A/N: Final Word Count: 14.4k Pre-A/N's.
God I hate corrupted dialogue so much T_T next time, after this episode, im just splitting between entire sentences being bolden or italicized or something cause i ended up with over 550* marks i had to MANUALLY GO BACK AND BOLDEN X_X I also had one of the biggest headaches with this one- idk how or why, but somehow, i wrote the first 2k in the beginning of this and the last 1k towards the end, and forgot about everything else in between somehow. So, naturally, i annoyingly had to go back and fill in for everything in that massive gap of nearly 11k words I didn't have T_T! Ughghghghhgh...
But on the bright side, we're here! The final chapter of Cat-Ra ^^! I can not believe it took us so long to get here, but here we are! We have a heck of a good time coming from this chapter folks, and i know you can't wait as much as I can ^^! So, without further ago, lets go!
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The Portal's activation.
A parallel world where dreams and fantasies come true, at the cost of one's existence.
A parasitic being of living magic that feeds off of power and energy, from anything or anyone it comes into contact with.
This was Aroda's plan from the getgo.
And Catra still couldn't believe it as she stared at the illusionary figure who was poking at Adora's cheek, muttering to her with a teasing grin.
She thought the worst of this reality was far behind her. Losing the dreamworld where she had her own family around here, one where she was an adopted daughter to King Micah and Queen Angella. Mixed in with the fact that she was the only one who seemed to retain any memory of these events, and it made way for a beautiful tragedy.
Then, the world was starting to crumble around her, physically speaking. The portal that had run rampant throughout the entire world was slowly spreading across all of Etheria, erasing anything that came into contact with it, with nobody seeming the wiser for the experience. Those that gave in to their wildest dreams and wishes were completely oblivious to the phenomenon until it was already too late, being erased from life itself. It didn't need to touch anyone for them to be erased, with people disappearing left and right out of thin air even if they were thousands of miles away from it!
Among those that disappeared, were the two people Catra came to acknowledge as her best friends, Glimmer and Bow. The only two people she truly cared about in the last several months of living with them, of interacting with them. They were the ones who always stuck to her side through thick and thin, regardless of how much Catra annoyed or pranked them on a daily basis. They were the ones she could count on to pull her out of troubles, to help her through her struggles, and they were still erased like the rest of the world.
The moment they were erased, Catra thought the worst of her problems surfaced when Adora appeared, showing wicked glee as she fought against a near-helpless Catra who was trying to make sense of everything. The girl didn't just fight against her physically, she used Catra's own emotions, own sense of guilt that she saw as factual, to bring the girl down.
Everything she said, everything she taunted Catra about, was wearing down on the helpless magicat who struggled to block such thoughts and abuses from her mind. Mixed in with the fact the girl had acquired several new abilities, ranging from ripping tears in the fabric of reality to teleporting the two of them in the blink of an eye, and making an illusionary copy of herself that was controlled by Aroda, and she had a recipe for disaster. There was no way Catra could ever expect it to get worse.
And it did.
It was with Aroda's revelation that Catra came to understand the purpose to all of this. Being born in a world where she no longer existed, where she never interacted with Adora and all those from the Fright Zone, Catra had never come into contact with the Sword of Protection on the day that she and Adora went exploring into the Whispering Woods. She never became the famous She-Ra, she never interacted with it, which meant that the sword was left up to grabs for anyone who found it again.
Including Adora.
Including Aroda.
"I have to say, you made things pretty convenient for me." Aroda commented as she grinned back to the magicat. "Bringing the world to an end, creating an entirely new reality where the sword has no owner? It's like a beautiful work of art that's slowly being drawn upon a canvas~"
"This... So this whole time, you were planning on this... all of this..." Catra was still baffled by the revelation, all the pieces that came together that made this possible.
"What? Pffft! Of course not!" She chortled. "Even as amazing and talented as I am, I'm not psychic. I never would've anticipated something like this to occur. I just found a good opportunity and took it." She confessed. "I mean seriously, how much of a screw-up do you have to be to bring the world to an end? Are you sure you're supposed to be the hero?"
"I-I didn't cause this!" The conviction in her voice faltered despite the assurance in her eyes. "Adora, don't you get it? She- It, is just using you! Do you even know what'll happen when you take that sword? You'll-"
"Disappear in the gateway between both worlds?" Aroda guessed knowingly with a smirk. "Be stuck in a place of nothingness or something? Keep going with the juicy details, Adora already knows about them."
Catra was struck with bewilderment at the acknowledgement, one that came in the form of Adora's scowl hardening. "Y-You... You already know about it?" Something wasn't right, something that kept Catra's partial optimism that she wouldn't have to sacrifice herself at bay. "Then... Does that mean you're-"
"Don't even think about finishing that." Adora sneered taking a stance. "All I need to do is touch it, but I don't plan on sacrficinng myself or keeping the portal open!" With a roar, the Horde soldier charged for the magicat, refusing to let her recover her energy while she stalled. She's seen plenty of Catra's tricks, including recovery, on multiple occasions, and wasn't about to let her catch her breath.
Luckily, Catra still had a good chunk of stamina in her legs, regardless of how injured she was from Adora's initial assault. With a notable swiftness as Adora swiped, Catra leaped over the swinging claw of death as she jumped above the girl's shoulder, managing to deliver a small kick to the back of her head as she pushed herself away from the irritated blonde.
She definitely didn't have the power over Adora, especially with that massive arm of hers, but as long as she kept her distance, knowing Aroda couldn't touch her, she knew she could keep the distance between the two until she could think of a pla-
"Peekaboo!" Aroda screeched from behind her.
"Ahhh!" Catra yelped, swiping away at the blinding view.
Normally, a game of "Peekaboo" usually involved covering one's eyes with both their hands, or the other person's hands, and keeping it still until they popped up to reveal themselves. Aroda's case, however, seemed to be different, and a little more disturbing.
Her preferred style, apparently, involved her jamming her glowing white arm through Catra's head, none of which affected Catra physically, but was enough to startle the magicat, much less anyone, who saw a glowing white arm suddenly burst through their face. Her entire vision was covered up in whiteness as she jumped, swinging her head to the side to get the glowing madness out of her blinded eyes.
That was all the distract Adora needed as Catra rubbed her eyes from the blinding whiteness as she backhanded Catra across the face, smacking her into the counter of another tavern. Blinking a bit to clear up her eyesight, Catra managed to take in the sight of the tavern she visited on her trip to Salineas as she dodged to the side, barely managing to dodge out of the way of Adora's massive claw as it slammed into the counter, crashing through it.
Seeing the various objects throughout the room, Catra took in some relief that she had plenty of nearby objects to work with. Like the long stool she backed into as she swung it over Adora's head, forcing her to block it with her radiating claws. "What do you mean you don't plan on keeping it open?" She grunted, pushing away from Adora as she swiped back. She never paid attention to exactly what she just said, not with all the stress distracting her.
"It means what I said!" Adora yelled, attempting to slam back into the magicat again as Catra jumped atop the counter, dodging it. "All I need to do is touch the blade-"
"-At which point, yours truly, will enter the sword, live out the rest of eternity feeding on it's energy, and then live happily ever after~" Aroda swooned, leaning over the counter as she smirked to the cat.
"What do you mean live "happily ever after"?" Grunting, Catra scrambled over to the right side of the counter as Adora attempted a third strike against the counter, this time jumping atop it after to keep her enemy fro running away. "Everything's going to be erased you idiot-"
She was cut off as she saw her friend fast approaching with her clawed hand at the ready. With what little time and resources she had at her disposal, she pried the wide sign hanging above her from its chain, shielding herself right as Adora's claws plunged into her. The warrior's pupils shrank a bit as the claws were barely stopped by the two-inch thick sign, seeing three of the terrifying claws bursting through it, just inches away from her eyes.
