Chapter 1: Hostages

Glimmer paced the length of her cell and rehearsed for the thousandth time in her head what she would say to the officers that would come with their morning meal.

At least a week had passed since Catra convinced Horde Prime to spare her life. At least a week since both were captured aboard his citadel and thrown in a cell together. No new information about her friends back on Etheria had come, despite her every effort to get any of Prime's officers to drop so much as a hint. It didn't matter if they were clone or alien, or even vaguely Etherian looking themselves—no one had said a word.

Maybe if I physically get between them and the door when they come in, she thought.

Horde Prime had spared them for a reason. He wouldn't let his prisoners—or 'guests' as he liked to call them—be harmed, would he? Glimmer hoped it was the slender looking officers that came today. If it was them, then maybe she'd stand a chance intimidating them; if it were those giant hulking walls of muscle, however? Or worse, if it were Prime's clones themselves this time around…?

"Do you really have to keep pacing like that?" Catra lay in the bottom bunk of their cell, staring at her as her tail twitched. She was dehydrated, if the vague molasses lilt of her voice gave any indication.

Glimmer tried to ignore her, and instead stared out the large window at the back of their cell. A smattering of stars and nebulae stood as a backdrop with Etheria's curve taking up most of the remaining real-estate. She frowned. The planet seemed to somehow mock her. A whole week, gone. And for all Glimmer knew, her friends could already be dead. Where were Bow and Adora and the other princesses? Fighting on the surface no doubt but were they okay? Were they safe?

"Whatever it is you're thinking, it's not going to work," Catra said. "Horde Prime may have spared our lives, but that doesn't mean his officers won't retaliate if you do something to them."

Glimmer clenched her jaw. "I'm not going to do anything to them," she said.

"Liar. I can tell you're planning something stupid this time because you're pacing harder than normal."

Glimmer rounded on her and snarled, pushing magic to her fists. But no magic came, and the stark reminder she was too far away from Etheria's surface to use any of it slapped her in the face. Catra leveled her with a placid, unfazed expression atop the bed, and Glimmer deflated.

Catra had saved her life not once, but twice since they had gotten stuck up on Horde Prime's citadel. She couldn't remember much of what happened, just that, one day, she woke in the infirmary instead of the cell. The nurses, fragile, spindly looking aliens all of them, filled her in: Her body had gone into shock, likely as an aftereffect of her activating the Heart and it shoving a great amount of magic through her all at once. Her body wasn't prepared to handle it, and if it weren't for Catra, dozens of towels, and bowls of cold water from their shared bathroom keeping her from overheating, she likely would have died.

"She wouldn't stop whining at the camera in there," one of the nurses had said, faint disdain on its blunted features. "It was so incessant and annoying that someone was sent to check and they brought you to us."

Glimmer took a deep breath and centered herself. Catra cocked an eyebrow at her and Glimmer tried for the hundredth time to picture her dragging her into the bathroom and taking care of her. Catra barely looked functional herself, like she'd immediately collapse under her own weight from weakness the moment she stood up. Imagining this person taking care of her wasn't just an inability to believe a former enemy had actually helped her, it was a logistical problem too.

"Can you at least stop pacing?" Catra asked. "It's driving me insane. Really."

Glimmer massaged her face until her scowl loosened up, pulled out one of the chairs pushed under their shared table in the center of the room, and sat. As much as she wanted to squeeze the life out of Catra's body with her own two hands for being so dang annoying, she fought to give her the benefit of the doubt. If sitting rather than pacing helped ease Catra's frustration, well then Glimmer would oblige. They were enemies, but she was indebted and wanted to dig herself out from under that debt as soon as possible.

"Thank you," Catra said.

The doors to their cell slid open just as Glimmer grunted out a response, and she immediately stood and whirled around to face whoever had come. She had rehearsed this moment in her head time and time again. Now it was time to act. Except, her willingness to do so seeped out of her as soon as she saw who had come: four clones stepped in, two holding a tray of food each and two flanking them as extra security.

It had always been actual aliens, Horde Officers of various races and genders, that had brought their food and done their wellness checks. But never the clones. In fact, she had only ever seen them the one time in the throne room when they first arrived. To say she was surprised to see not one, but four of them step into their room with their afternoon rations was an understatement. Even Catra, finally sitting up in the bunk with her hair all matted, seemed surprised.

"Lord Prime will come for you soon," the first clone said, stepping forward. He made a show of craning his neck and glancing behind Glimmer at Catra. "Your friend has not eaten since arriving. She must be presentable when Lord Prime comes for you. He would not like the idea that our honored guests are in such a disheveled state. It would reflect poorly on him as host."

"If he doesn't want to be seen as a poor host, then maybe he shouldn't lock his 'honored guests' in a cell aboard his ship." Glimmer stood as straight as she could and put her best approximation of a 'Queenly demeanor' in her voice.

The clone, three heads taller than her and staring nearly straight down, blinked once with a vacant expression on its face. It slid around her and placed the tray on the table. "If she will not eat, then we will make her. It will not be pleasant."

