A/N: Well people, this might go on hand to be the fastest I've ever updated (which hopefully makes up for the absence ^^) All I can say is... hoof... good luck... May the feels be with you... (also at a certain point, I've listed when to play some music from the show to maximize the amount of feels you should be getting, so have youtube and a she-ra soundtrack on standby, specifically when heartbreaking theme starts playing...)
Enjoy!
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"Agghhh!" Catra roared as she dove her sharpened claws into another robotic spider's head, pulling out a handful of wires as it screeched in, what she hoped to be, pain.
This day was the epitome of everything that can and has gone worse. From the moment she started exploring this place with Adora, the two found themselves trapped within an endless maze of hallways with these things littering the corners of their vision and filling the gaps of fear in their mind. Not once since the two came around here has their day gotten any easier, not even when they were in the presence of each other's company.
As a matter of fact, it was the presence of each other's company that slowly started to drive the two into a questionable relationship. Ever since they got here, they've been plagued with the memories of their past lives of all their time within the Horde. Some of it was good, other parts were bad, but on a whole, it gave rise to concerns the two had over each other as well as the issues they had with each other.
For Catra, it was her rise of annoyance and hatred she had for Adora's status within the Horde. To her, she always found Adora to be the goody-two-shoes who always had to come in first, who always had to be the center of attention. It's not that she was upset over the lack of attention she got, she was upset with the kind of attention she got. It was always praise and encouragement for her while it was verbal threats, taunts, and mocking Catra for everything she herself did. Not once did anyone other than Adora have something nice to say about it, and it annoyed her up till this point.
On Adora's end of problems, she noticed a certain pattern in her life that was starting to worry her. Whenever something bad happened, or before something bad happened, Catra abandoned her. She ran away when the two crashed the skiff into another one in the Loading Bay when they were kids. She was the one who set out several months ago on a journey that would turn her against the Horde, the very people who raised them both. Catra was always the one running away from the situation.
And it felt like Adora was the only one who was trying to get her back.
It's not like she didn't understand Catra's anger towards the Horde. While she never saw just how badly it got, she was more than aware of the numerous pranks and stunts pulled on Catra when she was a child, how often Catra was getting teased and being called a "freak" around the Fright Zone. It didn't make any sense to her and she didn't care about whatever reasoning people had to taunt her as such. She was a dear friend to her and to this day, she continued to be the one to defend her at every turn.
So why couldn't Catra do the same? Why couldn't she try to explain to Adora what was going on, even when she thought she was being brainwashed? A better question would be why didn't Catra ever come back for Adora in the first place? Since she escaped the Fright Zone with the princess, in part thanks to Adora's involvement, that question has been haunting her mind. It took Catra time to make friends, and she never managed to make any more friends within the Fright Zone, much less try.
Then how did she manage to make friends on the enemy's side of all places?!
It didn't matter to the two, not that they were given long enough, as the last simulation they experienced brought them to an unimaginable memory that Catra never wanted to re-experience, never wanted to resurface. It was the very day her foolishness, recklessness, and lack of commitment to her promises that lead to what can only be described as the worst day of Catra's life. And no amount of talking or therapy would ever make her forget such a horrific event.
Perhaps that was Karma's way of getting back at hr, given the present situation she found herself in.
Almost immediately after pulling herself out of her recent simulation, the magicat found herself swarmed by wave after wave of these spider-like robots, the very ones who seemed intent on her and Adora's capture the moment Adora activated some security mechanism as Catra was being scanned for some bizarre identification process.
These creatures were massive with a sticky web they could spew from their mouth at any given opportunity, the webs themselves, while easily cut through, were incredibly durable and hard to pull apart. She didn't know why the creatures were continuing to pour in after her, having the idea that Adora was the intruder they were after, and she didn't care for once. This place, the very one she came to in the hopes of saving her friend, went on to torment her time and again through her memories, and made her relive the worst experience of her life.
She was more than eager to relieve the stress she's built up after today.
*CRASH!*
"Arrrgh!" With another roar, the magicat jumped from one spider's mechanical head to the next, right as a metallic spear nearly impaled her, striking the robot she was riding as a result. As she jumped, she felt herself getting tangled up by her foot as one of the other robots spat out another gunk of the atrocious webbing, catching her in the air and dropping her to the ground. Grumbling, she saw the same robot closing in on her as it attempted to spit another pile of webbing straight at her chest, hoping to entrap her arms and disable her.
Learning from her last mistake when she was captured by one of these mechanical bots, Catra swiftly rolled out of the way, swiping away at her feet at the same time as she cut away at the annoying stickiness, freeing her feet at long last. Jumping up to said feet, Catra gave another hiss as the robot approached her. Like the last two times, it attempted to catch her in another spit of the sticky substance, but found the magicat was too quick as she jumped into the air, landing straight on top of the creature's head where it couldn't shoot her.
Instead of going straight for the head like earlier, this time she hacked her claws away at one of it's frontal appendages, cutting off the metallic silver leg that was practically the same size as her, and impaling it directly into the robot's skull. She grinned to herself as she saw the sparks from the robot flare up, jumping away from the scene with the detached limb in hand as it collapsed behind her. Now Catra had her claws, and a new appendage to use as a weapon.
And she still didn't like her chances of victory.
No matter how many of these stupid spider things she cut away, more continued to swarm her area. When she destroyed one giant spider, another two took it's place. When she dodged one gunk of the sticky webbing, she found another two shots attempting to strike her. Every time she beat one of these creatures back she felt another ounce of her strength leaving her. Without the sword to cut away at these things easier, the very sword one of these robots seemed to be purposely covering over, there was now way she was going to be able to defeat all of these things on her own!
What's worse, she still had no idea where Adora was! All that girl had with her was the stun baton she came here with, seeing how Catra swiped her headband for safety reasons until the two could escape from this place. Like all the other reckless decisions she's made in the past, here she was starting to regret her most recent, seeing how she was having a hard enough time with these things, only thankful that she had claws to make the task much more manageable.
