Catra woke up to a blaring alarm. She was in her bed in her Force Captain quarters and her ear no longer hurt. As the feline sat up, trying to get her bearings, the door opened to reveal Adora. She was dressed in her Horde Lord armour with the same short haircut; looking every bit as terrifying as she had been when she had had first given herself that title. On reflex, Catra got on all fours and unsheathed her claws. Adora simply laughed:
"Oh very funny! We both know you could never take me hand-to-hand!" Catra's eyes widened. Why was Adora laughing? Come to think of it, why was she scared of her? This was Adora! They were friends, Catra was her second-in-command and they ruled Etheria together… right?
Catra relaxed and scratched her head, saying:
"Maybe… but I am faster than you." Adora smirked:
"Wanna bet?" Catra gave her signature mischievous grin and leapt off her bed. She landed on Adora, forcing her to ground. The blonde tried and failed to get up due to her heavy armour and impromptu laughing fit:
"Okay, fine! You win!" Catra gave a wry grin:
"Yeah, I do! I already told you this armour's impractical. What was wrong with your previous look?" Catra got off Adora as she spoke and the blonde quickly stood up, brushing herself down:
"It was not worthy of my rank, Catra. You know that." The feline shrugged her shoulders and ran back into her room to get her mask. She had only just realized she was not wearing it and found it odd that Adora had not commented on it. Before she could bring it up, however, Adora suddenly called to her:
"Come on! We have to hurry! The drill starts in five minutes and you don't wanna be here when it does!" Catra turned back to face her friend but she was already gone. That was when she became aware once more of the blaring alarm and that she had to get out of the building before the sprinklers activated.
Once Catra made it to the assembly point (the biggest hangar bay that constituted the main entrance and exit of the Fright Zone), the number of questions she already had tripled.
There were not nearly as many soldiers as she was expecting – barely two battalions. There were no other Force Captains and the alarm seemed to suddenly change from the standard fire drill that had woken her up to a full-on intruder alert.
Searching frantically for Adora, Catra saw her standing on a platform she did not remember ever being there. After sighing in frustration, the feline accepted she had had a bad night and was feeling more out of it than usual. That must be why she was feeling weird and her memories were all messed up.
Catra ran to the front of her troops and fell in line alongside Sergeant Cobalt and another officer she did not recognize. As soon as she was in position, Adora began to speak:
"As you know, one of the princesses escaped from her cell half an hour ago. We've prevented her from leaving our prison but we can assume she has killed all the guards and is currently releasing all the other prisoners. We must stop this rebellion before it's too late!" Upon hearing the word 'rebellion', Catra's head started to hurt and flashes of images she honestly could not describe filled her mind. The common denominator in all of them seemed to be the colour purple.
"Force Commander Catra!" Catra blinked and saw Adora standing right in front of her. She squealed and jumped, suddenly feeling scared of her friend once more. The blonde simply raised her eyebrow at the feline:
"Catra? Are you alright?" Catra nodded hesitantly. Adora leaned forward and gave a surprisingly soft smile:
"Don't worry, I won't let her hurt you." Catra gave another hesitant nod before asking:
"Okay… um… who are we talking about?" Adora face-palmed herself:
"The sea princess, Catra! I just explained that she escaped!" Catra quickly processed this information:
"Right… right, because we have her and all the other princesses in custody…" Adora suddenly looked concerned and put her hand on Catra's shoulder:
"Catra, are you sure you're okay? Do you… need to sit this one out?" Catra shook her head vehemently. There was nothing more insulting than being asked whether you were ill – Catra was not ill!
"Yes! I'm fine, Adora! Just… a bit tired, I guess." The blonde nodded:
"Alright. Just… stay in the back, okay? No need for you to go hand-to-hand with her again." Catra, who was still processing Adora's sudden appearance right in front of her, scratched her head in confusion:
"But… surely I'll have to? We have barely two battalions! That's not nearly enough to take out one, yet alone all of the princesses!" Adora's eyes widened and then she burst out laughing:
"What are you talking about? We have eight battalions plus another in reserve. We have more than enough to deal with this!" Catra's face went white. How tired was she to have not seen thousands of her own soldiers saluting her as she walked in…?
