Chapter14; Reaction and evil tidings



Fuming, crossing long slender arms over her heaving chest, Catra hissed softly, seeking Entrapta in the crowd. She found her, conversing with a tall, intimidating man wearing a modified trooper suit. Catra growled contemptuously, recognizing Colonel Black. Shoving aside dignitaries and generals alike she moved to the Hordewoman's side, unmindful of the stares or comments her rudeness elicited. Not bothering to hide her disdain, she stepped between the two, giving the colonel the dubious honor of addressing her back.



"Rowww, a word with you if I may, Entrapta." Catra placed a small dainty hand possessed of surprising strength on Entrapta's arms, steering her away from the colonel without so much as glancing in his direction. Entrapta allowed herself to be ushered away, not wanting to cause a scene. The evil forces of Etheria had enough to speak of without bringing her name to Hordacks attention.

"Speak swiftly Catra." She snapped. "I believe I already know what you want to say." Tossing long violet hair over one shoulder, her square jaw jutting mutinously, she gazed in quiet consternation at Catra. Flowing lavender tresses twisted, swishing about with their own animation, responding to her agitation. Catra's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Why didn't you challenge Adorrra's right to lead us. She was weakened from her fight with Leech, you are strrrrong, you could have taken her." Entrapta snorted, placing large, rough hands on slender hips, she seemed oblivious to the full room around them or the buzz of hundreds of conversations. Large, intelligent eyes of alluring violet pierced Catra to her core, mesmerizing her like a rat caught in the hypnotic gaze of a hungry snake.

"I did not advance this far on my looks alone," she paused, looking Catra up and down, a smile curving her lips, "as some have done;" Catra's mouth dropped in surprise. Entrapta ignored her, "nor did I get my position by making foolish choices. You're right, I probably could have taken Adora out. But Hordack obviously wants her right where she is. I am not about to interfere in his desires!"

"But you could have had his entire army at your command!" Catra growled, hands clenching into balls of frustrated anger. Entrapta circled her purposefully, hard heels tapping cold floor in a predatory rhythm, long violently violet curls rising and wrapping around Catra's body, caressing her gently with the faint scent of hyacinth. Placing her hands on Catra's shoulders she leaned in low, whispering in her ear, her breath lightly dancing over the dark hairs of Catra's neck, causing her to shiver.

"Pretty kitty, let me give you some advice," Luxuriant lilac locks softly slid slowly away to collapse in wild glee over her shoulders; "Leave Adora alone." She breathed, "She's dangerous. She is not the force captain we once knew. There is a streak of ruthlessness, a deep sense of focus that was never there before, if you look into her eyes you can see," Entrapta giggled, "she teeters on the brink of madness." Entrapta stepped away; Catra whirled to face her, her throat suddenly dry.

"What do you mean, madness?" She purred, a calculating gleam of ambition shining in her dark eyes. Entrapta laughed, a deep huskily wicked sound, causing goosebumps to run along Catra's spine.

"Just what I said. Madness!" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "She spent her youth training with Hordack to become an efficient killer. Though in the past she has balked at killing, just now she executed Leech without so much as a blink of remorse. She is reinventing herself," Entrapta mused, Catra found her insight intriguing.

"Into what?" Catra queried. Entrapta shrugged.

"Who knows? Right now she is confused, awash in anger and fear; it wouldn't take much to push her over the edge of sanity and set her adrift in her own personal chaos. As anyone who has dealt with Hordack will tell you," here, she instinctively glanced around for Mantenna, "don't get on the wrong side of crazy folk. They lean toward viciousness and can be unpredictable." Catra turned her friends words over in her mind, viewing them from every angle, jade sparks still shot from her emerald eyes but not so fiercely as before.

"Rowww, it isn't right!" she pouted, "We have both served the Horde loyally and yet Adora gets all the power! Hordack has always been so good to her!" Catra threw her arms over her chest and plopped onto a small dais, created for reclining. Her lips curled forward in a sullen moue as she silently seethed in a self-righteous snit.