How hard of a time was Adora having with these thigns?!
"Adora," Catra said to herself as she watched another massive spider approaching, "where are you?!"
...
...
"Huff... Huff..." Adora panted as she continued running down the halls frantically. She wasn't running out of fear for her own life, but for Catra's after the realization she's had.
Up till now, the two were under the impression that the spiders were either after the both of them, or Adora in particular. And why wouldn't they? The explanation clearly made sense to them at first! Catra seemed to know what she was doing here while Adora snuck her way in here in order to find a piece of technology or artifact that she could present to Lord Hordak himself, in an effort to atone for the mistakes she's made and her assistance in helping the Princess of Bright Moon, aka Glimmer, escape from the Fright Zone.
She found it wonderful when Hordak offered her leniency and was very thankful for the opportunity too! The problem came down to what she could do to make amends for her transgression. She was tasked with finding something worth contributing back to the Horde, something of equal or greater value than the princess she lost and the Sword of Protection that Lord Hordak seemed rather obsessed with for an unknown reason, and she was given one week to do so.
Naturally, anyone given such a task would find themselves panicking, finding themselves at wits end as they tried to think of a solution to their problems. Fortunately for Adora, she had the assistance of a certain princess, the one she believed to be left behind by the others, who went by the name Entrapta. Winning her over to their cause didn't take much effort, seeing how she was already fascinated and overjoyed at the sight of so many technological marvels of the world. Add to the fact she was, presumably, abandoned by the Princess Alliance and left to die here, and she was more than eager to join the Horde.
It was thanks to her assistance that Adora managed to find this place, and it's thanks to Catra's presence that she wasn't driven insane after everything she's experienced until now. At least, that used to be the mindset she had before the latest simulated memories came knocking at their door.
One after the other, Adora noticed something that continued to torment her ever since coming here. More often than not, she found Catra repeating the same acts of betrayal against her, leaving her behind or not being there when she needed her most. It didn't mean she couldn't understand the reasoning for these acts, knowing her friend was afraid of the consequences from time to time. If she had stayed in the Loading Bay, for instance, she would've been subjected to whatever punishment Octavia had to dish out for them. That much she could understand.
What she couldn't understand was why it was continuing to happen. It felt as if Catra was continuing to make the same mistakes again, taking it upon herself to abandon Adora's side whenever she needed her help the most. When it came to the start of all this nonsense, she wouldn't let Adora join her no matter how much she pleaded, and when she aided in her escape in the Fright Zone, she took advantage of their friendship and stole the sword.
It was almost as if Catra didn't care for Adora, and no amount of skepticism could convince her she didn't. After all, they were friends ever since they were kids. She's always had Catra's side, defending her from the bullies that picked on her the best she could, and Catra gave her a reason to smile on most days, admiring the kindness and innocence Catra used to display when they were little.
So what changed over the years? More importantly and worrying... did anything change over the years? Or was this the way it's always been between the two of them? Being on the outside looking in this time around, she could help but feel a strangeness in her heart as she watched the events displayed around her. Something troubled her about all of this, and the only thing more troubling than that was the fact it bothered her at all to begin with.
What was it about these events that was getting to her? What made her so worried the more she experienced them?
These kinds of questions were put on hold as she continued running down the hallways, intent on finding, and possibly saving, her best friend from certain danger. The spiders didn't seem too keen on capturing Adora, the realization she had after being approached by three of them who slithered away back into the darkness.
That was the good news.
The bad news was the probable explanation and realization she came to following that. These spider things weren't chasing after Adora because they didn't consider her the intruder of this establishment. They considered Catra to be the intruder instead, and they were doing everything in their power at that moment to apprehend the young girl!
With this in mind, she set her sights on finding her dear friend, wherever she could be, as the simulations started to collapse around her. One by one, she watched as the place around her gave way, revealing the walls and floors of the real establishment that lied hidden beneath all of it. Something was causing this place to destabilize, and she didn't care what the cause was. She just knew if she didn't hurry, Catra would be in imminent danger, and she needed to make it to her side as fast as possible!
Perhaps this place was aware of that? Perhaps it didn't want her to find her friend in time? These questions were being formed after Adora came to another simulated room, one that materialized around her and blocked off her escape. She didn't have time to watch whatever saddening scene they had to show, she didn't want to relive whatever experience they had to offer!
And yet, for some reason, she found herself unable to look away. At the sound of a small sniffling, she approached what appeared to be a small bundle in the middle of the bunk room, sitting against the small bed away from the bundle as it continued to cry. The bundle was too wrapped up to tell at first glance, but the way she was lying in the middle of the bed, the way it covered itself from head to toe, there could be no mistaking it. She remembered this day as one of the best memories she's ever had.
And it was about to be the worst experience of her life.
...
...
"Adora?" A depressed-looking, nine-year-old, Catra called out from the doorway. Unlike the previous simulations she's experienced up to this point, Adora, the present one, wasn't integrated into the simulation. She was still sitting on the bed opposite of the other girl as her younger self popped her head up a little bit, still under the covers, at the sound of the voice. Looking back, the younger Adora's eyes continued to water, watching as her as a guilty Catra approached the bed with her hands behind her back.
"Y-You..." Adora sniffled, wiping her tears away with the blanket. "W-Wh-Why did you abandon me back there, Catra?" The blonde winced a little as she rubbed her cheek, still sore from the fall she took from the skiff. "Octavia, she... Ngh..." The girl hiccuped a little as the tears continued to form around her eyes. At the cry, Catra looked away in regret.
"I... I'm sorry, Adora..." The younger one apologized, unable to look her in the eye. The real Adora curled her legs up on the simulated bed, hugging herself as she watched one of her treasure memories unfold in front of her. "I... I was scared, okay?"