Catra was not really sure what had happened since her talk with Adora in the hangar. The next thing she knew, she had been drowning in a very familiar prison cell, and had passed out when she could not escape. The feline had then woken up to the Horde Lord herself resuscitating her, which had made her jump up in a fit of terror (and mild gay panic).
Adora immediately grabbed Catra's arms and held her down, stopping the feline from scratching her across the face. For a split second, Catra could have sworn she saw a set of scars on Adora's cheek… claw marks…
"Catra! It's okay! It's just me!" The feline took a deep breath and composed herself. When Adora let her go, Catra sat back up. Upon examining her surroundings, the feline realized they were now in the infirmary. Catra stuttered:
"H-How did we get here?" Adora gave a knowing chuckle:
"Short answer? You fought Mermista even after I told you not to. Long answer? You have been acting weird all day and I needed an excuse to get you looked at." Catra put on a grumpy face but she was secretly relieved. The memory loss, random headaches and strange visions were starting to worry her too.
"Wow, thanks Adora!" Catra replied sarcastically. Right before she was about to ask what the doctor had said, a happy voice called out from the ward's entrance:
"Hey Catra! Hey Lord Adora! I'm so glad you guys made it – that was a rough fight back there! Did you need me to get something?" Adora looked at the newcomer and raised an eyebrow:
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Catra spun around to see Force Captain Scorpia. Now she knew something was not right; her head ached and her mind showed her flashes of the princess standing in front of them. This person was not a Force Captain:
"What are you doing here?" Both Scorpia and Adora looked at Catra in confusion. When neither of them answered her, the feline began gesturing wildly at the scorpion hybrid:
"She… she's a princess! She should be with the others!" Catra felt a horrible pang of guilt as she said that. Adora's eyes widened and she turned to look at Scorpia, asking:
"Force Captain? Is this true?" Scorpia looked terrified as she raised her claws defensively, pleading:
"Well, yes, but I haven't got any powers! Not cool ones anyway. And Hordak said-"
"Hordak's no longer in charge! I am! And I'll not tolerate princesses in my ranks! You shall die where you stand for your treachery!" Catra gasped, her heart feeling inexplicably torn by Adora's words. The blonde raised an eyebrow at the feline's change of expression before giving her an evil grin:
"You do it, Catra! You identified her. It's only fair you should be the one to kill her!" The feline froze:
"Adora… is this really necessary?" The blonde narrowed her eyes and growled:
"I gave you an order, Force Commander! The doctor already said there was nothing wrong you – you have no excuse!" Catra, finally accepting there was a bigger problem here, shook her head bravely:
"No Adora! Look, you know the way I've been acting? It's because there's something going on - something big! I don't know what it is but Scorpia's the key! I know she is! We need her alive!" Adora's eyes widened before her face went red with rage:
"How dare you disobey me? I don't tolerate insubordination, Catra! Do as you're told and end this!" The feline, who was now feeling justifiably afraid of the tall blonde woman leaning over her, began to move backwards towards the wall, replying as calmly as she could:
"You're not listening, Adora! Time and space aren't working right! I know it sounds crazy but-"
"Shut up!" Adora lunged at Catra with a stun baton that the feline had not even noticed she was carrying. Catra dodged it and rolled towards the door. Scorpia was still there and she quickly helped Catra to her feet. Just as the feline was standing up, Adora struck again but had her blow blocked by Scorpia. As the two woman pushed against the other, Catra grabbed a glass bottle of sterilizing liquid and leapt over the fight, smashing it over Adora's head. The Horde Lord fell to the ground, knocked out and smelling of alcohol. Scorpia gasped:
"We are so fired!"
Catra and Scorpia ran down the halls of the Fright Zone. As they went, doors, hallways and pipes that the two of them had grown up with inexplicably disappeared before their eyes. Every now and again, the hallway would look like it was being broken apart by some monstrous external force and then everything would revert to normal. Neither of the women could explain it.
When they arrived at the prison complex, Scorpia tried and failed to enter the access code. The Force Captain gasped:
"Oh no! Adora must've woken up – she's deactivated our badges!" Catra simply grunted in response, using her claws to make a hole in the door. As soon as she did, the guards from inside started firing at them. Without hesitation, Scorpia used her raw strength to tear the door from its hinges and throw it at their attackers. They were all knocked out in one go.