Entrapta smiled. Tall and slender she was nevertheless not a beautiful woman. Not like Catra or Adora or even Scorpia. She had a body of hard muscles and angles, a square, masculine jaw with an unbecoming cleft. Her legs were squat, her knees knobby, her ankles thick, her thighs wide- she hated her legs! She always wore tight, heeled, thigh length boots to make her appear taller, slimmer and curvier than she was. Her waist was thick as well- though all muscle and no fat.

Born to Etherian peasants, the Horde stole her from her mother when she was young and had her placed in one of Hordacks secret GMOEN labs. Genetic mutation of Etherian natives. Placing her in a DNA altering Fetal cylinder she went to sleep a child and awakened sixteen years later Entrapta. A Hordes-woman down to the genetic level.

Gifted with long loose hair responding instantly to her thoughts, moods and desires, a keen intellect and hunger for knowledge and an abiding scientific interest in technology she was a formidable if inexperienced warrior. A chip implanted in her head gave her access to the vast Horde database of information and she used it to her advantage. Older than the troopers in training at the time of her release Hordack had her placed with them to learn what it meant to be Horde.

She vividly remembered the day of her release. A bitter taste forming in her mouth as she relived those moments in her mind. She remembered opening her eyes in confused wonder as she straightened, covered in a thick goo, and trembling on muscles artificially enhanced but never tested. She recalled Hordack, circling her, a vaguely disappointed look on his face. He snorted, scratching his chin.

"She's not as pretty as I had hoped." He bluntly stated. Entrapta was sure she would have cried and silently gave thanks to the scientists for removing her tear ducts. The chip in her head twinged.

Anxiety shot through her.

While giving her access to a vast computer library of information, the chip also acted as a mood master; causing euphoria when she pleased her master and anxiety when she did not. She stood, analyzing several courses of action in nanoseconds, seeking the one which would please her master according to his psychological profile. She realized her best bet would be to play on her looks and appear pretty and petty at once, she could not; Hordack had made it clear he did not find her attractive so she did the next best thing, she indulged herself in a fit of senseless violence.

Her hair, so still before, shook off the glop, shooting out, grabbing the scientist sputtering at her masters side and twisting his neck, several vertebrae made satisfyingly loud popping noises. Looking to her lord she smiled, giving a little curtsy as the scientist's corpse fell to the floor. Hordack appeared surprised, he slowly smiled. Euphoria shot through her at his expression of approval.

"Perhaps you can be of use to me." He mused, scratching his chin. "No sense in letting you go to waste. Follow child." Entrapta followed. She was placed in Catra's squadron. They learned side by side, fought side by side. Conquered side by side, and experienced defeat, side by side. Learning together for two years they came to know each other extremely well. Entrapta felt very strongly toward Catra, protectiveness, pity, love, envy, all combined to form strong attachments to the sensuous and delectable cat woman.

Entrapta was also the only one besides Hordack who knew the full truth about Cara's existence. Not even Catra knew who she really was or of the prophecy surrounding her. Entrapta knew that if Hordack ever found out she knew so much he would have her sent off planet or eliminated. Entrapta had no desire to die and she would never wish to be off planet unless Catra came with her. The cat woman had known such little happiness- being the result of one of Hordack's psychological experiments. It was no wonder she was such a miserable bully who delighted in tormenting others. It was all she knew. All she had ever known. Compassion and caution shone in her eyes as she addressed her friend.



"Pretty one, take my advice. Leave Adora be." Growling, Catra nodded sharply in acknowledgement. Shrugging her shoulders, Entrapta left Catra to her sulk.

Across the room Hordack paraded Adora from one commander to another to be admired and coveted like a trophy. Everyone eventually made their way around the room to bow to their lord and their new dark commander. Shadow Weaver hung behind Hordack on his left. Ready should he require her aid, a threatening shadow at his shoulder.

Her crimson form, hovering over the floor with ghostly ease, caused many to shudder in fear and distaste. She found herself wishing for the comfort of Horror hall. She hated attending these functions. Hated being stared at. Hated people. She thrilled at the terror she inspired in her underlings; but when one was universally feared by all, that one generally stood alone at parties. She took some malicious comfort in the fact that she was not the only one to be uncomfortable this night. Her slit-eyed gaze turned to Adora, sensing an emotional tempest in the girl as she struggled to absorb what she had done.