"No, it's not okay!" The younger Adora cried out as the young Catra hopped onto the bed, sitting on her knees from behind her. "I'm not as fast as you! S-She caught up to m-m-me, you know!" She sniffled. "S-She would've hurt me, threatened to hurt me, if Shadow Weaver didn't appear!"
"T-Then you see? Everything worked out!" The younger Catra tried to comfort her as she rubbed Adora's back with her tail, knowing how much it used to comfort her.
"No it didn't!"
"No it didn't." Both Adora's said in unison, the real Adora remembering her exact words as a small frown began to form.
"I got yelled at by the both of them! Big time!" The younger blonde cried out. "I've... I've never seen her so angry before... n-not to me..." It truly was the first day Adora ever found herself on the receiving end of Shadow Weaver's fury, the first time she could ever recall feeling the same kind of fear Catra felt almost every day of her life. She's never felt that kind of anger directed at her before, not once in her life, and it came from the very person she thought loved her dearly.
Looking back on it, Adora knew it was for her own good. Like any decent parent, she was angry because she was scared, not that Adora knew what a real parent was like. She was shouting at her with every intention to remind Adora of doing something so reckless, something that would've costed her life, like the incident several years after it did.
Just like the other time she found herself without Catra by her side.
"I-I know... and I'm really sorry!" Catra apologized again, growing a small smile as she sat right next to the younger Adora. "But hey, I know something that will cheer you up!" Catra tried to encourage. Taking a moment from her sniffling, Adora found herself actually surprised by what Catra pulled from her back.
Two solid crayons, fresh and ready to use. One was pink, and the other blue.
And they were more than enough to bring Adora out of her stupor.
"W-Where..." The young Adora rubbed her tears away from her eyes, letting out another sniffle in the process. "W-Where did you get those?"
"Eh, some nut job who happened to 'lose' his keys in the hallway." Catra chuckled with a cheeky grin. The older Adora watched as Catra pulled her closer to the edge of the bunk bed against the wall, where the small metallic piece of the bunk connected the two beds. "Here, do you want the blue one or the pink one?"
"Umm... pink." Adora decided, stretching her arms out of the blankets as she gently plucked the pink crayon from her friend's hand. She watched as her friend gave another cheeky grin as she began drawing a picture of herself, her head specifically. Eyeing the pink crayon in her own hand for a moment, Adora followed through as she did the same, drawing her own head to the best of her ability.
"Was I... really that easy for you...?" Adora asked herself as she held herself tighter.
As the two continued to doodle away, Catra glanced over as she noticed the still-undesirable frowning on Adora's face. She thought the crayons would cheer her up a lot more than that. Anyone getting anything even remotely fun around here as a gift was almost impossible to come by. It taught the kids the meaning of earning their rewards, to work hard to accomplish their own goals and ideals. Something as simple as a crayon was like giving someone a new car out of the blue around here. It almost made Catra wonder if she appreciated the gift or not.
Then again, it's not like she could blame her either. With her own small frown, Catra turned her head away as her ears tilted in depression. "Adora, I... I know I might leave you once in awhile... or I might do something stupid without realizing it." As her friend looked to her curiously, Catra gave back a small smile. "But I still haven't forgotten our promise, okay?" She felt a great warmth wash over her as she raised a pinkie between the two of them, seeing the small smile it managed to grow over the young Adora's face.
"I look out for you..." Adora spoke, taking hold of Catra's pinkie with her own.
"I look out for you..." The older Adora did the same, bringing her own pinkie to the holographic projection even as her finger phased through it.
"And I look out for you." Catra replied, tightening her pinkie against Adora's as they shook. "And I'll always be by your side."
At this, the two friends hugged.
It was one of the few moments in Adora's life that she treasured the most, one that she savored ever since. The sight of her friend committing to such a compassionate promise, knowing that she would always be there for her, it gave Adora her own sense of hope that everything would work out in the end.
But here... seeing the same scene again? It didn't fill her with warmth. It didn't bring any comfort to her whatsoever as she pulled her hand back, hugging herself as her eyes started to water.
Finishing their masterpieces of a picture, the two friends took a look at one another's face that they drew, laughing at each other's crude drawing of their own face. These were the moments the two would always remember, the very ones they would look back on whenever they were in a time of need.
Seeing how she successfully cheered her friend up, Catra casually hopped off her bed, running towards the door. "Now come on! I know how to get back at that stupid-headed Octavia girl! I got the best prank ever!" At the announcement, the young Adora stared off ahead of herself as she sat from the bed. Unbeknownst to her at the time, she was staring straight off into Adora's own eyes, the older Adora watching a small tear gather at the edge of the younger Adora's face, one she wiped away as she sighed.
"I'm coming." Adora announced, removing the blankets from herself as she smiled back to her dear friend, chuckling along the way to their next brilliant adventure.
"Catra..." Watching the two leave, Adora finally broke down into tears as she cried into her curled up legs.
She remembered the times back then when they were kids. They were simpler times, better times. Times the younger Adora thought everything would work out, that everything would be better after awhile for the two. She always knew as long as they had each other's backs, that nothing bad could ever happen to them. No matter how many times Catra was or wasn't there for her, she knew she would always be the one Adora could rely on to make her happy, and keep her safe.
Now, though, she was more mature. She bared witness to the exact same events, the very way they originally played out, as a much more sophisticated and older Adora. And the sight she witnessed before her didn't fill her with anything good. It didn't give her a sense of relief, it didn't make her feel any better than she did now. All it did was fill her with a whirlpool of despair, a great geyser of endless sorrow that was washed away with the ocean.
Nothing but endless sadness.
...And a newfound anger...
...
...
"Gaaaah!" Catra screamed as she dashed under the legs of one of the mighty robots, panting in-between roars as she impaled into the mighty robot's stomach from underneath using the broken appendage, and cutting it all the way across its abdomen. With a deathly cry, Catra slid out from under the great beast as it collapsed to the floor, Catra finding herself backing up the second she managed to catch her breath. Like every other time, the swarm just kept coming.