"Wow…" Catra breathed in astonishment. When the scorpion hybrid did not respond, the feline turned to see that her friend was now gone.
"Scorpia?!"
"She's not there, Catra." The feline's hair stood on end as she recognized the voice. Shadow Weaver. Slowly, Catra turned and faced the cell closest to the door, located at the centre of the prison. She snarled:
"Shut up, Shadow Weaver." Then Catra walked into the complex and ran up the ramp to the next level. She was not sure who or what she was looking for and her former mentor knew this. Shadow Weaver called up to Catra:
"I know what's happening, Catra! Let me out of here – I can help!" The feline turned and hissed at Shadow Weaver:
"I said shut up!"
"Catra?" The feline spun around and immediately recognized the sentient hair of Entrapta pressed against her cell door. Catra's headache returned, along with an image of Entrapta next to something extremely bright…
An alarm blared and Catra was pulled from her thoughts. She almost screamed when she saw part of the prison suddenly get engulfed in a terrifying void. Shadow Weaver suddenly screamed:
"Get out! Get out, Catra! Leave the Fright Zone NOW!" Unable to process this sudden show of compassion, Catra growled in frustration and punched the controls of Entrapta's prison cell. This caused the door to malfunction and deactivate with mere seconds to spare. Without hesitation, the feline grabbed Entrapta's hand and dragged her up to the next level of the prison, running away from the approaching monstrosity as fast as she could.
As they ran higher and higher up the floors of the prison, they passed several different princesses and every single one of them brought up a specific image in Catra's brain – one that did not match with her reality.
Once they reached the highest level, Catra was unable to find the door and began to panic. This was when Entrapta, who had been oddly quiet and compliant this whole time, had simply tapped Catra on the shoulder and pointed upwards.
The feline sighed. Of course they would have to use the vents.
Catra was not sure whether it was by luck or destiny that she and Entrapta had been able to make it to a skiff hangar bay using the vents, but she was not going to count her blessings just yet.
As Catra drove the skiff she had stolen out of the Fright Zone, racing against the advancing void of death, the princess accompanying her silently tinkered with its engine to make it go faster than it ever had before.
Just as they entered the Whispering Woods, Catra suddenly realized they had no destination - not to mention she still had no answers to any of her questions. As if she had read her mind, the princess spoke up and said:
"Head for Dryl! I'll use my lab to figure out what's going on!" Catra nodded slowly. Dryl – it was supposed to be under the Horde's control but she had never been there before.
With no idea what to expect, nor any way of knowing whether or not it was a trap, Catra decided to just do what she was told. After all, as Scorpia would have said:
"This doesn't make sense but I'm gonna follow you because I don't see a lot of other options."
When Adora woke up, she became immediately aware of a throbbing pain in her head. She groaned angrily – Catra had betrayed her and she was going to make her pay!
As the blonde tried to get up, her headache increased and she suddenly saw flashes of images she could not describe; images of princesses, Catra, a hologram…
"Mara, dearie!" Adora looked up, ready to attack whoever had just spoken. But there was no one there.
Slowly, the blonde got to her feet and checked her injury in a mirror. As she rubbed her head, she thought she saw a set of scars on her cheek that had not been there before…
"Lord Adora! Are you okay?" Adora spun around to see Force Captain Lonnie. The blonde barked:
"Catra's a traitor and so is the Force Captain who was just in here! Trace their badges and deactivate their access codes! We need to stop them!" Lonnie nodded, saluted and ran off to follow Adora's orders. Within minutes, the Horde Lord found out where they were.
As she ran to the prison, however, Adora suddenly became aware of an old lady walking past her. She had butterflies flying around her.
"Hey! You! Stop!" When Adora turned to confront her, the old lady had disappeared. The blonde pouted – had Catra been right? Everything had been perfect until she had opened her big mouth…
"Boss! You coming?" Adora quickly shook the doubts from her mind and ran after Lonnie. When they made it to the prison, however, something was very wrong. There were no guards or prisoners – in fact, there was no prison at all. Adora began to panic and turned to Lonnie:
"Force Captain, what's going on…?" As she did so, however, it became clear that Lonnie had disappeared too. That was when Adora saw it for the first time: the empty void consuming reality.