"Everything within the gateways." Aroda clarified as her smirk widened. Catra couldn't afford to ponder what she was getting at as Adora jerked the sign around, trying to pry it from Catra's grip. Knowing she was on the losing end of the defensive shield, the girl allowed Adora to pull the board away as she hopped to the next table over. "As it stands, the sword is within a nexus of sorts, standing outside of the world's. When everything else disappears from reality, I'll be safely tucked away in the recesses of nothingness, with me and my sword."
"But that's..." Catra couldn't tell which of the two disturbed her more for right now. The one who came up with the idea to have the portals erase everything else from existence jUST so she could get her sword, or the one who continued to pursue her, forcing Catra to the next table over as Adora crashed her corrupted arm into the supportive table. "Adora, don't you get what she's doing here? She's just using you to get to the sword-"
"I DON'T CARE!" Adora shouted in rage, expecting this conversation a hundred times yet still annoyed that it had to be brought up at all. Learning from her past mistakes, and the way Catra was maneuvering around her, Adora feinted another attack as she slammed her claw into the table the girl was standing on, anticipating as Catra jumped over the girl again to eep her distance. What Catra didn't account for was the crashing blow turning out to be a firm pat on the table as Adora swiped her arm around the air immediately after, grabbing onto Catra's right ankle with near-crushing force. "I want to help her!"
Pulling all the muscles in both her arms as she grabbed onto the foot with both her hands, Adora twirled Catra around in a complete 180*, throwing her into the leafy bushes of the Whispering Woods that the scenery just transitioned to. "I want her to reclaim the sword!"
Shaking the leaves and twigs from her hair, Catra was awestruck with shock and terror as Adora made her announcement, pulling herself from the bush as the Force Captain fast approached. "You... You want to help her?" She, wanted to help someone, someone who didn't care if the world came to an end, intentionally? "B-But... But why?" With a leaping attack, Adora narrowly missed the agile ex-Horde as Catra leapt into the air, grabbing hold of the firm branch of the thin tree. "Why would you willingly help someone who-
"Because she never lies!" Screaming, Adora swiped her razor-sharp claws through the thin tree like paper, the seven-inch thick wood doing nothing to halt the Force Captain's slice. It wasn't just from the mere sharpness that brought the timbering fauna and magicat down, it was the small tear in reality Adora cut through it, physically separating the two halves through the power of her reality-tearing claws. "She's had my back since the day I met her!"
Trembling a bit, Catra was forced to jump away from the landing zone, unaware that the environment transitioned again as she found herself in the interior of the Lunarium of Mystacor, the very place she did battle with Shadow Weaver's specter. "She's the only one who's been honest with me this whole time." Seeing the pillar to her side, remembering how they helped her in her previous fight against Adora's own mentor, Catra began to climb the large structure as fast as her claws could carry her, knowing the amount of time it would take her enemy to reach her would give her plenty of time ot keep the distance between them.
What she failed to factor in was the amount flexibility her new claws gave her to work with. Already knowing what the magicat was trying to do, Adora tore open a new opening in the space in front of her before jumping into it. By the time Catra had reached the top of the pillar, reaching the main platform that lead her to the crystal lenses from above, Adora was already there to greet her.
Not two seconds had passed since Catra planted her foot atop the platform before the space tore open in front of her, revealing an agitated Adora who continued to look on to her in disgust. Despite the fact she was nearly thirty feet below her, it appeared the power of the void allowed her to transport between any form of space, and any form of elevation she needed to reach.
"Out of everyone who betrayed me, she's the only one who's been telling the truth this whole time!" And with a smack from the back of her claws, Catra found herself shoved back into the palace of Mermista's Throne Room within Salineas. "If I wasn't as trusting to Frosta as I was, then I could've prepared more for her betrayal. If I didn't warm up to Shadow Weaver again, she wouldn't have escaped and joined you! If I had listened to Aroda, just once, I wouldn't be suffering as much as I am!"
Upon the throne itself, a reluctant and smirking Aroda watched the fight play out with glee, watching as the magicat backed away from the Force Captain, one she knew she couldn't overpower with mere strength alone. "Technically I haven't told a single truth either," she admitted, "but you guys have been making it all so easy and convenient for me. Every single thing I've said, you guys have made come true. After all, it's not technically a lie if it happens as I've said it would. So, thanks for that~"
"And that's why I'm done playing nice." As a sign of aggression, the Horde soldier stopped as she swiped her claws threatening in the air, narrowing her eyes as she stared into what little of Catra's possible soul she had left. "You took my world from me, Catra. Now, I'm gonna take yours."
This was insane. Beyond insane.
Adora, the once proudest member of the Horde, oen of the most decent people one could ever meet, had been twisted and corrupted into... whatever she was right now... and it was because of her.
If Catra had ever shown a sense of care, just once, she wouldn't be in the state she was in right now. She wouldn't be the one threatening to destroy all of reality, a reality she was sickened with because she couldn't find a single person in her life to trust. Everything that's happened to Adora, everything that turned her into this, Catra couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt over, even for the aspects she couldn't control.
And why wouldn't she? All Adora wanted once in her life was for Catra to show a sense of understanding and care for her like she's always given her. It made her wonder if she had ever done something like that, just once in her life, then none of this would ever be happening. They would probably be on the same side again, a hope for a lost cause she knew could never come to terms. She was destined to be Adora's enemy from then on, now and forever, because of a lifetime of mistakes.
Adora was nothing more than a hideous monster, one deformed by the cruel reality of life that the Horde had provided for her since Catra's defection.
"Look, Adora, I..." What was she supposed to say at a time like this? How was she supposed to even think of an apology right now? "I never wanted any of this... I didn't mean for this to happen! I just wanted to-"
"Want, want, want..." Adora scoffed shaking her head. Annoyed with what felt like a never-ending spiral, the Force Captain marched towards the magicat with her claws at the ready. "That's always what it comes down to, isn't it?" With a brief kneel, Adora jumped from her spot as she rushed towards the magicat as Catra prepared herself.
What at first seemed like a simple charge that Catra could prepare for soon turned into a surprise launch as Adora split apart once again, seeing the copy of herself shooting straight ahead of the original with her clawed fist already pulled back at the ready. While confused by the spectacle, Catra prepared as she blocked in the overhead swipe, attempting to counter her the moment she touched her.
The part that hinged on Adora touching her is exactly what she counted on as the next thing Catra knew, the clawed fist was moving right through her again as empty air, another illusion perpetrated by Adora, by Aroda, whoever was behind this craziness!
And leaving Catra open by the surprise for Adora's real strike across her face.
*Wham!*
"Agh!" Catra yelped from the sting of the backhanded wrist, feeling like she was smacked across the face with a flat-sided hammer as she was pushed off her feet.
Like many times throughout the fight, the initial strike sent the both of them to reaches unknown as Catra landed harshly against a rocky terrain. Grumbling a bit as she picked herself up, she found the two three of them, Aroda included, on the very cliff side where Catra and Adora fought one another in the Battle of Bright Moon, the place where Adora showed just how ruthless she could be as she practically tore into Catra's back with her shadowy claws.
The environment itself was the least of her worries, seeing the stormy terrain that encompassed them unlike the view outside from the Throne Room, as she saw another Adora standing there with a smirk. A third copy had just been created by Adora without so much as flash, one who was met by the previous Aroda as the trio stood together.
"It's always about what you want, isn't it?" Adora continued, standing in the center of the three as the trio approached her simultaneously. "As long as your happy, everyone can be happy."
Preparing herself again, Catra took easy notice of the fact that only one of the three Adora's were talking, and the fact that the third one approached from behind them after. Spitting a bit off to the side, Catra readied her stance as she assumed where two of the Adoras were going to strike her from, ready to counter the middle and the right one as the three of them raised their claws.
With the oncoming swipe from the middle, Catra swiped back with as much speed as she could before the right one could make its own strike. Somewhat surprised as she passed harmlessly through it, she made a quick followup strike to the Adora on the right, knowing it had to be one of the two that greeted her from earlier.