This was starting to get out of hand. For maybe ten minutes straight, Catra has been charging at, clawing at, destroying every single robotic spider that came her way. At first, she thought she had the upper hand. Avoiding the sticky webbing, the battle was relatively easy for her to deal with. Her claws could tear away at the hunks of metal around them, and the appendage she had served as both a relatively-good battering ram, and a magnificent spear she could chuck at these wretched creatures with!
That optimism only lasted as long as her stamina did, the very one that was starting to reach it's limit. Despite her best efforts, no matter how many of these things she managed to destroy on her own, they continued to come out of the darkness. She's barely had any chance to go for her sword, finding two more spiders replacing the one that previously guarded it, and she has yet to see an end to these never-ending stream of robots!
"These things keep coming..." Catra muttered to herself as she panted. With a small glimpse, she quickly rolled herself out of the way as another spider attempted to impale her with its massive leg, Catra throwing her only weapon out of anger as she impaled it directly in the head where it exploded. It was alright, hopefully, since she still had her claws on hand and her agility, the one that continued to diminish with each passing second.
*Skreeeeeee!*
She heard the monsters screech out again. "Come on you stupid bucket of bolts!" Catra shouted angrily. "I'm on your side here! I'm looking for Light Hope for crying out- Ahhh!" Catra yelped as she threw herself to the ground again, narrowly avoiding the rear end of the appendage she almost found herself impaled on. No sooner had she landed on the ground did she find her left hand getting stuck to the ground right next to her, practically sealing it in place.
Growling, she took the small instance of time she had to swipe away at the ghastly webbing, springing back to her feet soon after. The moment she planted both her feet back to the ground, however, she found her right arm getting webbed next, forcing herself to cut away at the webbing again as more of the spiders began to fill the area.
Here, Catra found herself at her limit. One after the other, she watched helplessly as the spiders shot a blast of the sticky webbing at her, forcing her to contend with the sticky substance as it stuck to her. Even with her best efforts, she found the webs continuing to assault her from one angle, never giving her the chance to so much as jump or roll away from her grounds as she was too busy contending with the substances that continued to close in on her, working both her claws tirelessly to cut away at anything that caught her. And it only lasted for so long.
Eventually, it happened.
Through the combined effort of her tireless state, the exhaustion looming over her, she found one of the blasts striking at her right hand completely, covering every angle of it in a blob of silk. The second she took to look at the green webbing, the instant she should've used to swat away at it, she found her left hand covered by the webs. "No!" Panic and fear claimed her mind as she frantically tried to pull away at the stickiness, the robots seeming to have a far better foresight as one of them blasted at her right foot, keeping her in place and preventing her from attempting to run away with the webs coating her hands as a means to pry it off.
"Ghhh! Come... on..." Catra grumbled to herself, trying to shake her arms enough in a desperate attempt to remove the webs from her. Like all her efforts, it proved to be in vain as the young magicat found herself too weakened and exhausted from her overextended fight with these robots. The small ounce of solace she got out of all of this was the fact the robots refused to fire any more of those annoying webs at her, knowing it would diminish her chances from escaping from minuscule to nothing.
"Adora!" Catra cried out, knowing she was her last chance of surviving. "Adooooraaaaaa!"
*tap*
*tap*
*tap*
Her ears twitched as the eerie silence brought in the sound of someone's footsteps approaching. To Catra's everlasting joy and relief, coming from behind the spiders, she saw Adora approaching, the girl showing no signs of fear as she did. She didn't care or question why the robots didn't seem to attack her, she just knew that if anyone could help her, she could.
"Adora! Phew, thank goodness you're here." Catra went on as Adora stood in front of her, keeping her gaze to the ground. "Quick, you gotta help me out of here! We can still escape!"
"..." Her friend didn't say anything as she pulled out the stun baton from her jacket, eyeing it curiously as she waved it back and forth in her hand. Something was worrying Catra as she watched Adora stand there, the girl not seeming to have a hint of concern or worry in her eyes.
"A... Adora?"
"...A tool." Tightening the grip on her baton, Catra could finally see the emotions through Adora's eyes, the pain that filled them to the bitter end. Her eyes were filled with nothing but tears... and hate. "That's all you ever saw me as, wasn't it?"
"Wha... What are you talking about? Ngggh!" Catra let out a small cry as she felt the robots webbing her arms pull back painfully, forcing her to her knees.
"What do you think I'm talking about? I'm talking about us!" Adora shouted as the tears dripped from her face. "The whole time... after everything we've been through... it all makes sense now..." The Force Captain sniffled a bit as she hugged herself. "You never saw me as a person, you never saw me as your friend. You... You just s-saw me as someone you could use. S-Someone... Someone you could take advantage of!"
"T... That's not-"
"You didn't even see me as a person. As far as I'm concerned, from day one, you've only wanted me around to make your life easier. You saw me as your s-shield..." She sniffled, trying to maintain her assertive demeanor through her sorrow. "You only wanted me around because you knew I would protect you... that as long as I was around, you could get whatever you want..."
"That's not true-!"
"OF COURSE IT'S TRUE!" Adora shouted angrily. "Whenever we did something, it was what you wanted to do. Whenever we got in trouble, you always stayed behind me or ran for cover while I took the fall. You knew you could get away anything as long as you had me to protect you. You could demand anything from anyone as long as you used my name and my connection to Shadow Weaver. You..." Adora turned her head away as her face contorted with pain. "You saw me as nothing... Less than nothing!"
"N-No... T-That's not true, Adora!"
"Oh, really?" Adora lowered herself down a little till she was at eye-level with her former friend. "How about that guard, huh? The one you threatened using my name? Heh... I wonder who else you managed to scare? How many people came to fear me just because I was Adora."