Screaming in terror, Adora ran down several corridors, barely making it to the nearest skiff hangar bay. She proceeded to jump into one of the vehicles and drive it away at maximum speed. She was too late, however. The void surrounded her just as she reached the Whispering Woods.
Adora screamed even louder as she felt half of her body cease to exist, but her unbridled hatred for Catra, as well as her undying determination to punish her for her betrayal, made the Horde Lord do the impossible; Adora leapt out of the skiff, successfully grabbing the literal edge of the Whispering Woods. She then painfully pulled herself up, eventually collapsing on the cool grass of the forest floor.
It was impossible to say how long she lay there, halfway between life and death. The right half of her body felt like it was on fire but Adora was all out of screams. The left side of her body tingled and sweated, reacting to the pain and anticipating its own disappearance.
Once Adora got her breath back, she growled ferociously and, summoning all her strength, hoisted herself up, refusing to look at her broken form and biting her tongue to prevent any more painful cries. It was right when she was about to get to her feet that she perceived the old woman from earlier standing over her.
She looked very old. And purple. Adora's mind was so scrambled that those were the only two bits of information she registered. Then the old lady gasped and spoke:
"Oh Adora… what have they done to you?" The blonde growled unintelligibly – still barely stopping herself from wailing in pain. The woman slowly approached her, bent down and touched her unhurt shoulder:
"You don't know me, do you dearie? That's alright. My name is Razz and I'm here to help you." As soon as Razz touched her shoulder, Adora's pain subsided. Not only did her physical pain disappear entirely, but the constant yelling in her mind also paused - giving way to peace. It was as if the darkness was suddenly gone and Adora's mind was free. Sadly, there wasn't much left to be free with.
Adora's mind was completely empty except for a few scraps of different memories; some fake and some real with it being impossible to differentiate. However, one thing was for certain: Adora no longer wanted to kill and destroy. She did not want to pursue an objective nor did she want to stand for something. She just wanted to rest… Adora involuntarily sighed in relief and a tear rolled down her cheek. Razz smiled:
"Well now, am I talking to the real Adora or is the monster still there?" The blonde shook her head weakly before whispering:
"How… how are you doing this?" Razz chuckled:
"My magic is much stronger than that of whoever did this to you. But, sadly, I can't stay with you very long." As if to enunciate her words, a chunk of the forest loudly disappeared into the void. Adora's eyes widened:
"Razz… what's happening? What do I do?" Razz grinned as she explained:
"Your sword, dearie. You need to find your sword. That's how Mara opened a portal last time. And how she closed it." Adora shook her head in confusion, a small flashback of Light Hope lecturing her on the former She-Ra playing in her broken head:
"A portal? Wait… I thought… I thought Mara went crazy and almost destroyed Etheria…" Razz laughed:
"No, you nincompoop! Mara didn't destroy us! She saved us! And now you'll do the same! You just need some help!" This did not assure Adora, who began to panic:
"Help? From who?! I… I'm not sure where I've come from or what just happened, but I do know that I'm Lord of the Horde and that all my allies are gone; princess or otherwise…" Razz, completely unfazed by Adora's despair, simply winked at her:
"Not all of them." Adora raised her eyebrow at the old woman, who now stood back up while maintaining her hold on the blonde's shoulder:
"The one you seek is alive. Find her and go back to the beginning together." Adora stuttered:
"B-Back to the beginning…?" Just then, Razz removed her hand and it was as if a red mist descended upon Adora, taking over her mind once more. The blonde closed her eyes and fought it, determined to keep her peace. She heard Razz walk past her, whispering in her ear as she went to face her fate in the void:
"All that witch did was mess with your memories. Stop letting yourself be led by them, stop letting them shape your identity! And, most important of all, never lose sight of who you really are! You are not Lord of the Horde nor are you She-Ra! Those are just titles. You are Adora - and the only person who can truly control your mind is you."
When Adora finally opened her eyes, she was no longer in the Whispering Woods. She was now sitting opposite Entrapta's castle in Dryl and another alarm was blaring.
Everything still hurt and Adora still felt a wave of unsurmountable rage. However, this time, there was another voice that spoke above the rest in her head. It was a quiet one with enough authority to make itself heard:
"Catra's here. Catra can help you. Go and find Catra."