Unfortunately, she would not be so lucky.
*swiff*
"What the-?" By the time she turned her head to the third one who ducked, the damage had been done.
With a massive force that one could only provide with a clawed hand that large, the real Adora smashed Catra from under her chin in a painful uppercut, sending the girl flying a good dozen feet through the air, and smashing her into a stack of, what felt to be, pottery.
The girl coughed as a bit of dust flew about as she pulled herself from the wreckage, wincing a bit as she took in her new surroundings. She appeared to be back in a vacant Thaymor, one that was now completely devoid of life. And still approaching her were the three menacing Adoras who didn't relent in their attack. "And if you can't be happy, everyone else has to suffer for it!"
Gritting her teeth as she saw the broken shards around her, Catra swiped up several of the large pieces as she tried to pinpoint where the real one was. One after the other, Catra threw each of the pieces at Adora with rapid speed, intending to lodge even a small shard into the girl's corrupted arm. If she could land a mark on the real one, she knew it could help her determine which of the Adoras were always the real one, knowing the illusions wouldn't be able to simulate the shards, at least she hoped.
What didn't help her in the long run was the fact that none of the shards hit any of them! Each of them were smirking widely as the shards passed through them one by one, all of whom stopped in their tracks as the shards went through them, with the closest one standing several feet away from the girl. By the time Catra could contemplate what happened, Adora was already making her next move.
*SSKKTT*
It took the sound of leather being torn apart like fabric for Catra to realize where Adora was, or rather, where she was coming from. No sooner did the girl turn her head around did she feel a strong force slam against her back, throwing her to the grounds of the Kingdom of Snows balcony, the stairway outside of the ballroom where Adora kidnapped Glimmer.
Struggling to get up, the magicat found four pairs of feet standing around her, all looking down at the magicat as she tried to get up to her feet from her injuries, let alone her knees.
"Tell me something, Catra." All four of the Adoras, or all of the Arodas, said simultaneously, their voices almost echoing off of one another with friction. "When's the last time you did something from the good of your so-called "Heart"?"
"Gh... It... I-" Catra tried to recall something, anything, to prove she wasn't the selfish person Adora knew her as. Yet with all the remarks, with all the details of her past coming back to haunt her, all that came to her were the times when her selfishness shined.
...
"You heard me right, Pinky. I want a Kingdom." Catra declared proudly. It had been a rather harsh day for the cat girl, and after what happened through the last half hour, she didn't care-
...
"Catra-"
"Save it, Glimmer." Brushing off the hand, she continued to stomp her way back to her room. "I'm going to bed. You want me to continue working with the others? I can do that. But don't ever expect me to trust them about it."
...
"I came all this way for some sort of help... A message... A hint... Anything, to keep me from ending up like Mara, and... and..." One of the last words spoken by her still haunted her repeatedly.
"I've been just like her since the day I started!"
...
*Whack!*
Through the face of the Adora in front of her, a solid, firm, fist smacked right into Catra's face, sending the magicat tumbling back again as she hit the floor. Her face colliding into the cold solid steel of the floor assured her she was back in the Fright Zone. By the looks of it, she was back in the place where all her problems went from bad to horrible, worst to last. She was in the inner chamber Hordak's sanctum.
"When was the last time you did ANYTHING that didn't benefit you?!" One of the Adora's shouted angrily. For such a bunch of copies, they sure knew how to sound alike. Not even comparing them to the voice, it was the rage, the frustration underneath it that really sold the performance.
"Geh..." Catra choked a little as she pushed herself up with her arms, shaking a bit as she tried to maintain what little strength they still had.
"How about when you went to Salineas?" One of the Adoras, most like Aroda, asked as she squatted down to her with a curious smile.
"No, don't you remember?" Another one of the Adoras cut in, leaning atop of the other girl's shoulders. "That was when she wanted her Kingdom still!"
"Shut uuuuup..." Catra grumbled, trying to ignore whoever's voice she was currently listening to. She let out a small squeak-like yelp as she felt Adora's massive claw-like hand clamp over the top of her head, squeezing the tips of her ears in the claw's grip.
"Why deny it, Catra?" Adora asked with a small grin, leaning in with a small grin. "She only says it cause it's true." And with a simple pull, she yanked Catra behind her.
*Thud!*
Into a very painful pillar of ice belonging to the east side of the Ballroom, right back to the Kingdom of Snows where they were just moments ago.
"It's not t- Egh!" The struggling warrior was cut off as she felt Adora's arm pinning her up to the pillar of ice, using all of her strength to keep herself from choking as Adora gazed into her eyes menacingly.
"Of course it's true!" Adora yelled, all while the illusions of Aroda continued to mock and tease her with their various expressions like a child. "You haven't done one heroic thing all your life, not unless it benefited you!"
"Y-Yes I ha-ackkk!" Catra squealed a bit, feeling a small lump pushing against her throat as she tried to get the word out. "I've done plenty of heroic things... since joining the Rebellion-"
"Name one!" She demanded. She wanted to hear whatever lie Catra could come up with, whatever excuse she could give her so she could shoot her down! She wanted Catra to admit to herself that she wasn't the hero that she kept pretending to be!
"W-What do you care..." She winced, finding it harder and harder to breathe by the second. "It's not like you've done anything heroic since Bright Moon!"
"Oooooooh!" Several of the Arodas cooed from behind the Force Captain as Adora nearly flinched from the accusation.
Her? She hasn't done anything heroic? She has suffered more at the hands of every defeat than anyone else has, she's inspired hundreds of young cadets to be just like her, training every day and pushing herself to her limits! She's obtained more alliances than the history of the Horde has ever known. And she dares to call what she does anything but heroic?
Heroes weren't the ones who were doing it for only themselves. Heroes weren't people who abandoned their friends for their own benefit, leaving them behind without so much as a goodbye by the likes of someone like Catra. Heroes didn't make it a constant mission to abuse someone, to go about every day of their life just to make one person's life infuriating, painful. And they were never doing it for themselves or for a reward.
They were doing it for everybody.
And for someone like her, like Catra, to accuse her of such a thing? Practically accusing her of being a villain in the opposite stance? There was no temperature that could read the anger boiling inside of Adora's veins right now, nor the fiery aura leeching off of her as more of it began to burst.
"Don't take it too hard, Adora." Aroda cooed as she brushed up to Adora's shoulder, feeling the anger welling up inside of her. "If heroes always win, then I know where she's coming from~" What might have been like a light tease to some was a shot to the forehead to Adora's anger. It wasn't just a playful joke about who the villain was between them, it was a reminder of all the failures.
Failure to defeat the Princess Alliance or the Rebellion since Catra's defection. Her failure to wipe out the alliance because of Frosta's betrayal. All the failures she suffered just trying to live a semi-normal life in Bright Moon. Her failure to maintain any and all alliances, or friendships, with the numerous towns and outposts all across Etheria.
A list of endless failures that only a villain could be subjected to.
"Aggghhhhhh-!" With a maddening scream, Adora clenched the claws in her right hand, ready to swipe at Catra's head with full force. Unable to push the arm away from her own neck, Catra prepared for the worst of the attack as Adora brought the fist slamming down, ready to imprint the back of Catra's head into the very pillar itself-!
*ZZZZZZZZT!*
*WHACK!*
"OUCH!" Adora, all the Adoras, including Aroda, yelled simultaneously as they shook their corrupted hand in pain. As strong as the hand was, it also appeared to be just as painful when she slammed it into something hard, like a solid pillar of ice that barely had a small crack in it from where Adora smashed it. Grumbling to herself, the blonde soldier attempted to glare back at her friend before realizing something that caused the troubling hand-pain in the first place.
Catra was gone.
Disappeared.