"I..." There wasn't a single line she could think of for a rebuttal.
"How about every time you got in trouble? Who's back did you hide behind every time?"
"That... I-I was scared, Adora, okay! I was a kid!"
"Oh, right, that explains it." Adora rolled her eyes in disgust. "Fine. You were a kid then, huh? Ok. Then explain NOW!" She shouted as she grabbed Catra by the top of her vest, pulling her up as high as the webbing would allow her. "WHY DO YOU KEEP LEAVING ME WHENEVER I NEED YOU?! WHY DID YOU SUDDENLY DECIDE TO SWITCH SIDES WITH PEOPLE YOU'VE BARELY MET, WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A THOUGHT?!" At this, Adora dropped her back to her knees, Catra's ears still ringing.
Catra was at a loss for words. Almost everything she was saying, everything that still rung in her ears, it was all true. From a direct point of view, at least, she was telling her every single thing Catra had done to her, whether or not intentionally. "A-Adora, it's not true!" Catra attempted to argue, rising as high as she could force herself to. "I was awful, okay? But that didn't mean we weren't friends. We were always friends, we still are!"
"Then why didn't you ever come back?" Adora cried. "You never answered my question. Why didn't you ever come back for me?" The sadness over her face slowly turned to rage, bile, and disgust. "You had plenty of opportunities to do so, and you never so much as budged until that stupid princess friend of yours was taken."
"B-Because... Because it was for our dream, remember?" Catra spoke up, trying to find the last amount of defense that she possible could. "Remember when we were kids? We always talked about what we wanted. I was trying to make our dream come true, I was trying to get us a kingdom out of all of this!"
"A kingdom?" Adora spat. "Catra... I NEVER asked for a kingdom! Having a kingdom was your dream. It's always been your dream! I didn't have anything close to that for my dream! Do you even remember what my dream was?"
"You..." No, this... this couldn't be right! Having a kingdom? Who wouldn't want that! You could make your own rules, be loved by everyone in your kingdom! S-Surely Adora had the same dream too...right? "You wanted... I..."
"All I asked, since day one, was for us to be friends, Catra." Adora stated. "I didn't want some big fancy castle, I didn't want any crusty old dirt. All I wanted, all I have ever wanted, was for us to always be friends."
"A... Adora..." How... How could she forget about this? Something as important as Adora's own dream?
"And I thought at first I had my dream, you know. We were like sisters, you were my best friend, Catra, and I..." Adora wiped her tears against her sleeves, drying out the pain. "...I don't know what I thought anymore... All I know... is the reason you never came back for me, Catra."
"W..." She didn't understand the answer herself. "Why...?"
"It's because you're selfish. You're greedy. You never do anything unless it benefits you in some way. You never act like someone's friend unless it benefits you in any way..." Adora squeezed her fist at this revelation. "I used to think people called you a freak because of how you looked, but now... I think it's much more than that. It all makes sense now... Why you're acting like your friends with them... because they have so much more to offer you than I ever could... That's all that ever mattered to you. That's why you're a freak."
"And you know what? I'm done." Without hesitation, before Catra had so much as time to blink, Adora swiped her hand against Catra's throat. Grabbing, at first what she believed to be her throat or her vest, she instead found herself gasping in fear as she saw Adora pluck the headband from Catra's person, the very one that cancelled out her emotions.
"I'm done being the helpless victim out of all of this. I am tired of being the one people think they can just manipulate and get away with it."
"Adora, no-!" Catra's cries fell on deaf ears as the Force Captain donned her cursed head band after long last, reuniting it with its master. The shadows that descended from the dark corners of this complex gave no way or fear over Adora. She accepted all the darkness, she embraced the nothingness that she felt. She wanted this head band to give her the one feeling she cherished over all.
Nothingness.
And with her red-colored eyes opening, she continued, "I'm tired of always being the nice one. I am never allowing people to use me again, Catra. Not you, and not Shadow Weaver. And if Hordak tries to use me next, I'll get rid of him too."
"Get rid of...? W-What are you planning to do, Adora?" There was anger in Adora's tone, no matter how much she tried to force herself to repress it.
"Isn't it obvious?" To emphasize her point, she drew the shadows into her right arm, tightening her gargantuan form into a mighty fist. "I'm going back to the Horde, Catra. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you from achieving your selfish dream. And that starts with me, burning down everything that can help you achieve your dream. Starting with the Rebellion," at this, Adora turned her back to her as she started to walk away, "and everyone in it."
"Wha- No!" Catra panicked, grumbling as she tried to pull away from her bindings. "Adora, listen to me!" She prayed anything she said got through to her as she watched her stop. "You were right, okay? I was being selfish. I always assumed I knew what was best for both of us. But I never did it thinking you didn't enjoy it, okay? I always thought you were having the same amount of fun I always had! I always thought we were more alike than I knew! But I didn't, okay? I didn't. I was being stupid, and selfish, and I'm... I'm sor-"
"I'm sorry." Adora interrupted forcefully. "It's like it's all you know how to say. You think that makes it allllll better. You think you can fix every single problem in our past, every single dilemma in our future, all because you simply said 'I'm sorry'. You never put any effort into your apologies, you never meant anything you said. As long as you kept yourself on my good side, you took full advantage over me, knowing I would never turn you away."
Turning her head, Catra could see it. Adora's entire expression was filled with sadness as the tears poured away from her eyes. No matter how hard she tried to repress herself this time around, she couldn't keep any amount of her emotions from coming out. This was the Adora that Catra knew, the one that cared deeply for everyone no matter how hard she tried to repress it.
This is the Adora that Catra hurt the most.
"Well it's not going to work anymore, Catra. I am done being your servant, your punching bag, every single thing you used to detest about bullies. I have nothing more to say to you, Catra." With the final turn of her head, Adora walked her way into the darkness.
