Dryl was a fascinating little place. Hordak recognized the mountainous path to Crypto Castle, but it took him a minute to remember why. He had come here soon after the portal incident, believing that Entrapta would return to her own kingdom in the event of her betrayal. She had not. Hordak had also believed the rebellion would seek to liberate the kingdom of one of their returned members. Their attempt had been so pitifully ignorant of Dryl's defenses and terrain that it was hard to believe Entrapta had a part in it. Probably because she hadn't.

Because it had been a lie. The whole betrayal narrative had been a twisted, pointless lie, concocted by a woman Hordak never should have trusted. The memory filled him with a rage that was all too familiar.

Entrapta, on the other hand, was experiencing far more positive memories. She called out from the driver's seat of their mildly damaged Horde transport vehicle. "My home! Hordak, Kadroh, Imp, Emily! Look at my home. We're getting close. Isn't it amazing?"

Imp scrambled up to the top right corner of the open transport window (well... hole). His pointed tail flickered in surprise as he sized up his new mountainous hideout. He turned back to Hordak with a smile on his face.

"It is not as warm here as it was where we first landed on this planet," Kadroh observed, head sticking out of the transport. "There is far less green on these elevated surfaces. Does that mean your home has fewer living beings?"

"There are certain plants and animals that live in Dryl's mountains, but the ecosystem here is sparser than the Whispering Woods. Crypto Castle itself employs a smaller organic staff compared to all the other kingdoms, but that's thanks to my extensive network of robots. The castle itself doubles as the fortress guarding the entrance into the rest of Dryl. Most people live further in range, near our many quarries and mines." Entrapta summarized, eyes alight in the rear view mirror. Etherian eyes rarely glowed the way a Horde clones' would, but Entrapta's came closest when she relayed exciting news. Hordak found it… endearing.

Hordak almost didn't want to ask his next question. Not when Entrapta was so full of joy. "Have you heard anything regarding your castle's condition? You have been absent for a short while."

Entrapta's hair rubbed her chin as she pondered the question. "Well… I know the Horde promised they would take good care of it when I moved to the Fright Zone. The rebellion never attacked Dryl in the war, as far as I know. As for Horde Prime…" Entrapta frowned. "I don't know if Horde Prime ever attacked Dryl. Available data suggests he must have. I… hope everything is alright."

"We will know soon." Hordak offered his best attempt at reassurance. "Any damage Horde Prime has wrought on your land is no match for our group's repair skills."

"That's right!" She switched moods at the flick of a switch. "And we need to renovate the castle anyway. The other clones need a place to stay when they get here, and I don't want them to get lost in the castle's main building."

As she said that, the Crypto Castle came into view. Its dark purple turrets still flew the old Horde flag, though the red had faded in hue. No visible damage marred the castle's front exterior. Hordak could see a broken lightbulb at the top of the castle's tallest spire, but nothing endangering the buildings' structure or integrity.

Emily beeped in awe at the sight. Hordak didn't understand the robot's words, but Entrapta did. "That's right, Emily! This castle has plenty of room for you to stretch your legs. I'll give you the blueprints for download when we get to a system port. Then you can explore!"

Kadroh furrowed his brow. "I don't understand. For what purpose are you giving this lovely robot blueprints? Are we sending Emily ahead of us to scope out damage?"

"Nope! Emily needs the blueprints so she can get around." Entrapta straightened in her seat to declare, "my castle is a labyrinth. Only the robots and I can navigate it."

Unwittingly, Hordak's mind returned to The Velvet Glove . Horde Prime's ship required access to the hive mind for navigation. He knew it was wrong to compare Entrapta to that… that monster, but Hordak failed to shove the dread away. Concern creeped onto his face, clear enough for Entrapta to see it.

"Don't worry, Hordak! I'll make sure you can get around too. You might need a navigator bot for the first few months of living here, but really, it just takes memory… oh." Entrapta's voice went quiet. "Is your memory okay, Hordak? You can remember everything from your life on Etheria now, right?"