Adora, all of them, looked around themselves at the vacant ballroom. Not a stone appeared out of place, nor was there any hint that Catra pulled off some magical feat out of nowhere. The only thing Adora did know at the time was that however Catra disappeared, it wasn't in the same manner that the people of this fake world did. She disappeared in a small flash, not gradually or spontaneously. It was as if she pulled it off all on her own.
"Where'd she go?" Aroda yelled, looking around the room. From where she stood, several more Adoras popped out, looking to the side of her and everywhere in-between.
"She couldn't have gotten far." Another of the Adora's said, much to the real Adora's annoyance.
"Would you stop pretending you're all different?" She grumbled, still flexing her claws a little. She never expected such a sturdy mass of ice to be so durable, or this painful, to smash into. "Spread out and find her. The world's falling apart, so she couldn't have gotten far!" With a playful salute from the dozen copies surrounding her, the copies who would turn out to be Aroda's own work, every one of them set off to search around the castle, and the various existing parts of the world that had yet to fully disappear.
With each of them out of the way, Adora grimaced as she stared back at the pillar one more time. She knew something was off about this, but without any reasoning or explanation that she knew of, she jotted it up to being her nerves getting to her. And without hesitation, the Force Captain ran for the main door out of the ballroom, unaware of the feline's presence eventual return.
"..."
"..."
"..."
*ZZZZZZZZZZZZT*
"!... ?" Still keeping her hands up, Catra took a quick peek through the slit of her right eye, opening them completely when she realized se was alone. "Adora?" She muttered to herself as she stepped away from the pillar. Everyone was gone. Not that she wasn't relieved that they were, but where did everybody go? She was ready to strike Catra with her massive claws, and the next thing she knew, she-
She stopped as she felt felt along her head, feeling a familiar sensation brushing against the tip of her ears. Feeling along the red metal, sure enough, she realized her tiara had returned to her. This came as a small sense of relief as she realized she had disappeared again, as well as a sense of ultimate terror and dread when she realized what came with it.
She was back to normal. Every part of her. From the very clothes she wore on her back day in and day out, to the rough mane she barely brushed on a daily basis. Everything about her was back to normal, and not a hint of her from her previous life in this world remained. That meant that there would be no more chances if Catra disappeared again, no miracle disappearances that would keep her safe from Adora's wrath, if she lived long enough to feel it.
If she disappeared one more time, that would be the end of it.
"...I've got to find that sword." Catra determined for herself as she ran off. Coming up to the same ballroom door, she discovered upon opening it that it didn't leave to the exterior of the castle like she expected. Instead, it lead to the hallways of Bright Moon, what usually lead away into the halls leading up to Glimmer's bedroom, as well as an extra guest room further down the way.
The collapse of reality was eating away at more of the world as Catra's fight went on, with multiple portions of the world beginning to collide with one another, with doorways leading into actual doorways of another doorway of Etheria. There was no way in knowing which doors would lead to what, only knowing that the longer she waited around, the sooner she, or the sword, would be found by Adora. And while admittedly confused by the conundrum, Catra refused to let it delay her as she took off running, keeping an eye out for Adora or any of the copies that followed along with her.
All the guilt that she was laying on her was distracting her from what was most important, and that was finding a way to fix everything. She couldn't let everyone disappear for nothing, not when there was a chance to save everyone. They were what mattered to her right now as she checked Glimmer's door. Miraculously, she managed to close it in time before the Aroda on the other side, which apparently lead into the glades of Mystacor.
That was the other reason she couldn't afford to fight Adora right now: guilt. Guilt over what had lead to this, guilt over what's happened to her and her friends, and guilt over what's become of Adora. She was one of the most innocent people within Bright Moon, and Catra made a monster out of her. A monster that nearly caught sight of her as two more Aroda's passed down towards the hall, forcing Catra to hide behind the edge of the hallway before one of the Aroda's noticed her. Waiting for a few seconds for the sounds of footsteps to pass on, she continued to the furthest door.
There was too much guilt on the magicat's mind to even think about fighting her. She was already imagining all the things that must've happened to her to turn her out like this, all that she must've suffered in order become anything like her. She already remembered how terrible she looked after Frosta's betrayal.
...
"N-No! Let go of me!" Adora weakly flailed her arms as Scorpia grabbed them. This time, there was no fear of the shadows accidentally lashing at her, seeing how they returned to Adora as sickness overtook her mind.
"Adora, it's over."
"No! I can stil... I can... I can... I..." Just speaking alone took everything it had out of Adora as she collapsed back in Scorpia's protective arms, the taller captain carefully pulling her inside of the skiff as she stroked her hair, watching as Adora breathed heavily with barely open eyes.
"It's okay, it's okay." She shushed, gently. "We'll have you fixed up soon, I promise."
This was unlike anything Catra's seen before. From all their time training, getting injured, so much as getting sick, she's never seen Adora look so deathly before. Despite everything that happened, she still had something minuscule to concern for her. "H-Hey... What's wrong with her?"
"Oh, what do you care?" Scorpia grumbled. She may not have known Catra on a personal level, but she knew enough from the things Adora's told her about. Abandoning Adora, betraying her, using her as a kid. She couldn't begin to understand what Adora saw in her in the first place. "You're all she ever talks about, and you still don't care." Without any words of information to give her, she gestured for Lonnie to start up the skiff again as it started hovering higher in the air.
...
How could she be expected to fight Adora in her current state anyway? She overpowered her as it stood, she knew all of her tricks, and she knew how to play on her emotions. Even if Catra didn't feel any sense of guilt, she still knew more about the girl and what made her tick, as well as what could agitate her enough to fumble up and make a mistake. Especially with those copies of her distracting her and blinding her half the time, there was no way to tell Adora apart from the look-alikes! Until she found a way to get past them, or to tell them apart, Adora held all the cards in her hand.
Reaching the far door at the end of the hall, Catra opened it to discover the hallway leading into the Fright Zone, feeling a small rumble as reality continued to collapse further around them. Knowing it was going to follow her regardless, and there were at least several Arodas still behind her, Catra had no choice but to press on, running down the metallic halls as quietly as she could as she searched for the next door.
Like everywhere else, this place had several Arodas or Adora swarming the place too, spotting at least one in one of the doorways she attempted, and two more in the hallway leading to the prison sector. It was times like this that she also wondered just how far the parasite had driven Adora to become the person she is.
Was she at all responsible for what Adora had become? It would've been easy to just assume "yes". To put all the blame on the thing infesting Adora's mind, to assume that it was entirely responsible for everything that was happening, and pretend none of it was on Adora, if only to find a reason to fight back against her.
But she knew better. Like the parasite had told her, Aroda hasn't told a single lie to Adora, only things that could or could not happen in Adora's future. And, thanks to her, thanks to all of her involvements, all of her personal desires to just win the war so she could keep her new friends safe, she made them all true. She proved the parasite right time and again, driving Adora further into its arms as she reached all new levels of insanity.
Everything that happened to Adora was on Catra, one way or another. And she could never see past that.
"Hey!" Catra jumped at the sound of one of the Aroda copies as Catra bumped into it. Reaching what she thought would've been another possible door turned out to be the very door another Aroda was just about to pass through with her hand still in the hair as she prepared to open it. The copy glared at the sight of Catra as she ran for the hills, or further into the metallic halls in this case, as Aroda jumped out the door. "Hey, I found her!" The Aroda shouted, following after the Catra to keep a constant eye on her location.
Catra's heart raced as she ran through the halls, trying to ignore the Arodas who came stomping through several at a time, chasing after the same girl to keep an eye on her. They weren't the ones Catra had to worry about entirely. The real trouble was Adora and wherever she would've popped out of next. Glancing across the hallways that separated between bridges of steel, seeing more Arodas running out the doorways and several of them running back, most likely to inform Adora.