(A/N: For maximum feels effect, it is recommended listening to the same horrifyingly depressing music that plays at the climax of this episode.)
"A-Adora...?" This... what was happening? This wasn't supposed to happen! They were best friends, they've always been friends, they still are friends to her. This isn't... I-It's this place, right? Yeah, it couldn't be her fault! She wasn't selfish like Adora said she was, she wasn't trying to hurt her on purpose or anything! It couldn't be. "Wha- Adora? W-Wait! Adora!" Catra shouted, growling to herself as she struggled to get the webbing off of her. "G-Get off! Let me go! ADORA!" Catra cried out again.
With every last ounce of strength she could muster, every muscle that she could squeeze out of her body, she pulled. Her heart raced every second as she attempted to pull herself out of the stupid webbing that was keeping her away from Adora. "Get off of me! LET ME GO!" She shouted, stretching herself out as far as she could. With all the combined might she could siphon out of herself, she finally managed to pry her right hand out of one of the atrocious bindings, quickly swiping away at her left hand and her foot posthaste, running into the darkness after Adora.
"Adora, wait!" She cried out as the tears drained from her eyes. "I'm sorry!" All around her, she watched as the remains of the simulation continued to destabilize further, watching as she passed multiple versions of herself at various ages. They were all the worst parts of her life, the moments she wished she could forget.
The very moments Catra was at her worst to Adora.
The first one was a simple matter of Adora passing by Catra in the bunk room. She remembered that day when her seven-year-old self got beaten up by Lonnie and several other punks she picked a fight with, intending to make them pay for tripping her up several times during their last training exercise. She watched in tears as Adora approached Catra as she continued to sulk angrily on her bed, carrying over a small puzzle box in her hands.
"H-Hey, Catra? I found a puzzle box we could-"
*whap*
Without warning, she watched her younger self as she knocked the box right out of Adora's hands, the blond friend moaning to herself as she looked back to the young Catra. "Leave me alone, Adora. I'm not in the mood."
"But, Catra-"
"Leave me alone!" The young Catra hissed again, glaring angrily at the other. The last thing the real Catra saw as she ran passed the two diminishing holograms were tears growing in the corners of the young Adora's eyes, showing her how much pain she was in.
"No, that... That wasn't me!" Catra yelled to herself, squeezing her head. Ahead of her she saw another one of those stupid spider things attempting to block her path, no doubt the very same Adora too. "Get out of the way!" She growled. With one grand slide, she slid herself under the massive bot's stomach, cutting away at two of it's front legs as she did, and dropping it to the ground where it cried out in pain.
She couldn't believe she was the horrible child she just witnessed. Sure, she sometimes got into a fight with Adora here and there, but that was... that wasn't even a fight... a-and she wasn't yelling at her! She was just moody, that's it!
That's what she kept telling herself as she came across another room. Most of the simulation had terminated by now, but one constant that seemed to be playing endlessly was the small section of what could've been a classroom, seeing her younger self and Adora sitting at a table.
It was another instance of Catra's apparent selfishness, whether or not it was intentional. She remembered that day as one of the big test days they had when they were ten years old. There they were in their old uniforms, sitting side by side as they took the test. As always, Adora seemed to be getting through the test with ease, spending barely any time as she filled in the multiple choice answers and then moved on to the essay portions.
Catra, on the other hand, was in distress. Like always she didn't study for the test for one reason or the other, nothing that the teacher would've accepted as an excuse anyway. If only there was someone around there that knew the answers, someone that could help her in her time of need.
Oh, wait, that's right! There was her friend who was sitting right next to her. With a pleading look, she looked begfully to her inspiring friend, waiting until her attention was given to Catra as the two couldn't afford to talk out loud. Noticing her gesturing her eyes between Adora's and Catra's paper, Adora simply rolled her eyes, acting as casual as she could as she pushed the paper a little closer to Catra. In no time at all, the look of discomfort and worry was instantly replaced with excitement.
Man, she was fortunate to have a close friend like Adora, one she was sure she was going to pay back in the future!
"Stop it!" Catra yelled to anyone around her as she ran through the room. This place was trying to mess with her head, it must be! I mean, she remembered that day easily! Obviously she remembers paying Adora back soon after for her help, like when she... she helped her with the... that thing... Ugh, why was this place trying to make her look like the bad guy?!
It was getting harder to tell where the floor was as it blackened around her and where any gaping holes could've been as the darkness would just give way to more darkness. The only indication she had to anything was focusing all of her attention to the footsteps she heard from Adora's direction, trusting them as her last source of hope.
"This isn't who I am.. It couldn't be..." Catra fretted to herself, rushing as quickly as she could towards the sounds of someone else's steps and away from the spiders she heard continuing to chase her. "Adora, come back! I'm sorry!" She repeated again.
What else could she say? An apology was one of the few heartfelt ways Catra knew to make it up to someone. It was practically the only way she knew how to make it up to someone whenever she messed up! What else could she say? Should she laugh and point at anyone who suffers at her unintentional misfortune? Should she yell at someone messing up because of a mistake she made herself? That didn't make any sense!
One of the fundamental manners Adora always tried to teach her as a young child was to apologize whenever she did something wrong. So what else could there be if she didn't know what else to say?
It was around that time she found herself coming to her third, and hopefully final, simulation before it dwindled away.
It was also one of the worst of the worst instances of Catra's life, one she sorely regrets ever acting out on or trying to make amends to Adora for it. It was one of the days following one of their training sessions when they were eleven. Their team was pitted against another team in a massive obstacle course as they raced to the finish. The victors of the game would get extra desserts for their victory, while the losers were stuck on latrine duty all week.
That wasn't the moment that she came to, though.
What she came to was after the big game, following their victory. In one of the few times Catra actually didn't cheat, the enemy team didn't want to hear of it. They were mad for losing, especially to the team that had the zone-wide renown "Freak of the Fright Zone" on their side, and they were going to take their anger out on anyone associated with the team that made them lose, or the people themselves that were associated with the freak. And who else had a better connection to the freak other than Adora herself?
