A/N: Final Word Count: 18.3K Pre-A/N's. Hooftah, and another chapter caught up ^^ Man, I am loving my speed and power with these fics people, feels so good to write again! Hopefully, with this, we reach our last chapter by the next one, which I look forward to wrapping up several stories at once, which I hope leaves more fluffy warmth in peoples' hearts than despair.
Speaking of chapter, I have a little fun surprise for the masses as we get a surprise visit from someone at the very end! So make a game to yourself by guessing who it could possibly be before reaching it and seeing if you were right ^^
With that said, enjoy!
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"W-What do you mean... Get rid of her?" Adora stuttered in disbelief as Aroda grinned to her.
"Oh, you know, go on a cruise together, maybe have a nice picnic, take her to a fancy- WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN?!" She yelled, anxious to get this ordeal over with. This was new, even coming from Aroda.
Everything was going fine so far compared to the usual flow of the mission. After an unexpected invasion by the Princess Alliance to the Northern Reach, consisting of Catra, Glimmer, Bow, Frosta, and Sea Hawk, the Force Captain managed to infect Catra with a First Ones tech virus in the middle of the fight, causing her to go berserk and attack friend and foe alike, and managed to subdue her later, obtaining She-Ra and her sword as their prize. Personally, she couldn't ask for a better outcome, despite the fact it almost resulted in her own death in the process!
The downside to this was the state it left Catra in afterwards. None of her past history with her ex-best friend had ever come close to the craziness she had to endure for the last five minutes alone. With the virus mostly out of her system, it turned Catra into a crazed loon that not even Adora was prepared for. She was bouncing off the walls, rolling around the ground, climbing up into and onto anything she could jump for with zero disregard for her own safety. It was like someone hit the reset on her mind and turned her back into a five year old with a gallon of sugar in her system, looping around all over and making a mess of near anything she could get her claws on.
It was still preferable in the long run, at least. With the virus, She-Ra, and the sword, she could present to Lord Hordak a means to defeat the Rebellion with their own warrior, a chance to turn everything around and bring victory to the Horde at long last. In fact, she became so optimistic of the situation that she tried to turn into She-Ra herself, after some prodding from the lovable Aroda who nudged her in the right direction. A chance to have She-Ra's power, a way to take down the Rebellion, with or without using Catra, what more could she ask for? It was a chance of a lifetime, and she gladly took it out of sheer curiosity to see what amazing power it could bestow upon her!
It did nothing.
It didn't leave a spark, it didn't leave her with an ounce of power, it didn't give her anything. It was too good to be true, admittedly, but she wouldn't lie by saying she wasn't hopeful about it. Seeing how the sword wouldn't give her the power she wanted, she planned on resuming her original plan of using the magical with the virus. That is, until Aroda intervened again, quite insistently compared to earlier.
"I'm telling you, if you got rid of Catra, nothing would stand in your way!" She continued. Even for Aroda, Adora was surprised at how straightforward she was being about possibly ending someone. Sure, Adora had her bouts of anger from time to time, and wanted to get payback on people who angered her, but she never thought about actually DOING it. "You wouldn't have anything holding you back, nothing people could use against you, you could accomplish anything!"
"But I'm not getting rid of her. I don't plan on getting rid of her!" Adora argued back, walking straight through the living consciousness, stimulating a certain anger from the reflection.
"What do you mean you don't plan on getting rid of her? Don't you understand what's at stake here? As long as she's alive, you'll always have something holding you back!"
"No I won't!" Adora refused to give her any immediate attention as she checked the next box along the base, inspecting it to see what triggered the alarm. "I can handle missions just fine without getting rid of her. It'd be a waste of time!"
"But you hate her, you keep telling me you hate her!"
"I know, but that's not a reason to end her. Besides, I already have a plan for her."
"Oh? And please, do tell, your Royal Softness?" Aroda practically begged to hear anything better if Adora had something up her sleeve, shadows excluded. "What is your big dastardly plan with her?"
"Simple. I plan on leaving her in a cell for the next several years, and have her witness everything I take from her like everything she took from me." Adora stated, finishing her inspection as she patrolled to the other side of the base. "I want her to witness as I destroy the Rebellion, show her I was right about everything! I want her to watch as I crush her chance of obtaining her selfish dreams. After that, I don't care what happens to her."
Aroda stared at her dumbfounded with her arms slouched over and her mouth gaping open. "Wow... SO CRUEL, I'm speechless. While you're at it, why don't you tell her how she'll never get that puppy she's always wanted?" Adora ignored the anger coming from the living figment, well aware of how Aroda was just trying to rile her up. Aroda, on the other hand, was getting riled up in turn. "Do you seriously not see the bigger issue behind all of this?"
"Like what?" She was hesitant to ask knowing it would lead to some ridiculous answer, even if it was a suitable reason.
"Like how you want to explain to Hordak how little miss cat-scratcher in there was the one who's been foiling every plan you ever came up with? Beating you at every turn? Do you really want your leader thinking you've been losing against someone so incompetent that she can't even walk ten steps before crashing into something?!"
"My answer is still no." While Aroda had an, admittedly, good point, she refused to let anyone else tell her how to take her vengeance on someone. And knowing that herself, Aroda was more than peeved.
How could Adora be like this? This was Catra they were talking about, not just some devious princess. She's the one who wanted to crush an entire side just to keep Catra from achieving her dreams, to get back at her for using her like a tool throughout the majority of her life, feigning anything about bring "friends" with her. After that little stunt earlier involving the virus, she was surprised Adora didn't consider her a possible threat, knowing the fear it sent through the girl as Catra choked the air out of her! The person she hated with a passion, the girl who kept interfering with Adora's plans, the girl who-
Aroda stopped as it suddenly dawned on her. She couldn't believe it, she refused to believe it, but she couldn't see any other alternatives. "Oh... my... you... I can not believe this." Disappearing into time and space, the reflection reappeared in front of Adora as she continued moving forward, Aroda floating backwards off her feet a she stared at her. "I seriously can't believe you!"
"What?"
"You still care about her, don't you?" The accusation was enough to get a jump out of the girl as her face was left speechless.
"W-What? No, I don't! I hate her!"
"Then why not just get rid of her and be done with it? It would seriously take you like five seconds as she is now, two if she doesn't move! You have a perfect chance to get rid of her and you're not taking advantage of it!"
"That's not the point." Squeezing her fist, unaware as she was forming a shadow over it, Adora pressed on. "If I got rid of her like that, I'd be proving her right about everything! Proving that I'm on the wrong side, that the Horde is heartless as she claims, and everything. And I refuse to give her that satisfaction!" Of all the things Catra took from Adora, satisfaction is the one thing she refused to lose. She took her friendship, tossed her aside, and left her behind. And there was no way she was going to let her take anything else from her!
"Satisfaction?" Aroda scoffed. "Yeah, that's the only reason, I bet."
"Look, I don't care what you have to say or how you say it. This is the one thing you're never going to convince me of!" Her conviction was as bright as the shine of the sword itself when it reflected off any light from the blade's surface.
Rolling her eyes, Aroda crossed her arms as she floated towards the wall of the facility. "Face it Adora; as long as she's around, she'll keep taking everything from you, she'll keep making your life harder. You'll lose your title, lose your friends, lose everything that ever mattered to you to the point where you'll only be blaming yourself." At this, the reflection started to disappear into a wave of shadows. "And you'll never be happy." Adora looked back to where Aroda disappeared for a bit before heading back to the entrance of the base.
She didn't care what Aroda said, she had enough of her talking for the time being. If Catra became a threat to her, then she would deal with it. Otherwise, she was still an invaluable asset that could be used to the Horde's benefit. Adora was determined to accomplish this mission, to turn the Rebellion's own hero against them. She wouldn't let Aroda, or anyone for that matter, get in the way of things. So what if it meant Catra lived? Save for the start of last month, it's not like she had any intention of killing her to begin with. She wanted Catra to know pain, of Adora's pain, and she would see it through to the very end.
And after that, after Catra finally felt everything that she made Adora feel... who cared what happened to her.
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...
"Gimme a break!" Catra shouted as she continued running through the neon-outlined woods. This was starting to reach the peak of ridiculousness out of the amount of ridiculous things in her life, and somehow still going further!
After finding herself trapped within another dream-like instance, in no small part thanks to the stupid virus that affected her sword, again, she had been running blindly through a black-colored void, one not so devoid of light, as she could see herself just fine, but of everything else. She had no idea where she was, or what direction she was going in, only that the longer she ran, the further away she got from the mysterious black creature that had been stalking her.
She had no idea what it was, or what it looked like, only that its footsteps caused the ground to shake with every passing step. That gave her all the more reason to escape from the ferocious creature until she could reclaim her sword, which was, supposedly, at the end of this journey over the mountain ahead.
Who told her about her sword's location? Why, Catra did! More specifically, a younger version of her.
She couldn't explain what she was doing here or why she was here, and she really didn't care. The last dreamlike world she was in had people disappearing and her world collapsing in on herself, almost crushing her in the process. If it wasn't for Glimmer's, Bow's, and everyone else's voice resounding within her dreamworld, she might not be here today.
At the rate things were going, she wasn't going to be here tomorrow, either. The further into the woods she went, the farther from her destination it felt like she had. No matter how deep into the woods she went, she never found herself getting any closer to the mountain. In fact, she could've sworn it actually got farther away at times, standing just at the edge of the forest and moving away at the same time. If it wasn't for the creature chasing her, she'd be less inclined to reach her sword asap.
*Grrrrrrrrrr*
She gritted her teeth as she pressed her back to a tree, slowing her breath as a trickle of sweat dripped from the side of her head. She didn't want to believe it was possible, but the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs, all of which were outlined without any color, told her what she already knew. The beast was nearing her, just a few trees beyond where she was. She managed to sneak an eye around the corner by just an inch, enough space to view the creature without being seen.