The clone carrying the second tray of food followed suit. All four of them then swept out of the room before Glimmer could decide whether to chance her original plan, and the door hissed shut behind them.

Glimmer stared at the trays in front of them. Everything there looked foreign to her with no native Etherian dishes—not that she expected there to be any. Fortunately, Glimmer could at least mentally categorize each of them based off their taste and texture: some kind of meat, a vegetable medley, and a type of sweet dessert. Thankfully all the food they had eaten thus far had sat well with their stomachs too.

Well, her stomach at least. She finally looked over to Catra and found her exactly how she expected her to be: curled up on the bed now the clones had left, shivering under the covers, facing the wall with her back toward her. Glimmer hadn't seen Catra move from that position since she had returned from the med bay, and despite her inability to tell exact time aboard the ship, she knew at least a day or two had passed since then.

Glimmer sighed and prepared herself for an uphill battle. "Food is here Catra, come over and eat." When Catra didn't stir, she rolled her eyes. "You can't groan and whine about listening to me walk around the cell and then immediately after pretend not to hear me talking to you."

Catra snorted and turned around. Her face was sunken and pale, her eyes bloodshot and sagging, and her fur stuck up in every which odd direction. "You weren't walking, Sparkles, you were pacing. There's a difference."

Glimmer felt on the verge of bursting a vein. She picked up one of the trays to give her hands something to grasp aside from Catra's scrawny neck and shuffled over to her. Catra eyed her as she did, fur puffing out in warning as she got closer.

"Come on, it's time to eat," Glimmer said, speaking through clenched teeth.

"Not hungry."

"I didn't ask if you were hungry, I said it's time to eat." Glimmer plonked the tray down on the nearby nightstand and dragged the whole thing over next to Catra on the bed. It screeched as if it were a live animal being dunked in scalding water, and the sound made Catra hiss with her ears pinned back flat against her head.

Glimmer didn't try very hard to suppress her amusement at that. "Now, let's eat. Okay?"

Catra narrowed her eyes at her and Glimmer swore she saw the moment the other girl decided to continue fighting her. Catra had her 'shit-stirring persona' down to a science. "What are you going to do if I say no? Force me?"

"Did you not hear what those clones just said? If they come back and see you still haven't touched your food, they aren't just going to take it away like before. They're going to tie you down and force it down your gullet."

"That's kinda kinky," Catra said, laughing, and Glimmer felt her hands inch toward the other girl's neck. She only stopped when Catra's gaze turned morose. "If I had to choose between you or the clones," she said. "I would choose you."

Glimmer blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Forcing me to eat. If it were between you or the clones, you'd probably be gentler, at least."

Glimmer narrowed her eyes at her. Was she making another crude joke or trying to be sincere about how Glimmer wouldn't hurt her? It was hard to tell with the way she jumped from one extreme to the other, and she almost asked before she saw the little smirk flit across Catra's lips.

How the hell can she be making jokes at a time like this? She felt a perverse sense of glee overcome her as she realized something else: two could play that game.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked. "Bow has told me on numerous occasions that I roughhouse like his brothers. I like him and I'm not all that gentle—just imagine what it'd be like for you." A thought came to her. "How the heck are you still even alive? I don't think I've seen you touch any food at all, and I'm pretty sure it's been at least a week we've been here."

Catra shrugged and spoke in a casual tone. "I have an efficient metabolism. Never ate much, even when we got double rations in the Horde."

Glimmer chuckled at that and Catra joined her. She couldn't believe it; they were bonding over being brats to each other. It was almost a nice feeling, until she suddenly remembered she was standing across from the person that essentially took her mother from her. She could sense the moment her features turned dark because Catra immediately stopped laughing and averted her eyes.

In an effort to distract herself, Glimmer reached over and speared some 'meat' and 'vegetables' with the fork on the tray holding it out for her. She fully intended to get into a shouting match if needed. Catra would eat, even if she came away with scars up and down her arms and a black eye. It wasn't until Glimmer actually looked at Catra—really looked at her—that she saw how Catra had recoiled from her. Fear and terror danced in her eyes.

"Touch me and I swear I'll claw your eyes out," Catra said.

Adora had looked at Shadow Weaver that same way shortly after healing her with She Ra's power. Her surprise visit to Bright Moon had shaken her, and Glimmer would never forget how her heart ached seeing her friend look so much like a cornered animal. Seeing that same look now directed at her calmed the anger threatening to boil over in Glimmer's chest.

She placed the fork back on the tray and turned it so it was instead pointing handle-first in Catra's direction. "If you won't eat, then I won't either," she said as she made her way back to the table and sat, leaving Catra's food within arm's reach of the bunk.

"What?" The tip of Catra's tail twitched and betrayed her unease.

"You heard me. If you won't eat, neither will I."

Catra groaned and ran her hands through her hair. "I told you I'm not hungry."