Seeing up ahead, she saw a door at the far end of the hallway, one that would've taken her to near-anywhere that would've been preferable to this place. Annoyingly enough, all the other doors she attempted to cross through were already preoccupied by Arodas waiting for her. Even though they couldn't physically stop her, she knew enough by looking past them that she would've cornered herself easier in the long hallways.
Also annoyingly enough, none of them could give her a moments peace, with several of the Arodas either waiting for her as she ran past them, leaning against the doorway, or running to catch up to her. All of them were smirking, all of them were grinning, all waiting to mock her about everything that's happened, everything she's done, and everything she could still mess up.
"You really do make a great villain, you know that?" The Aroda leaning against the door teased, watching as she ran from her.
"You must've been terrible to push somebody to want to destroy the world, you know that?" The second Aroda teased, leaning against the bridge on her back. She sneered wickedly as she continued watching the same Catra rushing past her, catching glimpses of her muttering to herself or biting her lip, knowing everything she was saying was sinking in, one word at a time.
"Maybe Shadow Weaver should've kept you two together more?" A third Aroda added, popping up as she floated down the ceiling, forcing Catra to run through her. "You seem pretty good at pushing people away on your own."
"Shut up!" Catra yelled, trying to drown out the sounds. She already knew it was her fault, she didn't need constant reminders of everything! She's the one who drove Adora to this, she's the reason she couldn't trust anyone else, she knew! So the very least these stupid copies could do was stop mocking her about it as she reached the door!
*tug*
"Ah-!" Catra barely got her head through the door before she pulled back, gasping at the expanse in front of her.
There was nothing else in front of her, save for the white featureless void that continued to engulf Etheria. Poking her head out for a bit, holding onto the door's handle, she grumbled to herself. Whether this process was slow or if it was fast, she could no longer tell. All she knew was that the more reality collapsed on itself, the less options she had to deal with, and the less doorways she had to get her away from her troubles.
*SSKKTT*
Like that one.
Shooting a look back, her troubles became her nightmares as she saw the tear in reality ten yards behind her as a handful of the Arodas gathered around it, still smirking at her. As expected, and disappointed, it was none other than the aforementioned Adora, the real one, ripping her way through the tear in reality and stepping through it as it closed behind her.
"Where do you think you're going?" She spat, running towards the girl. Catrafelt stuck between a hard place and a nothing-place.
Behind her, she had to contend with the Force Captain that could easily rip her to shreds with her massive sharp claws that could cut through trees like paper, and in front of her, she had to deal with the void that she would disappear into if she stepped outside of it for too long. Her options literally came down to dying by Adora's hands or disappearing into a void of nothingness and hoping for a miracle.
Taking one last look around her surroundings, both, inside the door and outside into the void, Catra moaned to herself as she made her decision.
She jumped through.
"Catra-?" Adora nearly gasped as she blinked, watching her friend jump through the door. Did she... did she really choose death over confronting her past? Sure, she would've disappeared anyway, but Adora refused to allow her until she paid for her crimes, for any- for all of them!
Knowing there could still be some time, Adora rushed to the door faster as she held her breath, sticking her head out of the door immediately as she looked down. She could't see anything other than the white void, the constant reminder of what was eating away at Etheria around every corner. That's what she found so strange about it, however; there was nothing related to Catra remaining, just the featureless void that should've consumed her. At the very least, there should've been some noticeable part about her still disappearing.
That's when she realized it. Catching it in the corner of her eye, she turned her head back to see something she never expected- Catra still holding onto the door handle for leverage as gritted her teeth.
"Hey, Adora."
*Wham!*
"Ugh!" Adora gurgled with a cringe of pain as she was kicked in the stomach directly by the heels of Catra's feet, slamming her into the several other Arodas behind her that collapsed around her.
Catra's entire plan hinged on a stroke of good luck since the moment she stepped out the door. Using the door's own handle to anchor herself to the door, she waited right outside of the door leading into the void, grasping onto the outside wall of the Horde that had yet to be erased. Pulling off her plan in such a way wasn't too hard to deal with. The hard part was the amount of luck involved if her plan was going to be pulled off without a hitch.
Luck to determine if the door would continue to hold her weight and continue to exist as everything was being erased around here, luck she wouldn't disappear slowly in the void, something that became all the more horrifying as her arms started to become transparent, and luck as to whether or not it would lure Adora to the doorway where she could get the drop on her. Any one of these things missing would've resulted in her immediate defeat, making it a miracle that luck proved to be on her side in every category.
With the Force Captain downed, Catra hastily jumped back through the entrance, running past, and intentionally over, the Force Captain as she continued to make her escape. Lifting her stomped head in anger, Adora glared in her retreating direction, the energy leeching from her bursting in a small flare as she struggled to get out of the mess of Arodas.
"Don't let her get away!" She shouted.
"Oh, relax, Adora." One of the Arodas chuckled from under her as they pulled themselves together. "She won't get far."
True to her word, Catra struggled as she searched high and low for another doorway, trying to ignore the dozens of Arodas she passed along the way who didn't seem to be chasing her anymore. All they were doing was grinning to her, laughing at the sight of her as if she had something funny on her face or something.
But it wasn't her appearance that they were laughing at, something Catra was well aware of as she heard them chatting amongst themselves. They were laughing at her. Laughing at all the mistakes she had made all throughout the proceedings. Everything that has happened up to this point was Catra's fault. They knew it. Adora knew it.
And Catra knew it.
"What made you think you could be the hero?"
"With friends like her, who needs enemies, right?"
"Maybe she never truly left the Horde? After all, look at all the damage she's done!"
The petty insults and remarks were endless as Catra felt like she was running in a loop, running, panting, trying to find some sort of way out of this mess, out of all of it. From one door to the next, she was met with every form of insult, every reminder of her past mistakes, and how everything that happened to this world was done by her own two hands.
She tried to get away from it as she passed through multiple doors, crossing into different regions of Etheria as the world continued to crumble around her.
She tried to get away from it as she passed through multiple doors, crossing into different regions of Etheria as the world continues to crumble around her. She crossed the doors between Thaymor's residences as the woods shook violently with the white light approaching. She jumped from the rooftops of Alwyn as she found more of the mocking Arodas blocking her path. And she scaled the cliffs of Dryl as the ground beneath began to eat away at everything.
And nothing worked.
No matter where she went, she found more of the mocking Arodas reminding her of her constant failures, she discovered new sources of guilt that she never even thought of. Eventually, she found herself surrounded by dozens upon dozens of the mocking Arodas as she wound up back in Bright Moon, finding herself outside the main entrance that lead to the pillar of the Moon Stone. The weather outside resembled that of the Battle of Bright Moon, with storm clouds raging down around them and thunder drumming throughout the air.
All the way from the entrance of the stairs to the pillar, there were dozens, maybe even hundreds of Arodas waiting for her, all mocking and laughing as she berated and taunted her, as she was skilled in, for all that she did. And right behind the magicat, she saw the world being destroyed by the light of the void, leaving her no choice but to run for her life across the bridge as the Arodas dismantled what sense of conviction she had left.
"Hey, there goes the Hero~"
"Way to save the world, hero!"
"Now we know who to count on to save us!"
"SHUT UP!" Catra shouted angrily as she ran, trying to tune them out as she reached the stairs.
There seemed to be no end to the copies as they continued to split apart from one another with the copies just walking out of the originals like they were nothing. None of them backed down as they ran with the girl, the void slowly consuming whatever timespan of Bright Moon remained, the bridge slowly being destroyed as it crumbled along with everything else.
Catra was forced to climb the steps as the Arodas practically poured in from below her. By the time she reached the top of the pillar, it was already packed with Arodas, the maniacal parasitic illusion laughing at her and mocking her from all sides as they surrounded her by this point.
"Thanks for taking care of the Rebellion for us, Catra~"
"Maybe the Horde would've won a long time ago if you defected sooner!"
