In fact she could only remember two things from her sentencing.

One was that Catra was there, looking worse than Adora had ever seen her. In fact Adora suspected that only the combined efforts of Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle kept her from trying to attack Hordak.

The second thing was that Adora distinctly remembered crying.

Adora never cried in public, it was sign of weakness after all and Adora had never been the type anyway.

There were no sobs or anything, just tears streaming down her face through the whole ordeal.

No defence had been offered on her part, no words spoken. Her tears spoke loud enough.

Later that day Adora had left with the prison transport, an uneventful journey mostly because Adora genuinely had no idea what she was going to do.

They dropped her off with a 'survival kit' that contained the most bare bones supplies imaginable as was tradition with those being left on Beast Island.

Then the transport had left, Adora had watched blankly as it vanished into the distance as the reality of the situation set in.

And that is what led to Adora being where she was now.

Stranded on what could barely be considered a beach, a rudimentary campfire burning as the night rolled in.

The transport had left hours ago and Adora's only action had been to rather robotically set up camp. The situation refused to be processed by her head, memories of the last week playing on loop in her mind.

It refused to make sense in her mind.

Adora had all the facts but they refused to click together.

But it was late, she should sleep.

Adora opened the survival kit and looked for something that could be used as a blanket. She found nothing, apparently keeping warm wasn't a priority.

But then Adora spotted a small bump at the back of the survival pack, she opened it and out came a very familiar blanket, the one from her bunk.

A note fell out and Adora automatically caught it, reading all the words written.

Hey Adora, I managed to sneak this into the survival pack, there should also be some

extra ration bars to help with survival. I'm so sorry. About everything. When you were

caught I was so scared, they wouldn't let me see you and I couldn't get into the jail.

I am going to get you the first chance I can. As soon as I've got the clearance and the

location of Beast Island, I'll come and get you and everything will be fine. Just hold on

for a little while longer, I promise that I will help you. I will save you. That is a promise.

Love, Catra

Adora read the note once. Then twice. Then thrice.

The fourth time it was damaged by water of an unknown source. No, not an unknown source. It was her tears as everything finally sunk in.

Her old life was gone.

She had no one left.

She had no idea what she was going to do next.

And so, Adora wrapped the blanket around her on the ground, holding tight to the note and wept.

Her sobs would echo through the night as she cried herself to sleep.

The next day Adora woke to the crashing sounds of waves against the shoreline.

Groggily, Adora forced herself upright. She was sad, but why?

A few moments later memories of the past week flooded back into her head.

Ah yes, that would do it.

Adora felt around for Catra's note, finding it rather quickly, and read it a few dozen more times.

She then felt the relentless pull of hunger and dug herself out a ration bar to eat.

While she chewed it, Adora pondered on what exactly she should do next.

Beast Island was the stuff of nightmares in all the fairy tales. No one ever came back. It was used as the equivalent of a death sentence for a reason.

And in all honesty, on the beach under the warmth of the morning sun, it didn't seem to be all that bad.

But then Adora would look at the interior of the island, which loomed large with an oppressive atmosphere and darkness that loomed terribly and Adora knew the stories existed for a reason.

At least the beach seemed fairly safe.

It was then that Adora decided on a mission objective for the day. She would explore the beach and scavenge for supplies to help her survive.

Survival would be Adora's top priority until Catra could come and get her.

Adora knew Catra would rescue her, she'd made a promise and Catra had never broken a promise to Adora.

Adora smiled at the thought.

Mind made up, Adora got to work on creating an inventory of all the supplies she had on hand.

It wasn't much, just some ration bars, a flashlight, a lighter, some out of date painkillers and the blanket that Catra had sent.

But this, this was fine.

After making sure that all her supplies were indeed secure, Adora set off down the beach, keeping an eye out for anything that might be useful.

This itself proved to be a more difficult task than one would think. There was a lot of scrap metal across the beach most likely from other people that had been sent here before.

The beach itself would end up being about two miles long, although that was only a guess. Her salvaging efforts did prove fairly successful, granting her a extra flash light, a dozen or so coins and twenty unopened ration bars.

(The ration bars apparently went out of date last year according to the packaging.)