"And I told you that I didn't ask if you were hungry. You need to eat or else we're both going to have something unpleasant done to us. Do you want those clones to come in here and force you to eat after all? Because I sure don't."

Glimmer wasn't certain if Catra was about to attack or start crying by the way she looked at her until, finally, Catra turned her attention to her tray, picked up the fork with a shaky hand, and ate what Glimmer had speared for her in the first place.

"S'good," Catra said. Her eyes darted down to the tray, as if noticing it for the first time. She dropped the fork with a clatter and instead started shoveling everything she could into her mouth as fast as possible. Glimmer couldn't tell if she even took the time to chew before swallowing, only to make room for the next handful of food she had ready to cram into her face. A moment later and Catra's entire platter was empty. Her eyes shot toward Glimmer's tray, still sitting untouched in front of her on the table.

Glimmer didn't miss how ravenous she looked. Catra must have caught the look of astonishment she was giving her because she immediately looked away, embarrassed, then covered that embarrassment with the darkest scowl Glimmer had seen her make yet. Despite herself, she found it almost endearing.

"Not hungry, huh?" She made sure to really push the teasing lilt in her voice, if only to unbalance Catra even further. "You know, someone else I know from the Horde had that exact same reaction the first time they ate real food."

Catra's scowl deepened. She hugged her knees close to her chest, like she thought it possible to disappear from view entirely if she made her body small enough. It wasn't the reaction Glimmer was hoping for, and she immediately realized why what she said seemed to make Catra descend into self loathing rather than embarrassment: she was talking about Adora, but Adora was probably the last person Catra wanted to think about in that moment.

"Uhh…it was Scorpia!" Glimmer said. She didn't know why she was suddenly trying to spare Catra's feelings. "She came to us and the first time she tried strawberries I swear it was like she didn't know something like that could exist in the first place. Frosta told me later that she didn't know food came in sizes and textures other than 'ration bar.'"

Catra softened at hearing that and Glimmer breathed a sigh of relief. "Scorpia's with you?" she asked after a moment.

Glimmer weighed the many responses that flitted through her head before settling on one she thought was the best. "Yes, she is."

"How is she?" Catra asked, curling tighter again. "Is she…happy?"

Glimmer softened, suddenly feeling…something—what, exactly, she wasn't sure. "Yeah, I think she's happy."

Catra stayed silent, and Glimmer thought that was the end of their longest and deepest conversation yet, until…

"Good," Catra said, voice quavering with her hands. "That's good. I'm glad. She deserves that, to be happy… she deserves to be happy."

Glimmer studied Catra. Was this the same person that only weeks ago they were kicking and punching and biting each other inside an exploding military base? Was this the same person she was ready to end on the ruined floors of the Fright Zone? She sighed and approached Catra once more, this time carrying her own tray of food. Catra eyed her with barely disguised apprehension until Glimmer tipped her tray toward Catra's empty one and scraped half her meal onto it.

Catra's eyes blew wide. "That's your food." She sounded as if she didn't trust herself to speak at all.

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" Glimmer suppressed the urge to snort at the look of confusion on Catra's face. "You need it more than me. Efficient metabolism or no, you haven't eaten in far too long. I'd feel better if you made up for it by eating some of mine."

"And you think that I want to do anything to help you feel better because why?"

Glimmer shrugged and said nothing. She went over to place her tray with its remaining food on a second nightstand, picked it up so it wouldn't scrape across the ground, and waddled over and placed it opposite Catra's own tray and nightstand. Then she grabbed the chair she was using earlier and sat down across from her at their makeshift table.

"You didn't have to call for doctors when I was sick," Glimmer said. She noticed how Catra immediately refused to look her in the eye when she spoke. "But you did it anyways. And even when no one came at first, you kept calling until they had no choice but to come." She gestured to their trays and Catra followed her hands. "I don't have to give you my food either, but I'm doing it for the same reason you helped me."

"And what reason is that?" Catra had finally glanced up and locked eyes with her.

Glimmer wasn't about to say it out loud, but Catra seemed to get that she didn't need to in order to understand what that reason was.

"Stop being difficult and just eat it already," Glimmer said. "Please."

Another long moment hung in the air. Catra averted her eyes again and took a deep, sniveling breath. She brought her arm up and rubbed it back and forth across her face like she was trying to strip her skin raw. Then, in one quick motion, scooted forward, picked up the fork this time, and began spearing and slowly eating the extra food Glimmer had given her.

Opting to provide her at least a small chance to save face, Glimmer busied herself with her own food. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Catra alternate between eating and rubbing at her face. The occasional sniffle accompanied the sound of their utensils clacking on the tin.

She thought of her mother again. For the first time since being stuck in the same room as her, Glimmer didn't feel the familiar tug of anger or resentment.

A smile spread across her face as another thought came to her, and she glanced at Etheria out the window: whatever her friends were doing down there, she hoped they were making the same kind of progress against the Emperor's forces that she and Catra were making together up here with each other. If that were true, then it would only be a matter of time before they beat him. She had faith.

Prime stood no chance.