"It is coming back to me. My… clearest memories relate to you." Hordak felt his cheeks warming. Imp laughed at the sight. "They are the clearest, most positive memories I possess."

"Oh… oh." Entrapta's face also warmed. She fought off a smile as she parked the transport inside the castle's gates. The group of five exited the transport one by one, with Emily crawling out last. Entrapta rose up on her hair to make eye contact with Hordak. "Hm… we'll do a full diagnostic check when we get to my lab. Anything Horde Prime did to your memory processes should be reversible."

She did a 360 degree turn. "In the meantime, I may have to wake the bots up for cleaning. It doesn't look like anyone is here."

Indeed, the castle courtyard was completely empty. Balmy as it had been at the base of the mountain range, the air surrounding the castle was chilled. Almost… electrified.

Entrapta scanned her surroundings with her helmet down. The helmet's giant eyes gave her an insectoid appearance. The whole design of the mask struck Hordak as odd, though he could not yet put his finger on why.

"I'm not picking anything up on my scanners. I'll take you all in through the side entrance. Follow my lead, and don't spring any traps."

Kadroh gulped. "You have… traps set around your residence, Master Entrapta? Whatever for?"

"Oh, just to keep uninvited guests away. Thieves, enemy soldiers, salespeople… anyone I do not bring into the castle is not granted access." Pause. "Except the Princess Alliance, of course. The treaty says they can visit whenever they like. And Dryl citizens take the back entrance in. They aren't affected by traps at the foreigner's gate."

The path Entrapta had selected did not involve its giant front door. Instead, she led them into a smaller side building that shared no walls with the main complex. Inside was a single room, barely large enough to fit all five parties at once. A few paintings hung on the walls, but there were no furnishings or light fixtures on the interior.

"Stay clear of the center, everyone!" Entrapta warned before pulling a switch hidden behind a painting of a young dog. When she released the switch, a wide, circular tunnel opened in the middle of the ground. Kadroh released an excited gasp. "This entrance should be big enough for you to roll through, Emily. You'll go first, okay girl?"

Emily beeped in affirmation. Pulling her legs in close, Emily rolled into the tunnel with a noise that could almost be transliterated as "weeeeee!" Entrapta listened for a moment to make sure Emily's descent was successful.

While she was waiting, the tunnel sealed itself closed. Entrapta had to open it again. She gestured for Kadroh to go next. Kadroh sat down at the tunnel's lip, crossing his arms over his chest as he took the underground slide into the castle. He too thought it appropriate to cheer during his descent.

"Do you and Imp want to go down together, Hordak?"

Hordak and Imp glanced at each other, twin looks of concern on their faces. "What waits for us at the bottom?"

"Our friends, Emily and Kadroh! Also, a straight path into the Crypto Castle's main audience chamber. Of all the ways inside, I figured this entrance required the least navigation knowledge to access. It's not my normal way in though, so it may be a little dusty."

Satisfied with her answer, Hordak bent down on one knee. He held an arm out to Imp, who latched onto him without another thought. Hordak shuffled towards the open tunnel, careful to treat his unarmored body with delicacy. He didn't want to hurt himself and require Entrapta to carry him into her lab. Or worse: let Kadroh do the carrying.

The sliding descent into the castle was… entertaining. Completely dark, yet somehow not fear-inducing. Hordak remained silent for the journey. Imp mimicked Kadroh's earlier shout, tail hitting the side of Hordak's face as it swung back and forth.

Another memory came to Hordak just then. Fuzzier than his recollections of Entrapta, yet still pleasant. He remembered scratching Imp on the chin, exhausted after a long day. Imp's tail would hit Hordak the same way, but Hordak did not resent the touch. A strange relationship, the two of them had.

Hordak's landing at the base of the slide was less than graceful. He fell unceremoniously to the ground, sending twinges of pain up his spine. He hissed.