"I bet your friends are so proud of you. Letting you join them wasn't a mistake for sure~"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Catra hissed angrily as she tried to hold back the sorrow. In anger, she lost sight of the fact these were illusions as she attempted to swipe at one of the, only for her claws to go straight through her.
"Oh, you're looking for Adora?" One of the Arodas asked, poking at their chin innocently. "She's over here~" Whether gullible, foolishness, or blind anger, Catra listened to the girl as she charged at the supposed Adora who gasped with fear, only to laugh holding herself as Catra swiped right through her again.
"No, it's me! I'm Adora!"
"No, I'm the real Adora!"
"No she's not, I am!"
The assurances and comment never ceased to end until Catra attacked for them, giving her a single second of peace between each of the taunters as they continued to draw the magicat's anger out of her, along with all the energy she could muster. No matter how many insisted they were Adora, none of them appeared to be the real deal, none of them left her alone until she finally played along and swiped at each of them.
And every time she did, her one second of peace was brought with more and more bouts of laughter, mockery, abuse, at how the "Great and Powerful She-Ra", the "Hero of Bright Moon", was nothing more than a failure who couldn't even keep the world from falling apart. It took several long minutes of Catra's attempts at making the voices stop until she couldn't stand it any longer, exhausted from the wild goose chase she was set on as she dropped to her hands and knees in the center of them.
There, the insults and laughter never came to an end as the cat's ears lowered, Catra being left unable to drown out the sounds as she squeezed her hands upon the ground.
There was laughter.
There was mockery.
There was despair.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha!"
The reality that she was still the cause behind all of this never faded as the voices and laughter never came to an end, all of them insulting her and laughing at her simultaneously. She tried to close them off to her as she squeezed her ears as tightly as possible, trying to push away any and all insults she could to no avail.
It was everywhere and nowhere at once, the sounds of laughter and insanity feeling like they were coming from Catra's own head by this point as she squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted nothing more than to bring an end to these voices at long last, an end to the craziness around her, and felt as if she could do anything to make such a thing happen.
Fortunately, or not, she didn't need to do anything herself.
*SSSKKKTTT*
Catra barely had any time left to open her eyes in response as the reality tore open in front of her, unleashing an aggressive Force Captain who jumped from the plane of non-existence as she grabbed Catra by the scruff of her neck. Without pause, without relent, Adora jumped from the stop of the pillar as she hurdled herself and Catra to the base of the pillar from such a massive height.
It was like the Battle of Bright Moon all over again as Catra stared at the enraged Adora, watching the hatred in her eyes as the two of them sank closer to the ground. There wasn't any hint of mercy in them as Catra saw past the hatred, saw all the pain within Adora's eyes that was behind all of it. She couldn't fight back against it even if she wanted to, not with the exhaustion already going through her body that Aroda tricked her into.
Like everything that lead her to the day she big her farewell to Catra, the day she thought she was ready to cut ties to her, she realized that it was still the same as on that day. The same angry friend, the same inability to help anyone, and, save for the sword, Catra was still the weak and pathetic one who could never fight back against her past. And she could never beat Adora, no matter how badly she wanted to.
Nothing has changed.
*CRASH!*
The ground ruptured as the two crashed to the ground in a small explosion of dust that scattered everywhere. Clearing out a little at a time, through the dense cloud one of the figures rose from the ashes as they stared down at the beaten and battered friend, the one who was guilty of everything, the person that started all of this.
Catra.
Catra's entire body wracked with an even amount of pain as she twitched, unaware for a moment that the environment had shifted again for what may have been the last time. She was scraped from head to toe, side to side, with bruises and cuts against her body as she struggled to pull herself away.
The sight of her friend continuing to go through all of this disgusted Adora. The fact that Catra was so bent on refusing to acknowledge who was at fault here, who was the cause of all of this, sickened her to no end. All she had to do was admit that it was her fault, and all of this would be over.
What did she do instead? She continued to cling on in the hopes that Adora would just quit. Quit and give up on everything and pretend that everything that was happening around here actually WAS Adora's fault, as if she was the villain in all of this.
Groveling in pain, Catra pulled herself out from the ground again as her whole body shook. Every inch of her was in pain as Adora's assault never seemed to cease. From the physical pain that Adora was inflicting herself to the emotional pain that Aroda was inflicting to Catra's psyche, nothing ever seemed to end. The girl had an abundant amount of energy about her, one that wouldn't let up until she was satisfied for herself, not when she was finally exhausted.
By now, she came to realize that the world had changed once again. They were no longer within the hallowed grounds of Bright Moon, or in the ravine which they should've landed in. They were somewhere surrounded by the white void in a grassy plain. Somewhere the world was still slowly eating away at, a place where the world could still be seen slowly decaying away, as everything came to an end.
It was almost beautiful, in some regard, as the tranquil white light mixed with the violet energies throughout the world. If the world wasn't being destroyed in the process, one would be forgiven for thinking that this was one of the most remarkable sights of Etheria, instead of an unholy nightmare that threatened to doom the planet.
"Why are you doing this...?" Catra stuttered, doing everything she could to stall any beat down she was taking.
"Why am I doing this?" Adora spat with a little disgust, furrowing her brow. "Because I want you to understand my suffering!" The voice shouted angrily. "I want you to know what you put me through day in and day out!" Grabbing at the collar of Catra's vest, Adora pulled her former friend to her feet, shoving her away when she could finally stand on her own two knees. Though this time it appeared to feel a little softer as she did. Either Catra was getting to the Heart of the Matter, or Adora wanted her full attention from this point.
Unlike the previous times, as Catra struggled to maintain her footing, or kneeing in this case, she didn't find herself anywhere else like the previous times Adora smacked her around. She was still within the mysterious planes the two seemed to have entered, with the only sense of warmth coming from the numbing pain throughout her body.
Lifting her head up, gritting the edges of her teeth to keep from showing any aggression, if only to stall for recovery, she watched as Adora stood there, glaring at her. Despite all the pain she inflicted on Catra, she still didn't seem the least bit satisfied, least bit happy, save for the Arodas that had all merged together into one specific spot to keep the area from being cluttered.
"I need to show you what you put me through." Adora stated, slowly raising a claw. "Maybe then you'll understand."
"Understand?" Catra questioned, trying to get to her feet. "Understand what-?"
With her claw fully raised, a twinge of worry came over Catra's mind as each of Adora's claws began to glow with an illuminating energy, one that would've brightened up even the blackest of nights. "To understand why you're the villain in all of this!" And with an eerie white glow around all of Adora's clawed fingers, the Force Captain swiped at the open air ahead of her, launching several growing blades of whiteness towards the feline.
Catra covered herself with her bare arms, still a little weak in the legs to dodge out of the way in time as she prepared for the worst. However, much to her surprise, none of the several blades came anywhere near her as they spread apart, slicing into the thick air surrounding the ballroom. What at first came to be seen as a stroke of pure luck from Catra's end swiftly came to be seen as surprise as Catra's eyes widened at the sight.
All around her, in several different spots throughout the ballroom, the energy-like slashes of blades cut into the thick air, much like Adora's own claws have done all throughout this fight. She didn't know what to expect at first, believing it was just another of Adora's tears in reality that she was going to use against her. But why did she make several of them, much less when she was aware of it?
The answer came to her as she saw what happened next: each of the large tears she made opened, one after the other. But they didn't open to tears in reality or anything of the sort. They opened up to glimpses of Adora's suffering, of her past, of everything that happened as a result of Catra's betrayal.
"What..." Catra felt the edges of her skin crawl as she looked around herself, seeing the various methods in which Adora was punished for her own failures. "What is all... all of this?"
...
"Tell me, Force Captain, how is your breathing?" He mocked as Adora's legs trembled a little. It wasn't from her own lack of strength that caused her knees to become unstable, it was the growing shadows around her arms that proved hard to control.