*thud*
"Ow!" Adora yelped as she was slammed against the locker.
"Way to play with a cheater on your hands, brat!" One of the thuggish cadets growled, pinning her by the collar of her shirt.
"Grrrr Catra didn't cheat, you're just a sore loser!" Adora yelled back, struggling to get out of the bully's grip.
"We all heard about how she cheats in her competitions, punk." Another one of the cadets grinned, knocking his fist against the locker. "And the instructor's willing to hear us out on it too. So why don't you go find your friend, or go to the instructor yourself, and tell them how you cheated so we can get our desserts!"
"Ghhhh! Catra!" Adora yelled worriedly for her. She wasn't intending to turn her in for something she didn't do, she was intending to give these jerks a piece of her mind when it was no longer five against one. "Catra, where are you?!"
"Ha! Keep calling for her, punk. I'm sure she'll come running in to 'save the day' any second now!" The leader of the bullies taunted.
"Catra, come on! I know you can hear me!" Adora cried out, looking up and down the locker room.
The real Catra watched herself in disgust as she knew exactly where she was before she even turned her head around. Right outside of the hallway, leaning against the wall, she stood there. The younger, eleven-year-old Catra, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her ears drooped, as she tried to think about what to do.
"Catra, please!"
"What are you waiting for you idiot?" The real Catra hissed at her younger counterpart. "Go on, she needs your help!" She didn't want to see this play out the same way she knew it did back then. She didn't want to see herself turning her back on her friend, abandoning her again, when she needed her most. She didn't want to prove Adora right about everything.
And yet, that's all the younger Catra could do. She didn't want to pick a fight against an entire team, not when she knew she herself would get in trouble for getting involved in it. Knowing her luck, the bullies would've found an easy way to convince the instructors or Shadow Weaver of all people that Catra started the fight, that she was responsible for what happened to Adora.
She had yet break that promise to Shadow Weaver at this point, and she wasn't planning to anytime soon.
"Catra, I need your help! Where are you?!" It didn't matter to the real Catra if she saw her younger self tearing up at that. She was too afraid. She was too much of a coward. So she did the one thing she always did when something like this happened.
Pretend she didn't hear anything, with a tail between her legs, and just walk away...
"No! No, no no! Go back! Go back you idiot!" The real Catra cried out as she tried grabbing her fake self. Nothing she did proved useful as she phased through it at each and every grab, the hologram itself slowly dissipating into nothingness as Catra collapsed to her knees, feeling legs buckle under the weight of her guilt as she squeezed her head.
"I'm sorry..." She wept. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Adora was right. Right about everything.
She was not her friend in any instance, not in the way she should've been. She was close to her for sure, she would always commit to that, but nothing about her screamed friendship in any way between the two girls. She was almost crueler to her than she was to any of her enemies, the people that she hated! She used Adora every day of her life as a shield and ignored her whenever she was the one who needed something, and up till now she put up with it. She put up with everything. Because she saw Catra as the one thing no one else ever did.
A friend.
*tap*
*tap*
Lifting her head up, Catra's ears twitched a little as she picked up on her footsteps. With the hallways darkening dramatically, she sprang back to her feet as she rushed down any of the possible corridors, wanting to do everything in her powers to possibly make amends to her dear friend. "Adoraaaaaaa!" She yelled out.
From the other side of the darkness, Adora continued to walk until an automatic door opened before her, opening her path towards the light. She's had enough of this place. She's had enough of all the horrid nightmares and visions of her memories that this place had to offer.
She's had enough of hearing Catra shouting through the hallways, pretending that she still cared about the Force Captain.
At the sound of the approaching footsteps, Adora turned, seeing her friend attempting to reach her with all of her might as she ran for the door. Usually such a sight would touch Adora, fill her with a warmth that assured her of their friendship. Here, she felt nothing of the sort. No raw emotions of happiness, no sense of joy or pride in her mind. Just emptiness.
Pitiful, hateful, emptiness.
"Adora!" Catra screamed as she neared her. She would've grabbed Adora if given the chance. She would've refused to let go until Adora heard every single apology that Catra had to utter. She needed to know how sorry she was, she needed to convince her that the friendship between these two were real. She needed to show Adora that she truly did care for the young Force Captain as much as a sister could.
And she would never get that chance.
*swiff*
*swiff*
*swiff*
"Agh-Mmmph!" All at once, three powerful shots of the familiar webbing blasted towards her, wrapping around her left ankle, her right wrist, and her mouth simultaneously. The moment she tried to struggle in vain to escape, she felt more and more of the webbing continuing to cover around her, feeling one pulling around her stomach, another around her right ankle, and lastly, her right knee. Finally, the pressure was too much for the young magicat as she fell to the ground, feeling the webbing slowly pull her closer towards the darkness where she saw half a dozen pairs of glowing red eyes growling back at her.
No! Catra screamed in her mind as she looked back. She barely had the energy to pry the webs off of her body, any attempts to strike at the sticky substance being met with her left hand nearly getting stuck as a result. "Mhmhmhhhhh!" Catra attempted to call out as she cried. Please, don't!
There weren't any words that could be said to her at that moment, nothing that Adora wished to hear. Catra was nowhere near the person she thought her to be. She wasn't some innocent little girl that needed protection, she didn't stick to Adora's side because she wanted to. She did it because she wanted to make life easier for herself, even if it meant putting up with Adora as a result. She wasn't a person to Catra, or anywhere close to what one would consider a pet.
She was nothing to her, Adora realized that now. And Catra was dead to Adora in turn.
"Goodbye, Catra." With that final utterance, Adora walked her way into the light, refusing to look back as Catra raised a clawed hand for her.