Pain, Exhaustion, anxiety, elation, horror, and a vindictive little thrill of self righteous satisfaction churned in, around and through Adora as the enormity of what she had done hit her.

She was a killer.

She truly had become the monster she fought. Her hands throbbed in pain. She was sure they were purpling. Her neck wound stung. She ignored it. Worry over the sorceress's warning kept her stomach in knots.

Do not kill using the sword of protection.

She shivered in foreboding. She would have to contact the sorceress to discover the repercussions. In the heat of battle she had not thought, merely acted. That rush of lightning from her sword after killing Leech nearly took her arm off. She was frightened. Hordack merely assumed it was a play of power on her part, meant to frighten other challengers.

She let him believe that.

Even she was unsure of what it was or what it meant. She just had to get through this function. Then she could retreat to her chambers to think. Still dazed from her wounds and the fight, Adora had a vague idea of what she needed to accomplish before leaving. She needed protection. She needed troopers loyal to her and her alone. It was necessary she obtain the rights to that protection immediately. She could sense innumerous hostile eyes boring holes into her back. She wanted to shriek at them, 'look at me! I am evil, just like you! I have killed, just like you! What more do you want?! I am you!' She did not though.

She was a warrior. None sensed or saw her inner discontent. She flashed weaver a furtive glance out of the corner of her eye; grateful for the mask that concealed the gesture. She caught the yellow-eyed witch gazing at her intently.

Well, no one but her! Abruptly clearing her throat she interrupted Hordack mid sentence, she did not deign to acknowledge Octavia's look of surprised disgruntlement.

"My lord, I need to choose an honor guard." Hordack motioned Octavia away, turning his attention to his protégé.

"Good, good, Catra is a powerful warrior woman, she-" Adora shook her head negatively.

"I wouldn't trust any one of your commanders or force captains with anything so dear to me as my own safety. I will need to see the graduating trooper recruits for this year. Feelix, Neelix and Mitsi will assist me in choosing." Hordack stiffened.

"Those three clowns! May I ask why you don't trust my hordesmen?!" Adora looked at him. He loved the cold, dehumanizing effect her mask had on people.

"You choose your commanders based on their aggression level, their ability to bully and innate meanness-"

"We prefer to say evil, Adora." Hordack corrected."

"I want warriors who fight, who know the meaning of loyalty and who will follow me, unquestioned." Hordack snorted, derisively.

"We usually send those to Horde world and Horde prime. My one mistake was General Sundar." His brows shot up in disgruntled surprise, a note of whining entering his voice, "Adora are you sure, I mean look what happened with him! A trooper with a conscience, with loyalty, or ugh," he shivered in uncontrollable disgust, "decency, would not wish to work with us."

"They won't be working with us," she bluntly stated, "They will be working with me. Maybe if you chose your warriors based on their abilities rather than their unkind and cross natures-"

"Evil, Adora." Hordack corrected again. She continued impatiently.

"You wouldn't still be fighting for this planet after twenty-six years, thereby making a mockery of the term hostile takeover." She snapped. Hordacks nostrils flared at her insolence, no one dared to speak to him that way! He stepped towards her. She remained unmoved. He reached out a hand. She did not flinch. Instead of striking her as she half expected he would, he ran his hands through her hair. Her jaw clenched. He noticed and dropped his hands, a peculiar gleam in his eyes. On anyone else Adora would have assumed it was hurt. Snorting gruffly he placed his hands behind his back.

"Well, nonetheless, welcome home, Adora. It will be done. Tomorrow you may choose your honor guard. I will escort you myself-"

"No. The triplets will help me. You will renew our offensive against the rebels." Hordack could read no emotion in her stilted voice. "dig a trench around the whispering woods. Have your robots do it, I don't care, just get it done. Then set up a blockade of tanks around the woods, place a mine field in the ocean off the shore of the beach along the entire stretch of the woods. That way no ships may go in and no people may come out. Any rebels still in the woods will die in that prison of life and light." Adora felt no remorse at issuing the order. She was well aware the woods were empty save for the twiggets and many women and children who stayed behind. Those she knew had plenty to live on.

"Brilliant." Hordack praised her effusively. "I would have done the same myself years ago but I chose to await your return." She shot him an unfathomable glance, he could read nothing beneath her mask.