Whatever it was, it appeared to be of the feline variety like her. It looked like a large jaguar or something, a hulking one at that. It was at least the size of a skiff, half the size of these trees. Unlike the rest of this world, it did appear to have more of a color to it, a dark purple that almost blended into the trees, along with its glowing green eyes that were notably different from the outlines of her environment.
The thing that stood out the most to Catra was the lack of exhaustion the beast appeared to have in comparison to her. Despite the fact the two must've been running for hours around here, unlike her, the beast still seemed to be filled with energy. It sniffed the air like the beast it was, trying to search for its weary prey with its instincts on high alert.
If she wasn't as exhausted as she was just getting here, she would've been a little more prepared to fight the creature with her own two hands. Given the circumstances, and the fact she was still exhausted from the marathon she practically ran to get here, she felt her chances of beating this thing weren't too high.
*sskk*
"Mh!" Catra muffled herself with her own hands as she pulled back into the tree, right before the mysterious beast turned in her direction. Of all the rotten luck to have, through some unseen force or her own carelessness, she didn't realize as her own claws were scraping against the side of the tree as she peeked around the wood. It was barely a scrape, one most people wouldn't hear, but with the deathly silence of the forest around them, it sounded like someone dropping a brick on a concrete floor.
She could hear the creatures footsteps drawing in, one stomp at a time. She took a silent breath through her nose as she calmed her breathing.
Okay, so the beast was approaching her, it knew something was over here, fine. She was in a densely forested area, so if she used her agility and the trees to her advantage, she should be able to get around the beast and stay on her toes as she fought the beast. After all, for all she knew this thing was probably a push over.
*crackle!*
An instant thought she regretted having the moment she heard a tree toppling from behind her. Still, staying on her feet and fighting around the beast may have been the only advantage she could take at this point, seeing how close it was getting with each step. It was a serious case of do-or-die at this point, and, since she shockingly didn't want to die, she had to stick with do.
Waiting for the right moment, she planned on waiting for it to pass the tree first, hoping to get a good strike over the eyes or across the face. If she blinded it, she could definitely hold a greater advantage over it. Otherwise, she'd have to rely on-
*Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet~*
Both, her and the beast's ears rose to this sound, the beast completely unaware that it was just a head's length away from his quarry. With a massive growl, the beast ran in the opposite direction, its thunderous footsteps carrying it all throughout the forest. With her sensitive hearing, it took what felt like hours for the beast to finally leave her earshot, but once it did, she let out a relieved sigh.
"That was close..." Safety aside, she was wondering where the mysterious whistling came from as she looked around. It couldn't have been a coincidence that it just happened to go off right as the monster was about to find her. "Hello?" She called out.
"Up here, dweeb." A voice that was all too familiar to her called from above. Looking up, she didn't know if she should've been surprised to find another version of her, one that was a couple of years older than the previous one, around ten or eleven. Like she remembered wearing when she was at that age, she wore the classic red and white short-sleeved shirt that she remembers, along with the same shorts that went down to her knees. "Hey, Catra."
"Hey... Catra?" The true Catra greeted back, looking down the pathway that the beast went a moment ago. There was something strange about the fact she was over here. "How did you whistle from all the way over there and get back here already?" With the keen hearing that she was blessed with, she could gauge how far certain things generally were.
"Oh, I don't know." She replied nonchalantly, casually with her hands behind her head. Walking along the three, Catra watched as she disappeared behind the tree, waiting a few moments before checking out where she went. When she made her way around, she discovered that the previous Catra was gone. "I'm sorta all over the place." Catra jumped a little as she heard the voice speaking from right behind her, staring face-to-face to her younger counterpart.
"How did-?" The younger Catra that came up to her shoulders didn't give her the chance to finish her sentence as she disappeared behind another tree. Trying to follow her again to the nothing she found, she heard her calling out again from behind her, at least ten trees away.
"How did I get over here?" She yelled over, leaning against the tree as Catra ran up to her. "You gotta know your way around the forest, that's all." The cat proudly observed the forest surrounding the two of them. "I've been all over this place at least twice within the last day alone, I know every nook and cranny around here."
"Nook and Cranny?" The original tilted her head at this, figuring the strange phrasing would never come from a pair of lips like her own. "Look, I need to get over the mountain, and this stupid forest keeps sending me into a loop. Do you know the way out of here?"
"Hmm?" The younger smirked, dangling her legs off the tree as she sat atop a branch. "Mmmh maybe I do, maybe I don't. Why should I tell you?"
"Because that thing keeps chasing me, and it keeps getting closer to where I am. And if I end up getting caught by it, then you know as well as I do I'll make sure you're around for its next meal!" She threatened. In truth, she wasn't entirely sure if the beast would attack the other residents of her mind or not, but what other choice did she have? The longer she waited around the closer that thing was, and unlike her, it didn't see to get lost around these woods.
Taking a moment to tap her chin, she kicked her legs casually above the cat as she wondered. "Hmm... tempting..." She younger Catra practically dropped any and all expression she had after saying this as she lied against the branch on her back without a care in the world. "What's in it for me?"
"I just said what's in it for you!"
"Yeah, but it doesn't sound all that great if you ask me. I mean, the minute you try to find me, I'll just hop back to through another opening and be a mile away from it." Darn it! Why was it in a dreamlike world such as this, these others versions of herself had to be just as stuck-up and stubborn as she was?
"Yeah, well..." She had to think fast, knowing time was of the essence while that beast was still out there. "It won't be good for you if it does get to me!"
The younger Catra actually took a small interest in this little detail as she turned her head, raising a brow. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it. Assuming this is all in my head like last time, then that means I'm connected to this world, right?"
"Yeah...?"
"So, if something happens to me in this world, that means it'll happen to you too, along with anyone else in it."
"..." Silence from somebody was usually something Catra was used to, but coming from herself was a completely different matter, and concern. When she saw anyone else responding and thinking about anything she said, it was usually easy to predict what their response would be. Not once has she ever had to deal with someone as sly as her, though, when it came to important matters such as this. "Hmm... That does sound a lot more tempting..." She admitted.
"Besides, the longer we stick around, the sooner that thing will be back. And you know as well as I do that it'll hunt both of us down if it catches either of us." Just to prove her point, at that moment, the two were drawn to the eastern side of the forest, left of the mountains, where they heard the menacing growl of a familiar beast. "See?"
"All right, then." The lazy cat simply agreed, stretching her arms to the air as she sat back up. "If you're really up for it, all you gotta do is go that way." Pointing along with her tail, the real Catra turned to her right, seeing nothing more than a simple path of trees to the west.
"And... That's it?" There wasn't anything spectacular or different about the pathway compared to the rest, but, then again, she didn't know much about this place compared to her younger double. It was also the fact it was her she was dealing with, which meant the amount of trust she could afford was limiting.
"That's it." And the constant way she kept assuring her left her more doubtful with each passing sentence. "Here, I'll even show you." Jumping from the simple branch, the younger feline sped through the woods in the appointed direction, gesturing for Catra to follow after her as fast as she could. The reluctance of the situation left Catra beside herself with doubt, one she was forced to ignore as there were zero alternatives to the matter, and took off after her.
The next several minutes for the real magicat remained uneventful, for the most part. As she continued to run through the forest, she did notice that she appeared to be getting closer to the mountains, now on her left, with each passing minute. Every lap she passed, she seemed to be going closer ahead, as if going right was the correct way to go forward in these woods.
The one part that kept her skeptical over the whole ordeal was why this was happening to her, or what this world had to do with anything. Last time, in her dreamworld, the reality that she lived in existed to teach her a point; pushing aside everyone she did or didn't care about would result in her pushing away everyone else, regardless of her concern over them. So if that was the case for that... What was the case for this?
Was there some method to the maddening world she was currently in? Was it just another dreamworld while she was stuck with the virus again, and there really was no point to it? It was difficult for her to know for sure. The only thing that kept her second-guessing herself about all of this was a small tingling feeling she had on the back of her neck, one warning her that something was wrong about all of this.
Aside from the obvious.
After the next two minutes had passed, Catra had come to a stop, noticing the other Catra had suddenly disappeared. "Hello?" She called out, slowing down in her running. Did she pass her on the way here by accident? Take a wrong turn? When she was dealing with a forest that could take her from point a to point b in an instant, it wouldn't surprise her if she took a sudden turn somewhere and lost track of her completely.
"I'm just up ahead!" She heard the other Catra say, her voice echoing from every corner of the woods. "Just keep going and take a right at the next tree."
"Take a right?" She looked straight ahead of her to see the tree she was referring to, one that stood ten feet away. It was times like this that confused her why everything seemed to be colorless, save for the naked outline of these environments, and she still couldn't actually see passed them. Pushing her confusion out of its chair, she gave a shrug as she casually walked her way ahead, figuring she was safe from the beast that lurked around here as long as she didn't hear it. "Are we almost to the mountains, or at least, out of these woods?"
"Yup! You'll be out of the woods in no time!"
Catra, the real one, shook her head as she rolled her eyes a little. She was starting to wonder if these other versions of herself were actually parts of her past, or some part of the dreamworld itself. She knew when she was younger, she was rather timid and had a hard time showing bravery to herself and others, so it didn't surprise her when the river-Catra started crying. But with the current one she was facing, she found her a little too optimistic at times, and could feel her smiling from wherever she was as Catra followed her directions.
The only time she could ever smiling to herself at that point was when she beat Adora at something, usually at running and only when she was lucky, whenever she managed to accomplish something so difficult that Shadow-Weaver could never show her disgusted with her, even when she wanted to, was simply hanging out with Adora, or, for the other 6 times out of ten, was about to pull a pra-
*swoosh*
"Whoa!" Catra yelped, grabbing onto the ledge. The hairs on the end of her skin were tingling back and forth from each other without end, her heart racing a mile a minute as she swallowed her own saliva from the close call she had. This wasn't a matter of taking a wrong turn or unintentionally giving her the wrong directions. Catra knew that her younger self lead her to this pathway on purpose, and now she could see why.