Within seconds, Adora fell to her knees as she wheezed, gasping for breath. It was taking all of her energy just to keep the aura of shadows around her arms from possibly lashing out, and it was near impossible for the blond Force Captain to breathe. Sweat trickled down her face little by little as bangs of her hair became undone.
This... This sensation was horrifying. She could barely see as her vision hazed from the immense pressure. She could've sworn she wasn't looking up to the eyes of a man.
She was seeing a monster.
"...Pathetic. Just like everything else on this backwards planet."
...
"I can never accept a commander who can't take care of herself, nor can I allow failures to rise through the upper ranks of my army. So tell me, Force Captain, are you reliable, or a failure?"
"I-I'm..." She swallowed silently. "I'm reliable, Lord Hordak. H-Honest."
...
"Hnnnnnnnnngggggh!" The sound of the machine powering down and the air returning to her was such a golden treasure that Adora never knew she would worship, breathing heavily on her hands and knees as the sweat dripped from her head and her hair draped in front of her face.
With the sound of his footsteps drawing closer to her, the loom of his shadow hanging above her, she had never found herself more frightened of his presence than she did now. Or the tone of his voice. "Three failure, one day." He hissed. "Of all my time as your leader, I have never seen you, nor anyone, fail as greatly as you did today, Force Captain."
"W-We-We..." Adora groveled. She couldn't look him in the eyes as her eyes watered, unwilling to stop groveling and beg for forgiveness. "W-We were caught off guard, My Lord. I swear, we-we were just about to be victorious, honest! And-"
"And you still failed!" She squeezed her eyes shut as he shouted from right above her, his breathing practically coming down to the back of her neck. "Not only did you lose one of the most defensible towers the Horde has claimed in recent months, and not only did you fail when you were on the brink of victory, but then I hear, despite your assurance, that Frosta, the one you said could be counted on, betrayed us?!"
...
Catra couldn't turn away from the memories that were sprung all around her. She didn't know how Adora was doing this. Whether through the power of her reality-tearing gift, or a part of the stupid illusions that Aroda managed to create on the fly, and she didn't care. None of those questions would answer the reason behind all of Adora's suffering, or the guilt welling up inside of the cat girl as she refused to look away.
They showed all the moments that Adora had to suffer, suffer because of what she felt was Catra's fault. All her failed missions, all the times she failed to live up to Hordak's standards, even to the most recent events that lead Adora to be assigned to a mission to the Crimson Waste. All of it brought untold suffering to the girl. From the moments since the Battle of Bright Moon, to what brought them to where they were today.
"This is what you've been doing to me, Catra..." Adora seethed with anger as she glared at the magicat from behind. "When I said I needed to succeed to survive, I meant it!"
...
The angered lord lifted her off the ground as he hung her in the air up to his face, feeling the pathetic worm's attempt to scratch away at his hands. It would've been amusing if he didn't hate her so.
"I gave you a chance, a chance to come clean about everything." He hissed. "A chance to prove your worth to the Horde, to prove your chance to me, and you failed. All you had to do was be honest with me this one, last time, and you couldn't even do that right."
"I... I-I..." The tears dripped from her face and under his hands as she felt her life fading, her struggling coming to an end.
"But worst of all, you thought you could slip by me, to throw in a lie with the truth, much like Shadow Weaver attempted multiple times in the past, and it disgusts me how much you resemble her right now. The fact that you tried to squeeze your way out of it proves that you have a limited amount of loyalty in your veins."
...
Every strand of memory that she saw playing out, the way Hordak abused her and punished her for every failure, every annoyance he caused her, brought another bout of pain to Catra's conscious. Adora wasn't exaggerating about her necessity to complete a mission just to survive, she meant every word of it! Her failures resulted in her own punishment, a punishment Catra brought on by her own two hands.
And they weren't even the worst of it.
No, the worst of it came from the deep-rooted memories Adora owned, the ones where she suffered the most. From who's hand, exactly? By the very friend she had grown up with, the one who was always at her side as a child, if only to use her like a tool.
"You didn't even care what about what I was going through!" Strangely enough, Adora herself actually teared up a little through the angered eyes as she watched the person watching her own memories. "You only cared about yourself!"
...
Feeling a sense of pride within herself, Catra eagerly rushed up to the woman, displaying the badge connected to the sleeve of her short-sleeve shirt. "Hey, Shadow Weaver! Check it out! I came in second-"
*thump*
She didn't so much as give her the care or time of day as she brushed her aside with a simple push of the hands.
...
"I suppose that's as good as we're going to get for today." She felt any further pushing would've tired the girl out from the next day's list of events, and she couldn't afford to have her failing multiple lessons for the sake of one. "Your final score was 6:19." She revealed, just eight seconds slower than the fastest runner.
"Huff... Huff... I'm sorry... Shad... Shadow Weaver..." She heaved, feeling her throat getting drier faster than she could drink from a water bottle.
Shadow Weaver shook her head at this. "Next time you're on the field, I want you to give it your all, and hold nothing back. Holding back can get you killed on the battlefield, and until I feel you've learned that lesson, I will be holding on to your badge. Understood, Adora?"
"Y-Yeah... I understand." She finally sighed.
...
"I tried to make you happy... and it wasn't enough for you..."
...
"Hey... Adora?"
"Yeah?" She was curious by the strange look of sadness coming across Catra's face.
"Did... Did you really mean it when you said you let me win?"
...
"I-I... I didn't-" Catra struggled to find the words to say as the guilt surmounted around her. Every flash of the imagery felt like another stab into her conscious, the pool of confidence telling her it wasn't her fault slowly evaporating away.
"You never even stuck around to defend me when I needed it most!"
...
Adora saw the face of guilt spreading across Catra's person as she teared up, staring at her friend with unease. "Catra?" She wasn't really thinking about doing that to her, was she? They were friends, they were family, they were practically sisters by this point! Surely Catra treasured that as much as she did-
"Mmh... I'm sorryyyyyyy!" Catra yelled as she ran down out the door, unable to face the consequences alongside her friend.
Adora's heart sunk with regret as she watched her leave. "C... Catra?"
...
"I-I'm sorry-!" Adora tried to cry, only for Shadow Weaver to lean in closer, practically screaming in Adora's ears.
"I DON'T CARE HOW SORRY YOU ARE! DO YOU HEAR ME!? WHAT YOU DID TODAY WAS BEYOND FOOLISH! WHAT IF SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED? WHAT IF YOU ENDED UP HURTING, OR EVEN KILLING SOMEONE BY MISTAKE? OR WORSE, WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF IT HAPPENED TO YOU? THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, ADORA!"
"I'm s-sorryyyeh...eheheh..." Adora started to cry as her ears rung from the sound of Shadow Weaver's screaming.
...
"No matter how old you were, I was the on always suffering!"
...
And Adora took the brunt of it. Everything went deaf around her as she saw dozens of guards run passed her, saw Force Captain Scorpia standing ahead of her as she instructed the guards to give chase after them. She remained motionless in that state of utter disbelief, unable to come to grip with reality until she saw Scorpia lowering herself a little, looking at Adora worriedly as she shook her shoulders.
"Adora!" She finally heard her calling. "Adora? Adora! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"...Ah...Ahhhh...AHHHHHHHHHAHAHAAAA!" Adora finally snapped as she screamed.
She threw her arms around Scorpia tightly, crying into her carapace, the Force Captain finding herself caught off guard, yet embracing her warmly all the same. She didn't know what happened to throw Adora into this emotional state, she didn't know what kind of pain was inflicted upon her just now, and for the time being, she didn't care. All she could do was throw her own arm around the crying Force Captain, glaring down the darkened hallway that the others ran off, patting her head as she tried to soothe her mourning friend.
...
At this, Adora squeezed her claw over the magicat's head, tightening her grip around it as Catra was barely able to put up any resistance. As the tears of reality began to close, and Aroda examined their surroundings for curiosity sake, Adora spoke, "And you think you deserve to be called a hero?" Catra squeezed her eyes tighter as she felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes as Adora intensified her grip.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Catra?"