"Let me help you, brother!" Kadroh lifted Hordak to his feet with ease. His strong grip made Hordak wince. Imp, Emily, and the two clones stood together in a lit underground hallway, waiting for the last member of their group.

Just as Hordak was on his feet and out of the way, Entrapta could be heard sliding down the entrance tunnel. Long tendrils of lavender hair preceded her body, giving the brilliant inventor a cushion to land on. "Hahahaha! Isn't that entrance fun?"

"I enjoyed it a great deal," Kadroh agreed. "Will there be more such tunnels in your castle, Master Entrapta?"

"They're not a regular installation for most rooms in the castle. I do have a few sliding tunnels in my traps, though. You'll stay out of my traps, right Kadroh?"

"Shall we keep moving?" Hordak scowled. Even standing, pain continued to travel up his abdomen to his shoulders. He wanted to reach a private area before indulging his weakness.

Entrapta moved to the front of their group once again. "This way!"

The group walked up several flights of stairs on their way into the castle proper. It was becoming clearer how the side entrance connected with the rest of the castle. Hordak wondered if all the other complex buildings were connected in some manner.

As they got closer to the audience chamber, the group became aware of something unsettling. Something that shouldn't be present in the Crypto Castle.

Voices. Lots of them.

Entrapta commented on the development first. "Hm… it seems a large group of people are present in the audience chamber above us. I'm picking up a lot of life signatures on my tracker pad. The last time I had this many people inside the castle, I was hosting the Etherian Maker Community's Annual Invention Competition."

Hordak frowned. "What is a crowd of invaders doing in your castle?"

"I don't know. I'll ask." Entrapta stopped in the middle of the corridor, causing Kadroh to run into her. She looked up at the ceiling, moved a loose ceiling tile with her hair, and lifted herself through the passageway into a crowd of gasps.

Hordak could no longer see Entrapta once she stepped away from the passageway, but he could still hear her. "Uh… hi, everybody."

"Princess Entrapta! You're alive," cried a human voice. Hordak's ears caught the sound of a physical impact between the speaker and Entrapta. He froze. Had the speaker attacked her in some way?

The sound of Entrapta's voice contradicted the attack theory. She voiced no pain, only joy. "Chef Baki! You're still here?"

"We came back when Horde Prime arrived. The rebellion fell apart, and Horde Prime didn't care about any Horde soldiers. I knew this was the safest place to hide from the clones, and we let anyone with a free neck hide in here too." Her voice rattled on at an irritating pace. "We had to disable the castle's alarms and shut down the robots to make it look like the castle was empty. Are you here to hide too, Princess?"

"Nope! I don't need to hide from anyone." Entrapta stepped back in front of the tunnel opening, then got down on her hands and knees. In two trips, her hair lifted Hordak, Imp, and Kardoh up into the open chamber.

Hundreds of shocked faces stared at the two Horde clones. "Wh… what are they doing here?!"

The speaker from before, a stout woman in a kitchen outfit, ran her hand over the back of Entrapta's neck. Her eyes widened when she felt nothing there. "She's not chipped! What are you doing, Princess?"

Entrapta stood up, not answering her chef right away. "Sorry I can't lift you, Emily. Keep going, take the first right, the third left, and the seventh staircase up. You'll enter this room from the other side. You got that?" Affirmative beeps. "Good!"

"Princess Entrapta!" Another kitchen person, this one a man, shouted. "Why did you bring these clones here?"

Entrapta turned to him, wholly unconcerned with the room's rising tension. "Oh! Because the war's over. Horde Prime is dead, and Hordak gave the Fright Zone to Scorpia. I told the Princess Alliance that all the surviving Horde clones could live in Dryl now." She beamed. "Everyone, meet Kadroh and Hordak."