Two feet after rounding the corner, just when she thought she was going into another clearing, the floor gave out. No, not gave out. That would imply she had anything to stand on in the first place. With the power of these woods sending her to any given point in an instant, she found herself losing all of her footing as her location was immediately changed to clearing with a single large hole in it, a hole that she barely managed to fall into.
A hole with various and sharp spikes waiting for her ten feet below. A hole she could've easily fallen into if not for her reflexes and the patch of grass surrounding it that she managed to sink her claws into. She had never been more thankful for the cat-like reflexes she was born with as a child, and that the ground was hard enough to grab a firm grip on without slipping off.
"Whoops." Hearing the snide voice, Catra shot a spiteful glare up upon the tree next to her, wishing all manner of horrors on her cruel assistant who nearly lead her to a spike-filled death. "Did I say right? I meant to say left."
"Ghhhh! You're dead!" Catra hissed, slowly pulling out of the hole, being careful to maintain her grip. "You knew that pit was there, didn't you!?"
"No, honestly, it was so surprising to me, too." Catra could practically taste the sarcasm coming out of the other Catra's mouth, it was so revolting. "Why, if I went in the same direction, I probably wouldn't be here right now. If anything, it's a good thing you knew I was still alive."
"Not for long you stupid brat!" She panted, finally pulling away the deathtrap.
"Do you forgive me?" The question instantaneously threw Catra off guard with how sincere the tone sounded.
"Forgive you?"
"For giving you the wrong directions."
"No, I don't forgive you!" She yelled, scratching out her claws in aggression. "You purposely lead me to my death, I almost died! You didn't even bother trying to help me!"
"Then what about Frosta?" As if something was over the bush of leaves in the tree, the younger Catra solemnly stared into space as the real one was left baffled.
"What do you mean, "what about Frosta"? What does that have to do with anything?"
"I dunno, you tell me. You said it yourself, I didn't bother helping you, so you don't forgive me. But Frosta actually tried to make up for it and you still shot her down afterwards." She eyed the lower Catra from the corner of her eye. "I don't see why its so hard for you to forgive her compared to somebody else whose not even sorry about what she did."
Catra's glare intensified as she stared at her. She didn't know if she was trying to get under Catra's skin intentionally, or if it was a legitimate question, and she didn't care. Frosta was none of the other Catra's business, and she didn't care about Frosta enough to start talking about it.
"Listen, you. Either tell me how to get out of this forest right now, or I swear I'll toss you into that pit myself!" Right now, all of her pent up anger and frustration was directed don the girl that nearly killed her, not the one that betrayed her in the previous mission.
Staring at the magicat under her, the younger Catra shook her head in silence as she stood up from the branch. "You really don't get it do you?" The real Catra didn't bother asking what she was referring to. All she cared about at this point was reclaiming her sword, getting out of here, and away from the beast that was no doubt stalking her at this very moment. Shaking her head in dismay, the younger Catra pointed behind herself with her thumb. "It's like I said earlier. Just go left from where you went right, and you'll reach the mountains."
"For your sake, I better!" First the river was annoying her, now the forest was annoying her. Given how everything was going by this point, she knew something was going to happen along the mountains, and that some sort of surprise would be waiting for her. Yet, she had no choice but to press on, unless she actually wanted the beast to find her.
As for the younger Catra that watched her walk away, she let out a puff of air with a sigh. Catra didn't understand the point of all of this so far, and it didn't seem like she would. If she kept a level head, she would've remembered that if anything happened to the real Catra, something would happen to her, and she let her anger and rage cloud her mind instead. She didn't have the decency to appreciate the help that she gave her, and she lacked the care needed to get on with her life. Traits that were necessary for any redeemable She-Ra of age's past.
And, at the rate it was going, Catra would never reach the point of becoming a true She-Ra...
...
...
"Ahhhhhhh!" Adora screamed at the horrific sight in front of her as she returned from her patrol. Her scream went unnoticed by the magicat sitting on the piles of paper in front of her, but not by her determined friend who was trying to prove herself to Adora, Scorpia. At the sound of the cry, Scorpia immediately came rushing in to discover what all of the hubbub was about, and immediately saw the great concern that crossed Adora's eyes.
The papers. All of the papers that Adora had been working on for nearly seventeen hours on her own, were a complete mess. More than they were when Scorpia accidentally tripped up Adora, and beyond the realm of being fixable. All that time she had spent working on them, all that energy she put forth reestablishing a proper supply line now that the Kingdom of Snows were no longer providing them resources. All of it was ruined!
How bad were they? Well, inconsistently bad, which was probably worse than being just bad. Throughout the broken tables that carried her magnum opus of reports and requisitions, scattered across the floor ten feet from cat and beyond, were the remains of Adora's handiwork. Several piles of them were torn to shreds, several piles of them were crumbled and actually stabbed through other pieces of paper, and over half of them had random doodles that Adora couldn't make out on first inspection.
And that was just the papers that were still mostly held together!
All the other papers she had been working on were ripped into such little bits that Adora couldn't tell if they were all different pieces of paper or just a single piece of paper they were ripped so terribly. Oh, and the trouble didn't end just there, oh no. Somehow, for whatever reason, Catra also managed to destroy the folders that all of the papers were were categorized to by making a small fire several feet away. If she didn't get here when she did, Adora wouldn't have even known they were folders by the time they finished burning.
Everything was a complete mess. All of it. There were no requisition forms left untouched, no way to organize all the work she was put through, and nothing to make up for it. To even get any of this re-done would require several days worth of work once she got back to the Fright Zone, and that was provided she stayed up for two full days straight before missing the deadline of the requests.
"All my work!" Adora complained, pushing Catra off the papers to see if, by some miracle, some of the papers were still intact. "All these papers, they're ruined!"
"Adora, I am SO sorry!" Scorpia replied, holding her claws together pleadingly for forgiveness as she stepped near. "I swear, I was keeping an eye on her and everything, but she snuck out through the vents when I took her to the bathroom after spending five minutes trying to convince her the person in the mirror wasn't someone spying on her!"
"That person was such a jerk!" Catra babbled on, casually tossing another folder into the makeshift bonfire with eyes lit with wonder. "No matter how many times I asked her nicely, she wouldn't stop copying me!" Seriously, the nerve of some people were so annoying! One minute you meet your identical twin, and the next thing you know, they keep doing the same thing you do!
"Scorpia, do you have any idea how long it took me to work on these papers?!" Adora yelled to her in distraught, standing up again. "I spent over seventeen hours just to get done with the paperwork I had done, and that was only half the papers I had to do!"
"Adora, I-"
"I gave you the task of watching her because I thought it was simple enough for you to do, and you couldn't even watch her right!" The corner of her own eyes had a small tear forming at the edge, the stress welling up inside of her.
How could she not be frustrated with the way things were turning out? Yes, she got She-Ra, and she got the sword. Now she also got another several straight days of paperwork to make up for, and she was too paranoid to let it slide! What if Hordak found out? What if one of these papers were assigned directly from him?! He already warned her she had one chance left, and, thanks to Scorpia's inability to watch someone, she could be thrown in a prison cell the moment she got back!
She was so disturbed by the recent events that she could barely register Scorpia's own state of being, the look of hurt in her eyes. To hear those words from someone she considered a dear friend like that, even though she knew she was right about all of it, was still hurtful to her. She wanted to prove herself to Adora and, like the Force Captain suddenly reminded, she couldn't watch a single person for more than ten minutes before messing something up.
No matter how much of what Adora said mean or didn't mean, she felt like a terrible friend right now.
"I don't even know what half of these papers are!" She moaned, looking at the papers that were once categorized neat and professionally now looking like someone tried to cut out certain portions of them to make a scrapbook- with their teeth. The strands of hair dangling in her face didn't get in the way of seeing just how badly these pages looked. "What's with the scribbles running through these pages?"
"Your papers were terrible!" Catra remarked, looking behind her with her head leaning backwards. "I looked everywhere around them and I couldn't find a way out of the maze! It's like they were designed so you couldn't find your way out!" Snarling, the cat brought her attention back to several over folders in her claws. "And you call these pop-up books? Not once did they try to pop out and surprise me with a picture!" She seethed gripping one of the folders in her right hand before tossing it behind her in disgust.
Into the back of Adora's head.
"..." This. This was crossing the line. She put up with her, she didn't try to execute her or anything, and what did that give her? A major headache to deal with, hundreds of papers that needed to be redone, and now a slight irritation in the back of her head from the folder that hit her. All because she showed a little mercy to her hated ex-best friend, all because she didn't listen to Aroda's advice in the first place, again, and now this.
"So, still glad you didn't listen to me?" Aroda asked, appearing out of thin air to Adora's right. She crossed her arms smirking as she looked to the dysfunctional cat that continued to stoke the the fire. "Man, you must be so happy you didn't get rid of her, huh? Sure, you lost like, what? Twenty hours of paperwork? I wasn't counting. But at least you made her so happy. Just look at all the wonderful things she did with the stuff she stole from you, again."
Adora gritted her teeth as she glared back to her ex-friend, pupils dilating back and forth as a stream of shadows started to form around her right hand. Every time, every single thing Aroda said would happen, did happen. Maybe she was secretly psychic? Maybe she just knew the world better than Adora did? Heck, even Catra knew how the real world worked better than she did at this point. How else could she explain why Catra's been so successful when it comes to manipulating and using people around her?
But this? THIS was the final straw. Every opportunity she had to get rid of her, she didn't. Raising her claws slowly behind the girl, anger growing beyond control inside her, she had to ask herself why this stuff continued to happen. Like every time she did, she knew the answer. It was because she was soft. It was because she didn't have it in herself to end someone's life, not when her anger wasn't flaring up like this.
And perhaps, that ended now.