"..."
"ANSWER ME!"
"... Tch..." Adora watched as her friend shook a little, unable to tell if it was from her own physical pain, or if she was actually feeling something from all of this. "... ry..."
"What?"
"I"M SORRY!" At the sound of the girl shouting, Adora finally dropped Catra down to her hands and knees, watching as the girl struggled to keep herself up. Her body felt as if it was being drained by every tear dripping from her face.
Or something else.
"Y-You... You're right, okay?" She cried, arms slumped to the ground as her elbows kept her from falling to her face. "About everything. This... This is all my fault..." There wasn't a lie, so much as a hint of a lie, as Catra poured her heart out in front of her friend for the first time. She wasn't doing it for Adora's sake, perhaps another form of her greedy selfishness shining through, but for her own. She couldn't deny it any longer.
Everything was her fault. All of it. What was happening to the world, everything that lead up to it, even finding the Sword of Protection in the first place. None of this should've been happening, not to someone who was a real hero. A real hero was honorable, full of valor, able to take charge in any situation and come out on top, and capable of protecting those they cared about with her own two hands.
Catra, felt like none of those things.
She was an orphan raised through the Horde to be another instrument of destruction. Since day one she never thought about making the world a better place like Adora always had, she didn't care about any of the cruel things happening throughout Etheria. All she cared about was her petty grudge against Adora for always coming out on top of her in the end, always beating her in every event. She wanted to beat Adora so badly that she trained day in and day out, using everything, and everyone in her disposal. And this was the price that was to be paid.
A world that was slowly crumbling apart. A handful of friends that had disappeared in this false reality, in a world where she couldn't protect a single one of them. She's never felt the sense of guilt she's had all throughout her time in the Rebellion, not as much as she does now. She felt like the farthest thing from a hero as she came to accept her own mistakes, came to accept the fact that she never should have been granted the title of She-Ra, even honorary at that.
All she knew, right then and there, was that there was only one villain between the two of them.
And it wasn't Adora.
*Ka-Thump*
"Agh!" Catra yelped as she clenched her chest in pain.
"Ca... Catra?" For a moment, Adora raised an arm out to her in worry, the sight of the sudden pain surprising her as Catra struggled to stay up as much as she could.
She didn't know what that was, or what was happening, only that a sharp pain suddenly rang through her chest at the time. The air felt constrictive as she panted a little, feeling a little harder to breathe by the second as her body became numb.
Wh... What's happening? Her inner voice became mudied and shallow as she finally fell to the ground on her stomach. Weakly bringing her left hand to her face, bits of sweat dripping from her forehead as exhaustion and tiredness drew near, Catra finally saw what was happening with her own two eyes, the horrific realization lying right in front of her.
From the very tip of her claws, Catra was starting to disappear. Little bits of white particles, ones glowing and shining through reality, were beginning to evaporate from the girl's body. It was a slow process, albeit a painless one, as Catra saw bits and strands of her fingers starting to waste away into nothing more than dust in the wind.
It was the effect of the timeline finally catching up to her completely for the first and last time. She was being erased from this existence, from a timeline that no longer recognized her, that never recounted her as being alive. She was foreign to this world as much as Adora was, one without any sense of history or anchor to this world.
She was being erased in front of Adora's own eyes, and, for once, Catra wouldn't have blamed her if she didn't care this time.
The erasure didn't hurt in the slightest, which was probably the only sense of relief she could afford to get out of all this. It was happening at the tip of all three ends of her body; her fingers, her toes, and even her tail. Presumably, the girl's existence would come to an end once it reached it head, giving her enough time to lament everything she did wrong in this world, and how she could've made it right.
"C... Catra..." Adora didn't really know what to say at the moment, surprised as she was by the sudden development, but at a cross on how to feel. She would've preferred her contemplating her mistakes a bit longer, not immediately after, lasting as long as the world did before they were all erased. At the same time, it did appear to be from Catra's own doing as well.
The girl had regretted her mistakes. So much so to the point that she lost the will to exist on her own, almost giving in to the fact she no longer existed in this world of her own free will.
A part of her actually wondered if Catra was truly resentful of her actions, was willing to disappear for her if it meant showing her how much she meant about all she was saying. It was beautiful in a tragic kind of way, and one that almost touched Adora for a moment.
Provided any of it was real.
"Adora!" It was by Aroda's shout that Adora's attention shifted ahead of, seeing the parasitic illusion gazing ahead of her. Noticing her distracted attention, she saw what was bringing the parasite to such a heartwarming grin as a large smile plastered over her face, staring up into the sky. The sight of it alone sent tremors through Adora's own heart as she saw it.
The Sword of Protection. The very blade that started all of this. Hovering in place in the air, it was surrounded by an immense vortex that channeled the blade's energy to everything around it, and continued to erase the world around her.
In a way, it was a cursed blade from Adora's perspective. That stupid sword turned her life upside down from the very beginning. Like this world, she almost would've preferred living in blissful illusion to all that was around her, to how Catra really was, in comparison to the cold reality that she had woken up to.
And now it was within her grasp. All she had to do was reach the blade, give it a firm touch, and it would all be over.
Looking back to her sullen friend, Adora frowned a little. Thus far, everything up to the girl's elbows, her knees, and half her tail was disintegrated, as Catra's mournful expression remained the same. There truly was no hint that she was lying any longer, not that it mattered anymore. Catra had truly shown her sorrow through all of this.
With a heavy heart of her own, Adora began to walk past the lone ex-Horde soldier, with Catra barely giving a notice to her presence until she saw Adora's foot.
"Adora..." She muttered weakly, shifting her eyes to her. "Please... Don't..." Adora did a small double take from her friend to the sword.
The world truly was ending, and that part was undeniable. There wasn't a chance to save it without sacrificing herself, there was still a war waiting for them with an awful history of Adora's past in the real Eatheria, and both sides had their fair share of problems. The only difference now was that Adora had the power to change all that by one given action, all of which depended on her next choice.
"Hey Adora, you coming?" Aroda grinned, gesturing to the way ahead. Given the amount of power radiating off the blade, Adora knew she couldn't just tear her way up to the sword. The reality's distortion was spread all across Etheria, and trying to tear her way to the sword could've resulted in her winding up on the other side of the planet for all she knew.
Giving one last look to her friend, she kneeled down briefly, giving one last, comforting, pat to the side of Cara's head. "For what it's worth now, Catra," she whispered softly, "I forgive you." Without a second thought, a second opinion, Adora left, proceeding to the sword as Aroda watched in all her eagerness. There was only one path ahead for Adora now, one she couldn't back down from, not after coming all this way.
It was the same path that brought such delight to Aroda in the end as she watched Adora pass her, already feeling the thoughts in her head about how she would have to use a variety of the levitating boulders and landmasses surrounding them to reach it.
Adora would finally reclaim her sword.
Catra was finally disappearing.
And, at long last, everything would come to the spectacular end that she's always dreamed of- a sword to call her own.
For all Eternity.
...
...
...
A/N: Three cheers for Aroda! Hip hip! Hip hip! Hip hip! Woohoo!
Ah, what a blast! Everything worked out for me- I mean her in the end! I can not thank you guys enough for staying with the Cat-Ra story up to this point. We had some laughs, some tears, and a whole lot of fun. But now, like everything, this story has to come to an end. And I don't think we can have a much better ending than with Aroda finally reaching victory at long last ^^!
I want to thank each and every one of you people for supporting me to this date. I can safely say with assurance that there will be no more updates, not that there can be since Catra's out of commission, or going to be soon anyway.
So with that being said, hope you all enjoyed this 100% guaranteed final chapter of the fic! Leave a like, a fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and thank you ever so much for placing your trust in me- I mean Aroda, until she finally got the ending she wanted, with no negative repercussions or downsides headed her way!
... Why's everyone staring at me?