But the real prize was the skiff.

It was very damaged, the engine was quiet clearly busted, but the skiff was invaluable. With it, Adora could create something of a portable shelter. The only problem would be that it was a tad heavy and therefor hard to move.

But Adora did her best, forcing the skiff into a more reasonable position for dragging it across the beach at a later date. Some rope would be best for any further efforts, but unfortunately she didn't have any and it looked to be around the afternoon already.

Well, there was nothing else for it, so Adora started to push the skiff towards her current encampment. Taking care to stay off her right knee which still was busted from Hordak's assault.

Soon enough Adora had worked up quite a sweat and the watchful night began to close in.

So, exhaustedly, Adora left the skiff where it was and returned back to her camp and lit the fire again. A quick dinner of ration bars was had, before Adora curled back up into the blanket and read Catra's note until she fell asleep once more.

But as she did so, Adora could almost swear that she could hear something, like a noise trying to lure her deeper into the island. She had a really bad feeling about this.

The next few weeks would follow a fairly simple routine. Adora would get up, eat a ration bar, walk to the skiff and push it further to her camp. In the afternoon, Adora would try and catch some fish from the ocean, success happened only about a third of the time, and Adora would read Catra's note as often as she could, despite it already being burned into her memory. She'd exercise in the evenings and fall asleep.

But weeks soon turned into what could pass for months.

There was no Catra on the horizon, the skiff was finally set up and converted into a makeshift shelter for Adora's camp and the noise grew ever louder and more frequent.

In her lesser moments Adora would be very tempted to follow it deeper into the island, but then the stories of her childhood would flare up in her mind.

At many points she'd hallucinate. Visions of Catra to taunt her, of Shadow Weaver to say how disappointed she was, of everyone she'd ever knew.

But it always ended the same, they'd say that Adora wasn't worth it and leave her. Fun times right?

But she managed, kept herself alive despite what the hallucinations said.

Then the inevitable happened.

Adora ran out of food.

Nothing.

She check again.

Nothing.

Adora had no more ration bars left. All of them were eaten and she had very little fish left.

This was fine. She could get some more fish from the sea, sure it would mean that eating would be a lot less frequent, but Adora could manage.

Catra would be here any day now and they'd get off this awful island.

But Catra hadn't come had she?

That… that was true but… Catra promised, she was coming.

Catra wasn't coming. If she was she'd be here by now.

Catra had forgotten her.

No, Catra… Catra wouldn't.

Then why wasn't she here right now?

"Shut up." Adora said, the first time she'd spoken in a long time.

She was completely alone.

"Shut up!" Adora screamed this time, falling to her knees as she did so.

Whatever the voice was seemed to heed her words this time and Adora was left alone with her thoughts. Her real thoughts.

But the damage had been done and Adora was left with a few ugly facts.

First, she was alone and had been alone here for some time.

Second, people were not supposed to be alone for long periods of time, they needed others to interact with.

Third, Adora had no idea when Catra was coming… if Catra was coming.

Fourth, she couldn't stay on the island for much longer. Adora had no food and could recognise that her mental state would decline if she stayed here much longer.

It all added up to one thing.

Adora needed to get off the island.

And she knew just how to do it, if she converted the skiff into a boat then she could just sail away.

It would be hard to do it without proper tools, but she could manage. Her blanket could do as a sail and most of the work on it would be simple.

The only thing that she was missing was some rope.

Adora turned to look at the ominous entrance to the rest of the island, the only place where she might find some.

Adora was scared, but she could always have courage.

She would get the rope, create a boat and escape the island. After that…

Adora honestly had no idea.

Notes:

And that's the end of that chapter.

Welcome one and all to my latest story, with the basic premise being that Adora is sent to Beast Island after taking the fall for something Catra did.

Of course trying to find a Beast Island worthy offense for Adora to take the fall for was hard, but I think sneaking into Hordak's lab while he's enraged is good enough. It might be a little faster paced than what I originally intended, but as a prelude I think it does well.

I'd also like to announce that I'm looking for a Beta to help with the story, so if anyone's interested PM me on FFN.

Thanks everyone for reading, and stick around as next time Adora encounters the only other person on Beast Island. Till then I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.