"Go on, Adora." Aroda goaded on, switching to her other side as her grin widened. "You really only need the sword, after all. And think of how Hordak would be if you told him you dealt away with the Horde's greatest enemy? That you beat her all on your own." She shook her head with a confident smile, raising her hands to her own shoulders. "Sure, she might be like this now, but you don't have to let Hordak know that insignificant detail, do you? All you have to tell him is that you defeated the greatest threat to the Horde, and he'll smile proudly at you."
Adora's shadowy hand trembled as her body shook. She couldn't find a flaw of reasoning with what Aroda said, and her own history proved to be her undoing. She was too soft on her enemies, she let them take her for granted, and she always lost in the end because of it! But no more. If this was the way to go, then she had no choice. She had to finish things right here and now while-
*crumple*
Adora stopped as she heard the sound of crumbling paper beneath her feet, seeing another useless paper that Catra scribbled on. Curiously, the page didn't seem to be anything like the other papers in that it looked more like a drawing. A strange drawing. A drawing that almost looked like a face, almost like her...
Adora paused in her attack as she withdrew her shadows briefly, to Aroda's frustration, as she knelt down and picked up the single piece of paper. It was a simple page scribbled on, one that should've meant nothing but anger to the Force Captain given all she has put through now, all the paperwork that she had to redo. To anyone, it would've just been another pointless scribble that meant nothing to them or the world, nothing of significance that should've held their attention.
But to Adora, it did.
Her eyes softened as she recognized the piece of paper. How couldn't she? She had a pleasant reminder of it over a month ago, seeing it in a simulation that played back their memories against their will, forced them to re-watch parts of their lives. It was the drawing that she and Catra made when they were kids over the wall of their bunk beds, the drawing of their heads right next to each other.
...
...
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.
"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.
...
...
All the tension, all the anger that welled up inside of her, slowly drifted away like the wind as the shadows fully dispersed. Glancing up the page to the dimwitted cat, she had to ask herself. Why did she make this drawing of them? A drawing of the past? It shouldn't have meant anything to them, or at least not Catra, and, knowing her as she did, she wouldn't have been surprised if it was just a ploy to let her guard down.
And yet, that couldn't be the case. She was in no frame of mind to trick any of them, had no idea of what was going on or why she was even here. Here, she was nothing more than a simple-minded child who was goofing off back and forth around them. She couldn't be trying to trick them like this, unless everything was an act, including the last time she was infected by the virus. And she knew Catra too well to know she would never put on a ridiculous display, even for her own benefit.
This... was a part of her. A part that was somehow still in her. And it made Adora's core shake a little.
"Adora?" Adora nearly flinched as Scorpia called out her name, approaching from behind. She paid her little mind for a bit as she quickly stuffed the paper into her winter red coat, trying to keep it as flat as possible so it wouldn't crumble and still remain hidden. "Look, I'm really sorry about the papers. I swear, I'll help find a way to make it up to you-"
"What?" With all the thoughts suddenly forming in her mind, she had actually nearly forgotten the minor shouting she let out a few seconds ago. "Oh, yes, t-that! Um..." She cleared her throat a little as she kept her back to Scorpia, examining all the pages around her. "Y-You know what? It's fine. Don't worry about it."
"Adora, really, I'm..." Scorpia barely caught on to what she said until the last moment. "Wait, you're fine? You're not... angry, or anything over the papers?"
"U-Um, no, it's... it's fine, I'll deal with it later." She assured. Scorpia had to admit, she was really surprised and relieved that Adora didn't seem angry at her, and at the same time, very confused. She looked like she was about to attack Catra out of anger or something and pulled away at the last second. She wasn't so concerned over Adora's aggressive behavior or the lack thereof now. Rather, she was weirded out by the sudden switch behind it all.
*thud*
"Ow!" The blond commander yelped as she was pounced over, feeling Catra's hands sink into her shoulders with a wide grin on her face.
"Ha! Tag you're it! 10 points! You can't find me!" With that stream of nonsensical words sputtered from Catra's mouth, the magical hastily ran in the opposite direction, only coming to a stop once her foot accidentally got caught in a bucket and toppled the girl over seven feet from them. "Penalty! I win!" She chuckled.
"...I don't want to know what sort of game she's playing, but at the same time I really wanna know what game she's playing." Scorpia commented as she helped Adora up, brushing the dust off her shoulders.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied before directing to the magicat currently looking for another dimension in the bucket. "Just go and take her to the storage facility and lock her up until we're ready to leave, all right?" She ordered as she started collecting the other papers. Still unsure of herself with all that she's witnessed, Scorpia gave a silent nod in return before making her way to the very cat who's head was now stuck in a bucket.
"Help! The bucket tricked me! There's no fish in here!" She screeched, trying to pry the bucket away, unaware that it was stuck due to the handle behind her head. This is what happens every time she lets her guard down in front of a bucket. She swore, for as long as she lived, she would never allow a bucket to outsmart her ever again!
Adora watched in silence as Scorpia dragged Catra away by the tail, the one yelling obscenities about the evils of buckets along the way, and turned her attention back to the papers in front of her.
And the Aroda who glared.
"You're pathetic." She stated, bluntly. Adora casually brushed off her insults as she continued collecting her destroyed work, making what little use she could of the fire as she burned away a page at a time. "You had a perfect opportunity to get rid of her, and you stuttered. And for what? A stupid paper?"
"It's none of your business." Adora boldly replied.
"None of my business? Are you forgetting your head is being shared in there, or are you just that selfish?"
"..." Adora didn't give her a reply to her petty remarks, or her insults, as the papers burned away.
"Now you listen to me, Adora-"
"No, YOU listen!" Adora surprisingly yelled back, walking towards the living reflection who slowly backed away. "I don't care what you say around here. Whatever happens, happens. But this is my choice, and we're sticking by MY rules while we're doing this. I'm taking Catra back to the Fright Zone, locking her up, as I planned, and you're not going to convince me otherwise, so don't even bother! GOT IT!?" She huffed, actually leaving Aroda speechless for the first time since the two met. With nothing else to say, the Force Captain stormed back towards the paper, gathering the ruined remains and continuing to burn them as Aroda was left to stew in her own thoughts.
Of all the nerve, of all the times Adora had to get bratty, it had to be now? Who did she think she was?! Everything that happened up to this day had gone off like Aroda said it would. Her missions kept failing, Hordak was displeased, disappointed, and most of all enraged over all of Adora's failures, and Adora lost the massive amount of support she once had from the Kingdom of Snows, and this is how she takes things? By completely disregarding what Aroda had been telling her up to this point and shoving it out the window?
The Nerve!
The small amount of respect she had for the young Force Captain for sticking up to her like that didn't come close to impressing her over the amount of irritation she had from Adora's disobedience. She wasted a perfectly good opportunity she had to end all of her problems and held back at the very last second because of some stupid drawing! What did it mean to her anyway? What reason did she have to be touched by a stupid drawing made by an idiot she didn't care about in the first place?
As opposed too lashing back with verbal taunts and reminders of Adora's failures, Aroda gave a brash smile. "All right, we'll do it your way then." Like before, Adora ignored her as she started to disappear. "Just remember, as always, that I told you so when it comes back to bite you..."
Adora didn't care what she said, nor her reason for it. She didn't care about Catra anymore than she did before, and she wasn't going to let Aroda tell her how to run her life. Everything that would happen would happen with her own two hands and her own decisions. She wouldn't let a minor setback like the papers ruin her day, not when she had a better prize for Hordak to return with. Pulling out the paper from her coat again, she uncrumpled it within her hands as she considered throwing it in the fire.
It meant nothing to her. Catra meant nothing to her. And her past meant nothing to her anymore. Like the pages before this one, they were all burned away by the pain Catra inflicted on Adora at the Beacon, and like this piece of paper was about to be, she planned on burning away her past for good as she tossed it into the fire.
...For about two seconds. Right as the tip of the flames were about to reach the paper, she pulled back. Now that she thought of it, it might be a good reminder for her. Remind her of the pain that Catra caused her and what trusting someone deeply enough did to her. Yeah, that's right. Just as a reminder. It didn't mean anything to Adora as she stuffed it back into her coat.
Because, once again, she didn't care about Catra...
...
...
*sheeem*
"I just wanted a moment with Adora, but no, I'm stuck babysitting her ex-best friend." Scorpia moaned as she finally entered the facility, having dragged the cat all the way behind her. She had no words of comfort from anybody at this moment, just the crazy things Catra randomly ranted about on the way here and throw the connecting tunnel-like halls that reached the various places of the outpost.
Like this storage facility.
Pulling the cat all the way to the center of the room, the scorpion helped her up to her feet, holding onto her shoulders as Catra gave her a goofy half-awake, half-perplexed grin. "Now, I need you to be a good little kitty, and stay here. Got that?"
Catra bobbed back and forth to her sides for a few seconds until she nodded, giving a salute. "Heh heh, you're so reeeeed." She slurred.
"...Yup, sure am." She rolled her eyes turning around. Not a foot away from the girl did she feel something clamp around her left foot. And by something, she meant a cat. "What are you doing?"
"You can't leave yet!" She yelled, darting her eyes back and forth.
"What? Why?"
"Because," she turned her head in all directions as she crawled up Scorpia's body, throwing her off balance, until her head reached her ear, "what if the crab people show up?"
"The crab- Oh, not this again..." There was only so many times someone could tell a person something before losing the ability to actually say it. Like trying to remind Catra for the 86th time that she wasn't a crab!
"I found one an hour ago! Don't let her looks fool you, she tastes nothing like a crab!" She whispered closely, keeping her eyes on her surroundings. "She thinks she's a scorpion, but I know what she really is!"
"You do?" For the sake of her sanity, she hoped Catra finally came to understand.
"Yes! It turns out... she's a lobster girl who was adopted by crab people!"
Darn it.