Suddenly Hordack's face positively lit up as his eyes landed on a vision of earthy beauty behind her.

"Ahh, Adora, I have a surprise for you," he murmured, excitement evident in his quivering voice- "ooh and I must say my dear you look simply beautiful!" His remark was addressed over her left shoulder. A tinkling laugh raised chills on Adora's arm as a familiar voice lightly chided Hordack.

"Mighty Hordack, how dare you hoard this beautiful child all to yourself!" Adora woodenly turned, her knees buckling as her unbelieving eyes fell upon an exquisitely horrifying sight. Reaching out with numbed fingers she grasped Hordack's bone collar as a life line. Raising an arm to steady her, a smile played across his face at her display of weakness. A warm feeling he didn't quite recognize rushed over him as Adora turned to him for support.

Dazed, she looked up at her dark lord. Shock and bewilderment coloring her perceptions in a sick gray fog of incomprehension. She was hot and cold all at once

By the first ones, she hurt! She yearned for sleep, blessed oblivion and refuge from the reality haunting her. Surely, she thought in despair, her eyes were deceiving her, playing a cruel trick on her due in large part to her exhaustion.

Hordack nodded encouragement. He would not allow her to ignore this. Steeling herself, biting her lip to keep from whimpering, she reached out a leather gloved hand which trembled only slightly, to acknowledge the traitorous murderer standing before her.

She winced in pain as the woman lightly squeezed her wrists. She should probably have a meditech heal her- but she couldn't quite think past the buzzing sound in her ears or the brunette vision standing before her, sporting a set of very familiar wings crudely stitched to her tunic.

They stunk of death.

"Adora- should I say Onyx? I have always felt a strange kinship to you, like me you have tasted both sides of the fruit of free will. Now, like me, you have chosen the sweet. Welcome my dear." Melog's smile was warm and generous. Hordack grinned with wicked humor. He placed a meaty hand on her shoulder.

"With you on our side leading our troops to victory and Melog- our own version of She-ra we will be unstoppable!" He shuddered in evil rhapsody, "oh, the havoc we will raise!" He began laughing in evil delight. Melog rolled her eyes at Adora. Someone, Adora thought it was her but she was unsure addressed Melog with polite courtesy.

"About the wings you wear-" Melog preened, pirouetting before Adora's dark regard. Huge, beautiful, golden and orange and sienna wings sprouted from the back of the short tan tunic she wore, a tunic which mirrored She- ra's in design if not color. She even wore a brown headdress like she- ra's, made of bronze. Brown boots completed the ensemble making her appear a winged, earthen version of the Princess of power.

"I obtained these delightful adornments from an old friend. She won't be needing them where she is now." Melog dimpled prettily.

Adora turned away. Her breath coming in deep, sharp, shallow gulps.

She realized she was still clutching Hordack and now her face was pressing against his chest as she struggled for oxygen. He was smiling. She thrust him away as if burned. Shaking her head in horror she bowed to Hordack and strode swiftly from the hall. She heard Melogs distinctive laugh echoing behind her as she escaped to her room.

Bile burning her throat, tears rushing down her face, her thoughts jumbled and incoherent. Unaware of her surroundings; feet fled on fragile strength over a remembered course to her room, her mind reeling in dark places far beyond the path she trod.

She was a killer twice over.

She killed Leech in rage- and Flutterina, a beautiful and gentle friend went to her death following one of her last orders as a rebel leader. A harsh sob tore from her throat as she stumbled through the corroders to her chambers. She stifled it quickly remembering walls had ears and to show weakness was to invite doom. Her whole body trembled with her anguish and rage, her desperate sorrow and guilt.

She found herself wondering could freedom truly be worth this cost? Her hope was gone. Her faith was spent Her energy drained.

It was too much. All of it. She had to escape. Had to be free. Free of her own tormented musings!

A bruised hand slammed into the security console outside her door. Pain shot through her hands in searing molten streaks of orange lightning behind her closed eye-lids.

Blip-blip.

The metal monstrosity slid aside. She ripped her mask from her face, the stark pallor of her high cheek bones stood out in vivid ivory relief against the shadowed backdrop of her room. The cold, unfeeling door slid shut behind her. A dark mask slid from lifeless fingers as she collapsed to her knees with a jarring crash. Blood dried to a dark brown, stained her hair and face. She didn't care. She was cold.