"MHMHMHHHHHHHHHHH!" Catra screamed, feeling the tears pour from her face as she watched Adora disappear into the light. She wasn't listening, and she showed no signs of ever wanting to come back. All Catra could do was watch helplessly as she was dragged into the darkness, all while she watched her dear friend disappear in front of her very eyes.
I'M SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
...
(A/N: You may stop the music now if you're still playing it.)
Through the darkness, a lone figure stood as it came upon the sword, the very item that could lead to the salvation or destruction of Etheria. Nothing had gone according to plan, and based on the observations and recordings she just witnessed, it didn't seem like anything was going to go their way anymore either.
All this time, all this planning, has resulted in nothing. Nothing but a lost cause, nothing but a single hope that still remained within their grasp.
Everything, from this moment forward, relied on the last person they could trust.
"Initiate the Alpha Protocol."
...
...
"Ah. And then there was the day Adora and I were on a boat together!" Scorpia continued, having oodles of fun with her new friend as Entrapta continued making improvements on Emily.
Everything Adora promised and then some were given to Entrapta immediately, and not a millisecond went by where Entrapta could possibly regret it! Everything around here was too amazing for words! From the machines that she got to build right down to the very tools she used to build them! Everything around here was simply fantastic!
True, a small part of her was saddened to know she was going to be spending the rest of her natural-born life within the confines of the Fright Zone as she constructed death machines to annihilate her former comrades in arms, but that was hours ago. Besides, it's like Adora said, they're the ones who left her here in the first place without any seeming interest in getting her back to their side, and around here, she felt like she had genuine friends in both, Scorpia, and Adora.
Even if the former continued chatting nonstop, not that she minded. "Did I ever tell you about that?"
"I'm... pretty sure you did." Entrapta replied, holding up a tape recorder with her hair as she started to play it.
"Oh, and one time, Adora and I were on a boat together. That was the best day ever."
"Yup, you did." Entrapta nodded as she resumed her work.
"I think that's when we really made a connection, you know?" Scorpia continued. "Not that I needed to try, to be honest." It was around the same time that Adora, still with the head band over her forehead, appeared from the opening automatic doors, walking in as Scorpia continued to comment about her. "She's always nice, and so cheerful. You would barely recognize her without a smile on her face!"
Adora didn't know what she was blathering on about, and for the first time, she didn't care. She didn't want anything to do with the two for the time being. All she wanted was some rest and relaxation, somewhere she could keep to herself for awhile. Sadly, fate didn't seem to be so kind as she found Scorpia in front of her almost immediately.
"Halt intruder- Oh, Adora!" Scorpia's threatening demeanor instantly vanished behind a warm smile, one that was just as soon replaced with a curious look. "What happened to you? You're filthy! Are you okay? Do you need first aid? Do you need to be nursed tenderly back to health?!"
"...I'm fine, Scorpia." Adora muttered, wasting no time as she walked right passed her. That alone was completely out of the norm for Scorpia. Usually Adora would stick around to chat or chuckle at a little here and there about Scorpia's silly antics. For once, though, she didn't seem interested in it, almost as if she didn't care.
"Are you sure? You don't look okay-" Scorpia attempted to touch her shoulder, only to nearly jump as Adora grabbed it with a shadowy tendril from the ground, glaring back.
"I said I'm fine!" She yelled. It was at the sight of Scorpia's concerned and hurtful expression that she understood what she was suddenly doing, turning away with a small frown on her face as she pulled away the head band. "I... I'm sorry, Scorpia. I just... had a really long day."
"Oooh wowwie!" Entrapta's starry gaze was the first thing Adora immediately saw as she turned around again. "You can grow shadows with that head band? How does it work? Does it work on a psychokinetic wavelength of some sort? No wait, first question! Did you get it?"
"It?... O-Oh, you mean this?" Adora wondered as she pulled out the small device, the very thing that started her nightmarish adventure today, that she got from the pedestal.
"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH-!" Scorpia could've sworn if Entrapta inhaled any deeper than that, she would've blown up like a balloon, the stars in her eyes practically shooting straight out of her head as she gasped. "An intact data crystal?!" She squealed like a small child as she held it dearly. "I have never seen one so perfectly preserved! This could be a game-changer. Who knows what sort of secrets it contains?! Hahahahahaaaa!" With another squeal, Entrapta threw herself at the Force Captain, only for Scorpia to intercept her, twirling around with her as the two laughed joyously.
Seeing the two excitable friends twirling about like the couple of goofs she knew them to be, Adora walked away, wanting to put the entire day, like her former friend, behind her. "Man, I knew Adora could do it. It's like I was telling you, she is the best friend ever!" At the statement, Adora paused.
Somehow the word friend didn't seem to have the same ring to it as it once did. No doubt the day's events had an involvement in that, there was just something that didn't roll right off the tongue with it like it used to. Maybe she was overthinking it, or maybe she wasn't thinking enough about it. She didn't care at this point.
It was enough to give Adora something small to smile about. She had no care for the person she thought was once her friend, and she was relieved to see she still had friends on the other side over here. These two were the next best things she could hope for at this point, being on the same side with the people that she would continue to fight for.
"I'll see you two in the morning, okay? Make sure you're up and ready first thing tomorrow. We have a busy future ahead of us."
These two were still her friends, and the Horde was still her family. They raised her from the moment she was found, they provided her with a home and a future that she could feel right alongside by, and she was surrounded by people she could trust... with a few exceptions... And she wasn't about to let the Rebellion or those pathetic princesses get away with everything they've done.
She was going to see the war brought to an end with her own two hands, she was sure of it. And her first order of business:
To watch Castle Bright Moon burn into the ground...
...
...
...
A/N: ...well, eh... how you folks feeling :o? Good? Bad? Good-sad? Bad-sad? It all comes down to this... hooooooh boy...
Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed... however much of it, and uhh...yeah, so... hope to see you soon...