Kadroh copied Entrapta's smile, waving awkwardly at the crowd. Imp climbed onto Hordak's shoulders, marking the two clones apart. As Hordak looked out into the crowd, he noticed Horde soldiers had been living alongside civilians from other kingdoms. The huddled mass looked cramped and dirty, but otherwise unharmed. His former goons straightened at the sight of him, faces a mixture of surprise and fear.

He felt bile rising to his throat at the thought. These squatters had invaded Entrapta's home. None of these people had been invited into her castle. She had traps erected all over the complex specifically to keep people like them out of her sanctum. Her kitchen staff had violated her privacy. They deserved to be punished.

His fists clenched. "Shall we remove these invaders from your castle, Entrapta?"

"You got a lot of nerve calling other people invaders," a civilian sneered. A member of the goat species, from the looks of him.

Hordak growled. "Get out! You… trespassers!"

"Hordak is living with me in Crypto Castle from now on. Isn't that great?" Entrapta stood between Hordak and the crowd. Her smile grew wider, almost pinched. "Baki, Krem, and… South?"

"Souff!" The male baker corrected her. "We've known each other for years!"

"Right. You three are welcome to keep working here. Just like you did before I moved to the Fright Zone. Everyone else…" Entrapta paused to consider. She kept her eyes on Hordak as she weighed their options. When she continued, her words came slowly. "I... know the war was bad. My castle kept people safe, and that's… good."

She took a deep breath. "The war is over now. Everyone hiding here can go back to where they came from. Some villages need fixing, but they are safe to return to."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Called a voice from the back.

"I have proof right here!" Entrapta pulled up footage from the peace conference on the tracker pad. She played snippets of every princess's speech, starting with Scorpia's. For each princess, Entrapta zoomed in on their necks to prove no chips were present. The volume was loud enough for everyone in the audience chamber to hear, but Entrapta walked around the room to ensure everyone had a chance to look.

"So… both wars are really done? No more Horde?"

"The Horde has been dissolved! Former Horde soldiers are free to return to Scorpia's Fright Zone if they want. They may also apply for citizenship in any kingdom they wish with no fear of, um, what's the word… criminal penalties." Entrapta summarized the deal that had been hammered out over days of negotiation. "Um… you can apply to live in Dryl too, but this castle is going to get cramped if everyone plus the clones stay here. Hope you enjoyed your stay, everyone!"

"Kicking us out, huh?" Came another voice from the crowd. "Thanks, Princess ."

"You're welcome!" Entrapta missed the sarcasm in the stranger's voice. "I'll send out repair bots soon, but the road out of Dryl is clear. You all should have no trouble getting back to your homes!"

"Never liked this castle anyway." That grumble came from a Horde soldier. Her lizard companion growled in agreement. "Hey, Princess. Where's the exit in this place?"

Entrapta paused. "Who needs help finding the exit?" Everyone raised their hands. "Okay, one second." She strode across the room, pulling open the door to a broom closet. Inside lay a deactivated sweeping bot. She turned it on, then plotted a course through the castle for it to sweep. "Refugees! Grab your stuff and follow Stella. She will take you to the nearest exit without traps. Hope you liked Dryl, everyone!"

"Not really."

"It beat dying, I think."

"We never got attacked in here. That was something."

The crowd left the chamber, one small group at a time. None of them had much stuff to bring along. Entrapta waited for most of them to leave before asking her three staff members. "Any other rooms with people in them?"

"I don't think so, Princess. We tried to keep everyone in here to limit the wandering around. It would only take one walk in front of a window for Prime's forces to notice us." Baki shuddered. "We lived in fear for months! Your food reserves ran out last week. All we have left are ration crates from the Horde."

Entrapta shrugged at the news. "That's okay. I've eaten those before. They come in tiny sizes too!"

Souff, the male chef, clutched his arms to his chest. "Um… Princess? What does the rest of Etheria look like? Will we get new shipments of food from Alywn soon?"

"Doubtful." Hordak answered for Entrapta. "Alywn's crops took critical damage from Horde Prime's army. He intentionally sent forces to interrupt the planet's food supply."