She was so cold.

Flutterina was dead.

She was probably cold too. Adora raised a trembling hand to her clammy head. Then, putting her gloves to her mouth she began ripping and pulling them off. She needed to feel skin. Warm living skin.

She felt dead inside.

She mewled quietly, suppressing panic threatening to overcome her and spiral beyond her ability to control. She wasn't dead! Was she?

Somebody Help Me! She screamed. She thought she screamed. Her room echoed in shades of shadows and silence.

The glove came off. She flung it across the room. She cried out, a harsh, ragged deep-throated sound. Tearing the other glove off she threw it as far from her as she could. Scooting backward, pressing her spine to the wall she placed chilled digits on the side of her face. Uncaring that blood dripped from two fingers where teeth had punctured skin down the side of her cheek. The blood was warm but her hands were ice.

A keening cry ripped from her throat. She pressed clammy hands to her mouth to stifle the eerie sound.

She was cold. Why was it so cold? Her fingers. Her hands. Her face. All were numb with cold. Dead people were cold. Was she dead? She felt dead. Inside. Whimpering, shaking her head in denial she tried to stand. She needed to feel alive. She needed to be warm.

She couldn't move.

Cradled between the cold steel walls of her room and her own inner hell, her limbs felt stiff and frigid. Maybe she was dead. Sapphire eyes glazed over in mindless acceptance to gaze into a somewhere only she could see.

Her dark shadowy room slowly began to flood with a gentle spectrum of shifting and arching colors as Etheria's guardian, sensing her danger, sped to her side. Light Hope's image appeared before her. His voice echoing urgently in her mind, struggling to pierce the cold dark place of despair her mind had retreated to with his warm presence of hope and love.



Adora! He cried. Adora! Adora! Urgent concern rang in his wise voice. Adora remained passive and unresponsive. She felt herself being lifted into the air by two strong arms but she couldn't seem to care enough to find out whose they were.

Adora, awaken! Lighthope's voice swept through her mind. Why bother? She thought dimly. She felt the man bearing her body wrap her in blankets, soft and warm, it was too late. She smiled. You can't warm a corpse. She giggled lightly, waving towards the person trying to revive her. A strong callused hand, warm and alive caught and held her own. A warm cloth was placed on her face.

Adora…we need you… your world will fall without you… Lighthope's plea arched through the shroud of despair pressing her mind, lifting her up from the darkness. She frowned. Didn't he know she was already dead? She decided she better let him know.

"Too late…" she thought she whispered, "leave me in peace."

Of a sudden a warm glow surrounded her pushing back the encroaching night struggling to claim her soul. She thought it was light hope. Her nose twitched in confusion. Here? In the fright zone? Two strong and loving arms snaked a warm and secure grip around her, two muscled legs twined with hers. A distinctively human warmth cradled her against a strong, warm chest smelling musky, and faintly of bay leaves and sweat, not an unpleasant aroma. The human heat coupled with Lighthope's magical warmth struggled to pull her back from the brink of some terrible and ugly abyss. Her face was slapped as she fought it. She didn't want to come back. Didn't want to face what she had become or what she knew she had to do!

"C'mon, Adora, wake up!" A deep and anxious voice peeled away at the darkness consuming her. "Wake up, baby, wake up! Don't you die on me! You here me! Dammit, Adora wake up!"

Suddenly, she felt her spirit pulling away from her body, pulling up and away from the dark, frigid cocoon into which it had retreated. All around her a rainbow of light appeared. In front of her a shining coruscation of white vibrant light energy beckoned her forward. It emitted an effulgent aura of welcoming and love. Adora smiled, stepping toward the light.

Then she saw them.

Six small, shadowy forms, all hooded, garbed in robes of purest white, the purity of which hurt her eyes to gaze upon, she raised a hand to her brow, shielding her corona's from their brilliance. Each glowing form held a candle. They stepped in front of her, blocking her way to the light. She arched her hand in angered denial.