Out of nowhere, Catra started crying her eyes out into Scorpia's shoulder. "Can you imagine how horrible it must've been when she found out she was adopted by the crab people?! It's too sad!"
"Catra, for the last time. I'm not a crab girl, or a lobster girl, and there are no crab or lobster people around here." With a soft push, she brushed Catra away from her, easily knocking the cat onto her back as she grinned on the floor. "I'm a scorpion. Not a crab. Okay?"
"..." Catra lazily smiled at her as she sat up. "Why are you talking about crabs for?"
"...Ok, bye Catra." Waving the girl away, she made her way towards the door, hoping to separate herself from the madness before she became inflicted with whatever insanity took over Catra. Unfortunately, there wasn't much distance to cover as she came to a stop at the door, looking at the console over the wall that allowed access through the rooms. "What was Adora's code again?" It had to be something that would be easy to remember, and that made it all the harder to remember what. Maybe it was a measurement Adora knew of from something, a specific time of day that meant something to her, or-
"Click!" Out of nowhere, right from under her, Scorpia was taken back as Catra popped out from under her, clicking on the random buttons from the console. "Click, click, click."
"Hey!" Scorpia grumbled a little as she tried to grab for the cat who disappeared in an instant. It's like she wasn't there to begin with, she was so fast. She couldn't see her under the console or behind her.
"Click, click click!" Catra popped out again from Scorpia's side, pressing more buttons.
"Stop that!" Grabbing the girl by her shoulders, Scorpia tossed her away, not even bothering to see what she crashed into as she rubbed her chin. "Okay, wait. I'm pretty sure it was-"
"Clickity-clickity-click!" Scorpia was powerless to catch the girl this time as she appeared right on top of the console itself, catching her off guard. "Click, click, click. CLIIIIIIIICK! Click, click."
"Don't!" Scorpia finally managed to catch the girl before anything else could be pressed, but struggled as she tried to maintain her hold over the now-upside-down girl, her feet kicking into Scorpia's face. Pulling her away from the circuitboard, she finally tossed the girl to the ground, earning nothing more than a simple cheesy grin from the feline who smiled back to her. "Why are you making this so much harder for me? Please. Please! I'm a woman on the edge!"
"Huh! Don't jump!" Catra gasped, returning to her simplistic half-awake smile one second later.
"Seriously, I've had a really challenging day, all right?" Wasting no time to return to the fun activity, even if someone was talking to her, Catra zipped back to the console again as she continued playing with the fun machine.
"Clicky, clicky, click, CLICK, click... beep!" As soon as she pressed the final button, her eyes widened as she was grabbed from behind again and pulled away from the panel. Right as Scorpia was about to reset the console to try and correct Catra's mistake, she was met with surprise as the indicator connected to the console flashed green, the password having been inputed correctly as the doors opened.
"How did you do that?"
"Adora's favorite number." She teethed, bobbing her head a little as she saw cross-legged with her hands in her lap. "She uses it all the time. Heheh."
"..." Of course. Why didn't Scorpia think of it in the first place? There would only be one reason Catra knew the password, one that caused her to groan. "I get it. You know Adora's favorite number, and I don't. Rub it in my face, why don't you?" Of all the things she had to put up with today, the fact Catra still knew more about Adora than Scorpia did was the most frustrating. They were mortal enemies at the time, and she still knew enough to know what Adora would use for a stupid password! For goodness sake, she was doing Scorpia's job better than her by helping Scorpia open the door, and she wasn't even aware of it!
*Crash!*
With her back to the door and her body blocking Catra's line of sight, neither of them caught a glimpse of the strange wonder that crashed through the connecting hallways, being met with the sight of a torn tunnel as the snow outside rained down on the rubble. All that remained to connect the two facilities was the smooth metal ground that once filled the now-hallwayless hallway.
"That... can't be good..." Scorpia muttered, pondering what sort of force could've destroyed the halls in an instant.
"Hahaha!" Like everything else, Catra paid little mind to the destruction and more focus on... anything at this point, as she laughed running outside. She circled a little sticking her tongue out, unaware of the large and dark figure that ran far behind her, but close enough for Scorpia to see the silhouette of.
And one close enough to turn around from hearing the girl's laughter.
Letting out a small gasp, Scorpia attempted to run for the magicat, only for her supposed-prisoner to leap out of the way of her and the large monster that nearly swallowed her in a single bit, and onto a light post that illuminated what little of the surroundings they had in a violet let. Whatever it was to them, it was something else to Catra who grabbed onto the pull, pulling herself closer and closer to the source of the light with a mind full of hunger and an attention span of an ant.
"Catra, stop!" Scorpia shouted as the monster ran for the defenseless girl. She tried to climb up the post herself, but with the freezing ice surrounding the pole and the fact she had claws instead of hands proved to be her undoing as she kept sliding off of it.
"Not until I get the cherry!" She yelled back, pulling up further and further towards the light as the monster neared her. She didn't care what the red girl had to say or the giant mysterious creature wanted from her. There was no way they were going to get in the way of the delicious purple cherry she had never seen before!
"That's not a cherry!"
Catra continued ignoring her as she was several feet from her delicious treat, all while the monster behind her slowly rose up to the tip of the post, waiting for its prey to come to them. "This is my cherry. There are many like it, but this one I stole from someone else." She grinned, finally in arms reach of her prize as the creature opened its gaping jaw.
Scorpia panicked as she had to think fast. Just attacking the creature was out of the question, if that even did anything, and there was no way she could reach her herself at this point even if she could climb the post! She had to think of something and fast, something that could save Catra's life in the next five seconds.
And that's when it hit her as she looked up.
"Catra, look out! It's the crab people!"
"Huh?!" Instantly, Catra let out a gasp of overwhelming fear as she released both her hands from the post, flailing her arms about in sheer panic. "Ahhh! Get them away from me!" She barely had enough time to blink before she lost all the grip her legs had around the pole, falling down into Scorpia's waiting arms right as the monster took a huge bite out of the spotlight and everything ten feet under it. "Help, they got me!" Scorpia paid her no mind as she ran back into the storage facility, hastily slamming the door shut with the console behind her right as the monster spat out what little food it gobbled up.
"Ok, so! Change of plans." Scorpia announced setting the cat down. "How about we stay inside?"
"Yeah! Girl's-only Sleepover!" Catra cheered pumping her fists in the air, hopping to her feet and falling into Scorpia's claws. No sooner did she finish cheering did she spontaneously fall straight to sleep, unaware of her problems and uncaring for the crab people that currently took her prisoner. All that required her attention was having fun at the sleepover and making sure everyone around it was a girl! Right before she went to sleep at random, she muttered to the girl who's arms she slipped through. "Don't let the crab girl eat my pillow. It goes right to her thighs." Scorpia couldn't help but blush a little shamefully as she looked at her sides at the remark.
Did Catra just call her fat?
...
...
At the same time, the four heroes had nearly reached the edge of the cliff. Glimmer grunted as she pulled herself over the ledge, thankful to be on solid ground again, Frosta was holding tightly around Bow while her arm was still busted, and Sea Hawk was still contemplating the idea that he might not actually be as cool as he thought he was.
"Any sign of She-Ra?" Bow asked Glimmer, seeing how she made it first. "Preferably the version that won't throw us off a cliff?"
"Or attempt to kill us." Frosta added, keeping her eyes closed as she freezing winds started to sting her eyes, and the last thing she needed was her eyes watering and getting frozen.
She had plenty of experiences with that growing up and testing her powers.
"Uh, no." The pink princess replied, feeling an atmosphere of unease at the sight. "No She-Ra. Just a terrifying snow monster!"
"That still sounds like She-Ra." Frosta commented as she slid from Bow's back, finally getting a clear look at what she was referring to. "Oh."
What was that twisted thing? It was so bizarre. It had flashing red eyes and six massive leg-like appendages on the top half of its body. From the second pair of legs up to the eyes, there were several pairs of glowing red from the sides of the beast, along with a thick metallic-like carapace over its back. Its body stretched all around the facility, it was so massive! And, knowing their luck, that just happened to be the very destination they needed to get to. They were just lucky they hadn't caught the creature's attention yet.
Unlike the one that appeared behind them, its head towering alone as it appeared from the cliff.
*Gaaaaaaooooooooo!*
None of them needed a say or direction as they turned tail and ran, their exhausted feet carrying them over to the closest safety they could find, their minds still dreading what possible horrors Catra could be getting put through as they ran.
...
...
"Mmmh... I can't believe I'm stuck in a closet here with you." Scorpia grumbled looking outside, holding the swooning magicat by her waist.
"I think you're just jealoush you lost spin the bottle~" Catra lisped back, thinking fondly of the good times.
"We never played that, we don't even have a bottle!"
"Then why did you lose so badly?!"
Pushing off every instinct she had telling her to throw Catra outside, Scorpia moaned as she strolled her way further into the storage. "I should be by Adora's side, protecting her. Why can't you just stay out of our way?" Was it seriously too much to ask for? She wanted to spend some time with Adora, she wanted to try and brighten her mood. Not once since this mission started did she get an opportunity, and during the few she did, she ended up making things worse for her.
And now she had to feel self-conscious about her weight as she crouched behind some nearby boxes!
*sheeem*
That's when the door opened again, and a lone figure, standing brave and virtuous, appeared in the darkness of the doorway.
"Adora?" Scorpia asked a little hopeful. Did she come to save them, like she knew she would? Did she need Scorpia to protect her instead? She could hardly wait to hear her voice!
"...Ah! Huff... Huff..." With the doors closing behind him, Sea Hawk gasped for air after running what felt like a tedious marathon of catch-the-pirate, one that only ended after he was dead. Panting with each breath, he never felt so grateful to be alive, removing the goggles over his face as he embraced the warm air.
"Inspector Pirate?" She almost forgot about him entirely, it had been so long since she last saw him.