"Perfuma said she'd help things regrow. She'll probably get to Alywn soon. Food systems will require temporary stabilization measures, but the Princess Alliance predicts no mass famines as a result of the war, thanks to our peace efforts!"

Krem swallowed, eyes never breaking contact with Hordak's gaze. "And Lord Hordak is staying with us? For the… foreseeable future?"

"Yup!"

Baki stuttered. "Uh- why are you letting him, if I may ask?"

Entrapta blinked. "Why not? Hordak let me move into the Fright Zone a few years ago. Why wouldn't I let him live here?"

"I am also living in this lovely labyrinth of a residence!" Kadroh piped up. "Greetings, new brothers and sisters."

"Are you sure it's… wise to let these creatures take over your castle?" Krem pressed the issue. "I'm not sure these…" she whispered, "unnatural beings belong here."

"Unnatural?" Entrapta repeated at a normal volume. "What makes clones unnatural?"

"They were grown in a lab with one purpose: to destroy worlds!" Baki declared, grubby hands on her hips.

Her words stung. Or was it the pain from earlier? Hordak couldn't tell. At this point, he didn't care. He wanted to be alone. If he'd known how to get to Entrapta's lab from here, he would have left then and there.

Entrapta studied her servants' faces in shock. "I was grown in a lab with one purpose. My dads genetically engineered me to create the perfect princess. But… I'm not a perfect princess. Don't I still belong here?"

"Of course you do, Princess! I didn't mean-"

"And these clones didn't destroy our world. Hordie and Hordak both helped defeat Horde Prime. They belong on Etheria. I say they belong in my castle." Entrapta's hair turned spiky, an indication her patience was running thin. "We all live here together now. You used to say you missed having other organic beings live with us, Baki. Now we do, and you don't want it anymore. That doesn't make sense!"

As if on cue, Emily's struggles with the far side door ended with her blasting the entrance to smithereens. Emily crawled through the hole she'd created, beeping triumphantly. She walked up to Entrapta's side for head pets. Entrapta glanced between Emily and her servants. If it were anyone else, Hordak would interpret the glances as a threat to the kitchen workers.

Said kitchen workers exchanged resigned looks. "Okay, Princess. What do Horde clones eat?"

Entrapta calmed down when her servants gave in. "I've never seen Hordak eat anything, but in the time Kadroh has been traveling with me, he's been able to eat everything an Etherian can with no health issues on record. I'll have a more detailed diagnostic for you when I finish my research." She gestured to her travel companions. "To my lab!"

Finally. Hordak didn't know how much more interaction he could take. He followed Entrapta through the explosion Emily had made, feeling an embarrassing sense of dizziness wash over him. Hordak froze in his tracks.

"What's wrong, brother? Why do you stop?"

Hordak realized something just then. The worst part of returning to Horde Prime hadn't been the memory wipe. It had been the expectation he could live and perform as any other clone would, with no additional modifications to account for his defect. After decades of accommodating himself on Etheria, Hordak had lost his ability to compensate with willpower alone. He was too old. Too weak.

"Forgive me. I-" Hordak's vision turned sideways. He heard a distant crash as pain traveled up an exposed shoulder.

Darkness took over his vision once again. This time, it did generate fear.

A/N's: So this fic is going to be longer than I initially predicted. I keep adding scenes I want to write to this fic's outline, to the point where certain chapters had to be split into two. Hope no one minds.

Shoutout to the anon reviewer who caught my mistake in the first chapter: I incorrectly said Scorpia's father was the ruler of the Scorpion kingdom before Hordak took over. That is wrong because Scorpia had two moms. It was her grandfather who ruled before Hordak. That mistake has been fixed in edits. I appreciate when people help me catch slip ups like these. If you ever see one yourself, don't be afraid to politely mention it in a review.

Hope you enjoyed the new chapter, folks! I should have another one out soon.