"Stand aside!" She commanded, her voice shaky and unsteady with longing and yearning. The shadows had faces. The faces had names. Soulful eyes rose from upturned cherubim to gaze on Adora. She stepped back in guilty fear. They lifted their candles to her as if in supplication. One by one the flames flickered and winked out as a dark wind blew through the rainbow, chilling the otherwise warm air. A little girl stepped forward. She had white hair and soulful eyes of deepest jade. Adora recognized her as Jerlissa. She spoke in a slight lisp.

"Adora awake. Please don't let our lives and deaths have been for nuffing! You took Leeches life true, but our people our not united. We are not one. We are not free. Free our world Adora. Go back." Adora gazed on this last torment in angry frustration. She reached out her hand to touch the little girls cheek.

"I can't!" She cried, anguished. "I have betrayed my people! I have killed too many. Their blood- your blood! It is on my hands! They are forever stained!" Her despair dimmed the rainbow around her. The white robed children stepped back. Then, a shimmering shadow surrounded in a rosy-hued gloriole emerged from the white light radiating love and gentle entreaty.

Flutterina stepped into view.

Adora began crying, sobs without sound, her pain too deep and wrenching for words or noise. Tears fell in a heated torrent, fierce and unstoppable; uncontrollable emotional flotsam and jetsam crashing, colliding and crumbling against the cold arctic waves of an unforgiving reality she could not simply wish away.

"I'm sorry." She whispered in despair, "I'm so sorry. My friend." Adora could not meet the butterfly maidens eyes so she gazed at the ground instead. Flutterina took Adora's face in her hand and tilting it ever-so- gently upwards she made Adora gaze into her uncondemning eyes. They were soulful and gentle and completely lacking of blame.





Then, she did a marvelous thing, Flutterina sweetly bent towards her and kissed her soft supple lips. A light fluttering contact, ever-so-brief in time but seeming to last an

eternity filling Adora with peace and wonder. Flutterina's forgiveness washed over her in healing waves of splendor. Adora had not realized she closed her eyes until she opened them to see Flutterina, a dainty Angel of joy, backing away, a smile ablaze with love and majesty warming Adora's frosted soul as she disappeared into the light she came from. Adora's fingers went to her lips in wonderment.

Then, the rainbow lights around her began coalescing into beings. Men and woman, proud and noble, wisdom blazing from eyes like fire to cleanse her spirit and make her new. They spoke as one in her mind.

Daughter of Destiny your task is not complete. It is difficult but you may not run. On you the hope of the future resides. Free your people. Unite them and free them. Adora awake and rouse your world to hope! Open your own heart to hope! Your road is difficult. Commit yourself. Do not waver. Finish what you have begun…thus is the will of the first one's….

Then, they vanished.

She turned to the small shadows of the children Leech had killed. She saw them, waiting on the edge of the light. She moved to her feet, walking towards them. Compassion twisting her insides, she knelt beside the girl.

"Why don't you move into the light. It will take you home. It is where you belong." They shook their heads stoically. Jerlissa looked into Adora's eyes, a child's stubbornness gleaming in their depths.

"We will keep vigil over our world until you free it. If you come back, we will stop you again. We will remind you that your duty is to your people." Adora sat back, a little stunned. Jerlissa crammed her thumb in her mouth. Morgan stepped forward and gently placed a chubby arm on Adora's shoulder. The air whistling through his missing tooth as he spoke.

"We ask much, but you our only hope. Please, save my mum and da'." Adora nodded. Then, like a shock of cold water, the voice of light hope was in her mind, bursting over her in radiant waves of wonder and heat.

Awake Adora! Opening her eyes, she gasped.

"Praise be the first ones!" A distraught voice cried. Adora found herself in Bow's arms, in her room in the fright zone.

"Bow?" She wheezed, her voice light and whispery as though it had not been used in forever.

"Adora," he whispered, wonder painted across his face, "I thought I had lost you! You were so cold, I tried warming you with my body-" His voice broke, "I felt you die in my arms." He pulled her close, not letting her up. At the moment Adora wouldn't have moved for anything. She was weak. But she was warm and safe. She felt Bow's arms tighten around her.

And she was loved. She snuggled down into his arms and closed her eyes letting sleep claim her. She was exhausted. She would let the dawn sort things out. For now she felt secure. Safe, at peace. She slept.