Lifting his head up, Sea Hawk was more surprised by the newly discovered She-Ra he was supposed to find in the first place. "Catra!" As she waved to him with a cheeky smile, he puffed up his chest as he cleared his throat. "Ahem. I'm here to rescue you!" This was actually the best thing he could ever ask for! What better way to prove his coolness than by rescuing the dear honorable-princess all by himself!
"Awesome! Finally!... Rescue me from what?" She wondered slouching to the ground.
"From the Horde, of course!"
"Oh, that. That, that, that, that. No need to worry." She continuously poked Scorpia in the nose as she leaned on her shoulder, smiling again. "We came to an understanding. You can't be too hard on her," she paused, leaning in a little closer, "she was adopted by crab people. She doesn't know!"
"You just whispered that to me, Catra." Scorpia mentioned.
"Oh... Tell the pizza guy what I just said, but don't tell Scorpia!" With this, she collapsed in Scorpia's arms, flailing a little cheekily as she tried to pick herself up to no avail.
"Is she all right?" The pirate's never seen her, much less anyone, in a state like this unless it was a party at a saloon.
"I don't know." Scorpia replied, raising an eyebrow at the cat's weird antics as her eyes wavered on both side. "She is getting on my last nerve. And she's not going anywhere." No matter how insane she was driving her, Scorpia refused to release the captive, refused to let Adora down again.
"We'll see about that." Sea Hawk decree. "En garde!" Taking advantage at the one-armed grip the scorpion had on her, he quickly lunged for the drowsy girl as he grabbed her free arm, pulling her to her feet with as much strength as he could muster. Catra barely got a foot away from her before Scorpia grabbed the other arm, creating a game of tug-of-war as the two fought over the oblivious girl who laughed as the two pulled her.
Pulling in between the two, she gave them both her friendliest smile as she pinched both of their cheeks. "You guys are my best friends, you know that?" It made her eyes teary, it was so beautiful! Two best friends she's only known for 30 seconds, which included Scorpia, fighting over her. They must really like her!
...
...
*Woooooooooo!*
*Woooooooooo!*
The alarms were blaring as Adora ran through one of the halls of the complex, inspecting the damage with the sword still in hand. Right when she thought the sensors earlier might have been tripped by a stray animal or the weather making the systems malfunction, they go off again twenty minutes later following the rumble of a tremor. Whatever was surrounding the place definitely wasn't a stray, she knew that now, and she was more than aware that something truly was surrounding the facility at this very moment. Inspecting the current hallway confirmed her suspicions as she checked the damaged portion of the halls across from her.
She was beside herself as she inspected the damage. These thick sheets of metal should've been enough to take several blasts from a tank before putting a dent into them, yet whatever caused these massive bursts of the wall managed to do it in one strike. The lights around the walls flickered from the lack of direct electricity flowing through them, and the tremors continued to grow even more violent. Coming across the most damaged portion of the wall, she observed the damage in detail, trying to make heads or tails of what could've caused this.
*WHAM!*
Or what was continuing to cause it as she just witnessed. With another strike came another tremor, and with that, another dent into the wall as it was pushed a few inches closer to her, something massive ramming it from the other end. She gathered as much of of her shadows as she could around her right arm, gripping the sword in her left, as she prepared for anything that could've come at her next. What she wasn't prepared for was the sudden flicker of the lights before experiencing a total blackout, save for the emergency green lights along the doors.
"I'm really starting to hate this place..." Followed by the roar of a mysterious creature, Adora ran through the door she came through, racing up to Entrapta that was still glued to her work within the center of the room. "What's happening? Why is the power going out?" She asked her.
Rummaging through the systems and services, she brought up several images of their remaining security cameras, all depicting the terrifying creatures that were surrounding he. facility. "Apparently, by drilling into the ice, we've unleashed these creatures." Entrapta explained as Adora leaned closer to get a better look. "Now they're obsessively trying to destroy us. What an unexpected twist!" Twists were a wonderful thing for the scientist to come by! When one was a mathematical and scientific genius like her, surprises rarely got to her. But when they did, boy were they exhilarating to experience! And it only took a serious look from Adora to remind them of their situation. "Oh yeah, and we're probably going to die..."
...
...
The outside cold was almost refreshing compared to what Bow and Glimmer were currently experiencing. These massive creatures, the ones that nearly doubled the size of the complex they were surrounding, were nothing short of terrifying! With what little use Bow got out of his arrows, he wasn't even capable of putting a scratch on one of these things as he attempted to blind one with an exploding arrow. All it did was make it angrier, provided they could've been, as they used the short few seconds to escape.
No amount of running could help them escape from these ferocious creatures, ones that could cover a mile in a matter of seconds. Their options were limited to running and getting eaten, and running and finding a place to hide. While it was on good fortune they managed to find such a spot behind a bank of snow, covering them from the front as the metallic walls covered behind them, it was only a matter of time before the creatures encircling this place discovered their hiding spot.
"What are those things?" Glimmer whispered as loudly as she could over the howling winds without being caught.
"I'm guessing it's something to do with the giant pit Entrapta dug." Bow assumed, keeping an eye between his friend and the roaming creatures.
Taking a short peek over the snow to examine their threatening predators, Glimmer let out a startling gasp as she discovered something the rest hadn't come across. "Bow, their eyes, they're red like She-Ra's! Do you think maybe the monsters have been infected, too?" She pulled at her hair lightly as she groaned in frustration. "Ugh! Adora is the worst!" Of course, it didn't come as any surprise for her. Why would Adora be satisfied just corrupting their friend when she could've corrupted an entire army of these massive creatures? She was unaware that Adora was dealing with the same problem within the facility, and even if she had, she wouldn't care. This whole problem started when she showed up with the virus, and every second, it was getting worse for them because of her!
And for the previous second, she ended up making things worse as a large shadow loomed over then. They didn't need to lift their heads up to know what was currently waiting behind them.
*Gaaaaaoooooooooo!*
"Do you think you have one more teleport left?" Bow shrieked, hugging onto his friend for dear life.
"Hope so!" She shrieked back. Closing their eyes, bracing for anything, the two held each other tightly as they disappeared into a cloud of pink sparkles, safely away from the menacing monsters that roamed outside.
And right behind Adora who roamed inside.
There was a small awkwardness as Entrapta blinked to her friend, eyeing back and forth between her and the newly-arrived guests. Following her vision, she turned her sights on the two who suddenly popped up unannounced. Relieved that their escape plan worked for half of it, Glimmer opened a concerning pair of eyes as she tapped Bow's shoulder, getting him to open his eyes as she gestured to the party she just dropped themselves in on. Between the three differing expressions, only one of the four seemed delighted to meet each other's acquaintences again as Entrapta waved behind Adora, rolling over on her chair.
"Hiiiii!"
With zero time for words, the two grabbed their wits about them as Bow shot his arrow directly for Adora while Glimmer gathered her magic. Already prepared for the shot, Adora easily pulled herself out of the way with a tendril into the ceiling, leaving Entrapta to suffer the direct blast from Bow's trick arrow that exploded into a giant wrapping, ensnaring the scientific genius from her ankles to her chin, and throwing her off the chair with a loud thud. "Ow!"
And despite the danger, despite the events currently taking place, despite the idea that these horrifying creatures could devour them into meaty chunks so unearthly that nobody would be able to recognize their remains-!... Entrapta still managed to find wonder in the small contraption she was stuck in as she rolled by.
"Fascinating!"
...
...
The struggling game of tug-of-war had yet to cease on the other end of the facility as neither side gave in to the exhaustion of their arms. They were too preoccupied with doing their job and doing it right, too annoyed with the other to let them take Catra away, and so distracted that they didn't notice another figure strolling through the doors, hastily hiding behind several crates as the doors closed behind her, gasping for breath after the mile-run she nearly ran.
As a side note, she had to remember to herself: When dealing with massive creatures that weighed over fifty tons and were the size of a warship, trying to blind them temporarily with one hand by freezing a case of ice over their eyes proved ineffective. It just made them angrier.
Recovering from her recent run, her ears were met with the sound of two people grumbling back and forth to each other as they tried to claim their prize in the middle.
"Hey!" Distracted by the sound without losing their grip, they were both surprised to Frosta running near them, the young girl having no other option but to grab Catra by the tail, pulling her towards the sea captain and giving them a slighter edge in their favor as Scorpia felt her feet drag a little. She might not have the strength to summon great pillars of ice in both of her arms, but as long as she was pulling in the same direction as someone else, she could manage pulling Catra with both her arms a little easier. "Let go of her. She's with us!"
This was bad. Scorpia was starting to lose her ground as she felt her own two feet sliding, centimeters at a time, as the duo pulled her closer to the door and out of her reach. Desperate times called for desperate measures as she was forced to use her secret weapon, again. "Catra, don't go with them! They're crab people!" She warned, earning a rolling-eyed stare from the girl.
"What's a crab people?"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Of all the times she had to get over the crab people obsession, she picked NOW of all times? Current frustrations and non-pleasantries would have to be pushed aside for now as the two continued pulling Catra over to them.
"Hand her over!" Sea Hawk demanded, tightening his grip.
"Let go!" Scorpia grumbled back. "Adora trusted me with watching her. I can't let her down!"
"Adora." Catra chuckled looking asleep as she spoke. "She's soooooo evil." Scorpia was taken back by the comment as she lowered her grip, something the other two noticed as they eased up on the pulling themselves.
"Adora's not evil." She whimpered a little. "She's just misunderstood after all that's happened. You of all people should know that. I mean, you grew up together and turned her back on her. I'm trying to make up for that and can't come close between what you two had!" In dismay, she finally released her hold on the young girl as she turned away a little. While Frosta had more than enough sense to want to take Catra out of here, Sea Hawk seemed a little curious as he witnessed Scorpia wallowing in despair. "No matter what I do, I can't seem to break down her walls. I try and I try, but nothing I do ever seems to be enough for her. I can't even get her to smile." She took a small walk over to the crate behind her, sitting down as she contemplated her thoughts.
"But you two, even when you're trying to kill each other, you can tell there's a real bond. I just..." Who was she kidding? She couldn't compete with Catra no matter how hard she tried. To someone like Adora, she was always going to be the simpleton that messed things up for her no matter how hard she tried, while Catra would still be the hated enemy that she still felt a connection with. With a saddening frown, she lowered her head in shame, burying her face in her claws. "I just wish she would see me as worth her time, too. Someone she could count on to be at her side, you know..."
"..." The shorter princess, noticing the silence starting to fill the air and the fact there were still giant monsters outside threatening to eat them, tried to give a soft smile as she pointed back towards the door. "Yeaaah... So... We're going to go now before-"
"I," the following cry and whimper came from the boastful sea captain himself as he released his grip on Catra, inadvertently dropping the girl on the younger princess in the process as she sat on her, "I know how you feel." With eyes filled with sadness and tears pouring down his face, how could he not? For a minute, it felt like he finally found his exact opposite, someone who understood his pain in its entirety! He couldn't let this opportunity pass him, no matter what crisis was taking place around them.
Gathering another crate from nearby, he placed it near the scorpion princess as he felt a serious discussion was needed, one he would only have this very chance to have with someone.
And leaving an annoyed princess struggling to get Catra off of her with the use of only one good arm. "Get your stupid furry butt off of me!"
Catra paid little heed or mention to the girl as she leaned on her arm with a semi-sleepy frown, watching the duo in front of her. "That's so sad..." In an instant, she tilted her head down towards the feeble princess with a curious half-awake face. "By the way, which one of you guys are Catra?"
...
...
*ssskkk*
"Ngh..." Catra gritted her teeth as her claws nearly scraped off against the rocky side of the mountain. What kind of world was she running anyway in this head of hers?
From nothing but complete darkness meeting her, to finding herself stalked by a ferocious predator she had recently seen in full, a river that came to life and tried to throw her away as she swam across it, a forest that teleported her into different locations depending on where she turned, and now, a mountain that she swore was continuing to grow higher with every crack she grabbed onto, every narrow ledge she barely managed to get her hands on to pull herself up.
Oh, and who could forget her favorite part where the world was disappearing as she left it behind? Like the river had previously before it, she found the forest that took her to every corner of the woods slowly crumbling away into nothingness, a darkness that continued to chase after her. She didn't know if it was as severe the red walls of death she was greeted with he last time she was in this dreamworld, but that didn't seem to matter if her new companion had anything to say about it.
*Grrrrrrrrr!*
"You seriously don't let up, do you?" She grumbled, looking down at her four-legged stalker. Despite the sturdiness of the rocks within the mountains, and lack of grips she was barely managing to find before slipping on several occasions, the jaguar-like creature continued to hunt after her, now having a firm eye on its target as it slowly climbed up fifty feet below her, closing the gap with every second as it sunk its claws into the dense mountain. Refusing to let the beast distract her, she continued jumping ahead up the large wall as much as she could, distancing herself a good three feet from the beast while the beast managed to stay two feet behind.
What was she supposed to do here? Right now, the only means she had to defend herself was reclaiming her bright and shining sword, one she could actually see glowing at the very top of this mountain. The problem? The mountain wouldn't stop growing, or doing what she felt like was growing! She swore, no matter how big it was up close, it shouldn't have taken very long for her to reach the top by now. Given the situations behind the last two environments she traveled from, she wasn't surprised to find out this mountain had an annoying gimmick to it, too.
If that gimmick could've waited until AFTER the creature was out of her hair, she would've appreciated it much more.
*tip*
"Huh?" Her nose twitched a little as she blinked, finding a small pebble dropping from above her that tapped her nose. The pebble didn't' bother her so much as the reason behind it did, looking up ahead to see a familiar figure she recognized all too well sitting on a perch of rough earth, more than enough space to casually lean her arm on while looking down on the struggling Catra.
Herself.
"Hey, Catra." The other Catra greeted without a care in the world, tail swishing behind her in the air.
"This is seriously getting annoying here..." She never thought she could be so annoyed with seeing herself in so many places, yet these other Catras proved her wrong.
Hopefully the appearance of this one meant she was at the last leg of her journey. Unlike the other two, this one matched her in just about every way from her age, appearance, style in clothes, and that sly grin on her face as she watched someone struggle, the way she usually did when she watched someone.
"Aw, what's wrong? Kitty doesn't wanna fall down?" She taunted, flicking another pebble off that tapped Catra's right ear on the way down, irritating it.
"Unless you haven't seen the hulking thing behind me, no!" Catra hissed. For a moment, she nearly lost her footing as her right foot slipped against the mountain, tightening the grip in her left hand as her heart raced like she spent one of her nine lives. "I don't suppose you plan on getting your lazy butt off of that and helping around here?"
"Eh, I don't know." The other Catra rolled onto her back as she leaned her hands behind her head. "I think it's kind of funny watching you hiss every time you nearly fall."
"Give me a break already!" How much longer did she have to put up with this stupidity? And from herself of all people! "I nearly drowned in the first place, and the last one nearly left me impaled, so the least you could do is help me out here!"
"Mmh... still not sure... And don't try using the same cheesy line like "something'll happen to me too" like the last Catra, because that's just getting old."
"How did... Never mind." She shook any and all possible questions out of her head. In this dreamworld, nearly everything impossible was proving itself possible, which was saying a lot given the reality she lived in. "Look, are you going to help me or what? I really don't have time for this!" She glanced down towards the reason for her rush, seeing it closing the gap as Catra found less and less space to work with.
Poking at her chin briefly, as if she had to take her sweet time to ponder this for herself, the other Catra swayed her hand back and forth as she stood from the ground. "Fine, if you're so insistent, who am I to say no?" That came a little fast.
Too fast for Catra's taste. She knew the way she was now, and this copy of her wasn't too far off from how she was. Narrowing her gaze on the Catra further above her, she discovered her fears were founded as she could see why the other Catra gave in so easily without the threats or the insults.
Pulling back her fist, she slammed her hand into the ground under her, cracking the ledge she was on and crumbling it beneath her feet. In seconds, that one little crack grew into a massive stream of broken stones that came hurdling down the mountain, ready to slam into anything in their path as the avalanche descended.
Like Catra who was directly below it.
With a short scream of panic, she was found with little choice as she jumped to the right as far as she could, narrowly avoiding the piles of rocks and boulders that came hurtling down past her, one nearly touching the tip of her tail, and still falling below. It actually proved quite resourceful in her case, because the next thing she knew, she heard the wailing screams of the same beast as it was caught by the tide of falling rocks, roaring as it was blasted off the mountain and descended into nothingness.
Catra had little care for the beast that tried to eat her for the last hour, instead turning her glare up to the cat far above her that she couldn't wait to get her claws on! "What's the big idea!? You could've killed me."
"Oh, I'm so vewy sowwy." She teased, leaning against the remains of the perch looking down at her. "Can you find it in your wittle heawt to forgive me?"
"Like I'm going to forgive you for anything like-" Catra paused as she lowered her head again, replaying the images in her mind of the last two Catra's who asked her the same question. "Wait a minute..."
...
"Do you forgive me?" She squeaked.
"What?"
"I asked if you forgive me." The younger Catra looked at her with eyes swelling with tears on both ends, pleading to the older teen to find some form of forgiveness for her.
...
"Do you forgive me?" The question instantaneously threw Catra off guard with how sincere the tone sounded.
"Forgive you?"
"For giving you the wrong directions."
"No, I don't forgive you!" She yelled, scratching out her claws in aggression. "You purposely lead me to my death, I almost died! You didn't even bother trying to help me!"
...
She blinked as it finally dawned on her, looking up at the Catra that continued to grin down. "That's what this whole stupid thing has been about, wasn't it? Forgiving someone?"
"Well, look who FINALLY caught up with the rest of us." The smug Catra said with a tease, giving a small sarcastic clap with the palm of her hand. The real Catra rolled her eyes as she shook her head at this. This was their big idea here? Putting her through several life and death situations just to get an apology to come out of her, or, more specifically, get her to accept someone else's apology? Why was it that even in her own mind people were still trying to kill her for stupid reasons?!
"Fine! I forgive Frosta! Happy?" She grumbled, pulling along the rocks again.
"Hmmm nope. Sorry. Try again." The other Catra admitted, much to the real one's surprise.
"What are you talking about? That's what this whole thing's been about, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, but you didn't mean it." With a twirling finger, she directed Catra's attention to the sky above. "By the way, you might want to move."
"Why-!" Her eyes flashed with surprise as clenched her teeth. With a quick reaction, she jumped to the side, again, as she nearly avoided the avalanche of boulders, again, as well as the very beast that fell below her, one whose eyes locked on to hers for a second before falling again. That's the second time she passed the avalanche and the first time she passed the monster, neither of which should have been possible in the first place. "How did..." That's when the gimmick finally hit her, why it felt like forever to reach the top of this mountain.
The mountain wasn't disappearing below her. The problem was, like with the forest taking her from one spot to the next, this entire mountain ran on a loop, one that didn't have a top or a bottom. The minute she climbed up, she was sinking just as fast as she was climbing with the ground disappearing below her, so much so that it reappeared in the sky in a constant state of movement.
However little sense that made.
Catching the small look from the other Catra smirking down at her, she knew what she had to do while knowing it was one of the dumbest things she ever considered doing to begin with. "You know what? Keep your stupid apology then, I don't care. I'm out of here." Looking back at the darkness below her, she took a deep, long, breath to steady her senses, before she did the unthinkable.
She pushed off and let herself plummet into the darkness.
She hesitated to open her eyes, unsure if she should look at the disappearing mountain above her or not. Knowing it was the only way to continue forward, if her plan was to work at all, she forced her eyes open as she saw it, the mountain above her slowly disappearing into the shadows before they, too, eventually disappeared into the darkness. Gulping, she slowly turned her head over, trying to find any semblance of the green-outlined mountain coming up below her.
"Come on... come on..." She muttered to herself, or anyone willing to hear her pleas. If she kept falling forever, was that going to be the fate that awaited her for the next eternity? Just falling and falling into nothingness? For all she knew, maybe it worked differently for her, seeing how she was the real deal around here and not something fake like the river, the forest, and so forth. Even the beast that chased her was more likely a part of this world more than she was, and she was the reason it existed in the first place!
Falling and falling without a end in sight, she began to lose hope and regret that she made the worst decision of her life when it happened.
She saw it.
Straight below, she saw what at first appeared to be a little dot, one that grew in size the closer she came towards it. The dot grew into a line, the line stretched outwards into a mountain. Eventually, it started to take shape becoming whole in her field of view as the world came back to her, including the sword she saw off a little ahead of the mountain away from the edge, waiting for her arrival.
Now came the part that made her a little more nervous. Despite everything going according to plan, there was no way she would normally be able to grip the edge at the top of the mountain without her fingers popping straight off and leaving her falling again. At the velocity and speed she's been picking up in this who-knew-how-big fall, she was more than likely going to flatten her hand into a pancake, leaving her with a missing hand a rather spotty stain on the mountain top. Unless the mountain ended up having a softer grip, or something to at least keep her hand from exploding, this was about to be the worst mistake of Catra's life.
"I sure hope this works..." With her words of hope ringing through her own head, she rolled a little in the air until she was in a standing position, as of she was climbing the mountain again. She braced for impact as the five dozen yards that separated her from the mountain came, closing in fast. A part of her wanted to close her eyes from fear, yet she knew she couldn't afford to if she wanted to grab the edge in time. With all of her hope riding on a single guess, she inhaled deeply as she prepared to grab the ledge.
*tap*
And made it. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment before she realized she was fine. Looking up at the ledge, it didn't feel any different to her than climbing up and grabbing a ledge herself, like she actually climbed all the way to the top. Not only that, but she didn't see the annoyance of Catra, the other Catra anyway, greeting her below or upon the mountain. Thus far, pulling up to the top of the mountain, distancing herself from the ledge as far as possible while catching her breath, seeing the sword in her sight, it started to look like smooth sailing from here!
*THUD*
And that's when she wasn't surprised to hear the iceberg collapsing behind her. Specifically, turning around, she gave no surprised look as she saw the massive beast plopping down, looking as if it wasn't injured in the slightest after landing, or being struck by an avalanche. Come to think of it, where did the pile of rocks that fell with it disappear to?Wherever they were, it didn't matter to her anymore. With the sword in sight, she took off running at full speed, expending all of the stamina in her system to allow herself this last moment of hope, a chance to turn everything around and stop this insane nightmare that continued to plague her.
She didn't turn back as she heard, and felt, the thunderous footsteps of the beast that chased her. Her one and only priority was reclaiming the sword out in the distance, one that didn't have any landscape like the last three environments she barely crossed. She didn't care for the beast, she didn't care about what this world was, and she surly didn't care about whether or not she forgave Frosta after all the garbage this place put her through! All she hoped for at this point was that there wasn't another stupid gimmick waiting for her at the end of this journey.
"I can see it!" She whispered, encouraging herself to push harder as the beast neared. She could tell it was getting closer with each passing step, the vibration of the ground beneath her growing more intense with every beat of her heart. She focused solely on the sword floating ahead of her that was starting to come within reach, the sword that made her eyes light up with pride as she neared the end of her journey. With the beast nearly at her tail and the sword nearly in her hands, she took one last final leap for the treasured blade, gripping the handle with pride as her hands clenched around it.
And passed straight through it.
She didn't know what dropped first as her whole body began to pass straight through the sword. Her body, which felt a massive weight on it as her heart sunk, the sword that passed seamlessly behind her until it disappeared, or the large beast that was right behind her at this very moment. All she knew was that the next thing she felt was her back pressed against the ground, and a massive paw squeezing into her stomach as the beast pinned her down.
"You've got to be kidding me!" She yelled, struggling furiously to push the paw off of her.
Terrific. That's all she could think right now. Terrific to know she went through this pointless journey, terrific to know she was stalked through this entire place by the creature with its massive jaws waiting for her, terrific to know the sword she sought after so long was merely an illusion, and terrific to know this entire journey was a waste of time up to this point. Now she was just waiting to wake up from a horrible nightmare to find herself in the Whispering Woods on the day she and Adora set off from the Fright Zone, all to discover that her body was currently six feet under from the massive fall of the skiff she fell out of.
Because at this pace, IT WAS THE MOST LIKELY WAY THINGS WERE GOING TO TURN OUT!
"Looks like you didn't make iiiiiit~" Oh, great. She definitely looked forward to hearing that obnoxious voice again. Not of her very younger self, or the closest-to-age self of her, but the one in-between, the one smirking with her hands at her hips as she appeared out of the darkness to her right. "Too bad, too. I was beginning to think you were gonna make it."
"Ghhhh! Get it off of me!" Growling, Catra was forced to grab the beast's head by its fangs as it attempted to lunge for her throat, barely keeping it at as it breathed down her neck.
"Sure thing! All you have to do is forgive her."
"You already asked me that, and my answer is still no!"
"Why?" The familiar voice of her younger self intervened, appearing on her left with a curious look on her face. "Do you really hate her that much?"
"It's... It's not that I hate her, or as much as you think-" She struggled to argue, trying to maintain her hold on the beast's fangs that separated her from life and death.
"Then why bother struggling with all of it?" This time, it was the most recent version of her, appearing directly behind her as all three of them looked down as if they were completely unaware of the beast's presence. "Just forgive her and be done with this!"
"I can't-"
"Why not?" The age-between-ages Catra asked with a small glare.
"Because-"
"Why do you want to push her away?"
"I don't, it's just-!" She was caught off as the beast finally used its other front paw, pushing and pinning Catra's arms above her head as it pulled back its head, ready to end her once and for all.
"Then why are you being such a brat about it? What makes it so hard for you to just forgive her and move on?!" And with that, the beast lunged its head at her as Catra closed her eyes tightly.
"BECAUSE IT'S MY FAULT IT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE, ALL RIGHT!"
*poof*
She waited for a short duration as she prepared to feel it. The beast's massive jaws around her throat, the beast rending her stomach with its likely-sharpened claws, or cutting somewhere down the middle like taking one of her limbs for an early snack. Yet, as the seconds ticked by, she felt nothing. Not a bite, not a tear, not even a scratch. Opening her eyes slowly, she realized why.
The beast was gone. Disappeared in a puff of smoke as the others smiled to her. And with the beast, so did her confusion behind all of this as she sat up. This wasn't about forgiving Frosta, nowhere near the point of this entire journey. Whatever this world was, it wasn't about teaching her to forgive someone else.
It was about trying to accept and forgive herself for her own mistakes.
"It's... it was my fault..." She looked at her own hands solemnly as she remembered every detail behind it. The Princess Prom that she ruined with her own two hands, after falling for Adora's carefully orchestrated trap to show Frosta what monsters the Rebellion was, and using her as an example. She proved to Frosta everything the Horde said about them was true, that they were nothing but vicious beasts. She didn't think that day meant anything to her until Frosta's betrayal came into play, and she relived the moment in her subconscious over and over again, turning her into the monster that pushed everyone away again.
A monster that needed acceptance of its own mistake, just to move on.
"Ha! Told you she could do it!" The Catra to her right grinned to the one directly behind her as the youngest one helped pull Catra to her feet. "Pay up!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." The oldest hissed a little, handing over a small sack of currency. She didn't care about the fact her own consciouses were making gambles around here, or the fact that any concept of money existed in this world to begin with. She was just relieved that the beast was finally gone after all this time.
"Can we show her now?" The youngest one finally piped up, excitedly. The oldest gave her a single nod as the three of them brought their fingers and their thumbs to their mouths, the youngest one instead using both her fingers, and let out a whistle.
*Tweeeeeeeeeeet!*
*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
In a glorious pillar of light, it descended from above. While the Catras around her didn't seem the least bit fazed by the massive pillar of energy that was shooting down in front of them, the real Catra was forced to shield her face with her arms, feeling her tail and hair blowing back tremendously as the energy came down. From the small openings of her arms, she could barely make out a presence as it came out of the beam of light, a familiar figure that was new and somehow memorable to Catra at the same time. It wasn't until the pillar finally dissipated, returning to the empty sky above with a twinkle, that Catra gasped. She knew who it was that was smiling back at her.
It was She-Ra. Her She-Ra. The form that she assumed at the Battle of Bright Moon in its entirety. The one that was currently smiling at her while lugging the large sword on her shoulders.
"I-It's... It's you!" At this, She-Ra let out a small chuckle as she nodded in return.
"We need to talk."
...
...
...
A/N: Ah, so much fun to write ^^ Actually had a blast with the non-related episode parts, and still just as much fun with the parts of the episode. I really hope I keep the humor up as, sadly, the next chapter will have our favorite drunken Catra for the last time (for now) X*(. But, with or without her, I still plan on hopefully writing in some funny quirks here and there on the side to keep spirits up and everything.
And word of advice for the whole C-virus going around people... Don't have panic attacks. Yes it's the flu, yes its dangerous to the elderly, but so is just about every other form of flu. As many cases as there are about someone dying of it, there's literally 100x more of people simply passing through it after a few days and being just fine. Personally, while I state that its not something to gawk at, it's important to remember to not draw too much panic or worry to it, or people will just get more and more stupid with each passing day until the riots begin and start breaking in and looting malls, and we don't want that (then again, I could always use another Nintendo Switch... hmm...)
Lol, but seriously, just drink your fluids and whatnot and do what you normally do with a flu, and you should be fine ^^ With that said and this minor personal-health announcement finished, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!