Author Note: Enjoy the Lion King Reference
Chapter 2
"I'm so glad you guys came to visit, it's been forever it feels" Scorpia replied as they walked through the old halls of the Fright Zone.
"Scopria we saw each other last week" Catra replied.
"Yeah, still, it's always fun to see yuh Wildcat"
Catra frowned for a moment but put on a brave face and smile back at Scorpia, "Always good to see too Scorpia"
In a surprise to both her and Scorpia Catra wrapped the two of them in a big hug.
"Aww, am I rubbing off on yuh Wildcat" Scorpia said hugging her back.
Catra chuckled nervously, "Guess so Scorpia guess soo"
The Fright Zone hadn't changed much, granted they still weren't' quite sure how to proceed with the place. Decommissioning the place was a hassle. Decades of Horde material, tanks, ammunition, weapons, lasers, computers, information, files, all of it had to be put somewhere or destroyed outright. Also Scorpia thought they could still keep some of the infrastructure and just make it less gross. Apparently before Hordak the place barely functioned as a society or something to that effect.
However none of the history mattered to Catra, all this place was to her just a heap of bad memories, and lots of child abuse from Shadow Weaver followed by her abusing the person she was standing before right now. Scorpia, a pure and innocent soul, who had just as much kindness as Adora, and she took it all for granted and treated her like some idiot lackey.
Behind her Hordak was walking along with Adora, and Marlena, along with Orko, Robot, Glimmer and Bow. She wanted them to come to help go through the files on hand about Magicats. It was weird but Catra also felt a bit bad for him too. Sure he built the place and let Shadow Weaver in but he too was a victim of Prime and in some ways she eventually bullied him, taking control in all but name near the tail end of the war and betraying Entrapta by sending her off to Beast Island, making him think she betrayed him.
They had a complex history to say the least.
Catra could tell that all eyes were on Marlena who just observed the place without much emotion to it.
"So this is where you all grew up?" Marlena asked.
Adora, Scorpia and Catra nodded.
"Pretty much," Catra muttered.
"I got captured once here" Glimmer replied, almost jokling.
"Glimmer!" Bow gasped, "Don't make fun of the most dangerous moment of our lives"
"Better than crying about it"
"Randor would love those training simulators" Marlena replied, "Perhaps Hordak you could make some for Etheria soldiers next time you visit"
Hordak blinked, "Oh o-of course, they were quite efficient"
"Horde education is quite fascinating" Entrapta jumped in now, "I mean it may be a bit to biased towards the military side of things. Basically Elementary School on Etheria and Horde basic education is relatively the same minus some important social skill education but understandable. Then once you hit the middle and higher education is when it is predominantly military focused on stratgey, combat, and proficiency"
"Yep making A-grade Horde soldiers to annoy us" Glimmer muttered, turning to Catra though and smirking with a wink.
"I don't need training to annoy you Sparkles," Catra chuckled.
Entrapta nodded "Fascinating trying to reproduce the cloning method of programming the information with individual entities"
"That's being an alien for yuh" Catra chuckled.
"Aren't we all aliens in one way or another?" Entrapta added.
Adora took a deep breath, "Still very...metal as always" she said, "Me and Catra would used to run down those halls avoiding senior officers"
"Until Shadow Weaver found us and yelled at me for corrupting you or something like that" Catra replied trying not to sound bitter, "And did ...stuff to me"
Adora put a hand on her shoulder, Catra smiled, it was a smile to assure Adora that she did not blame her for what Shadow Weaver did. Not anymore. She had gone down that path once and it had led to her own destruction. She was still shocked at this second chance of life.
"Your majesty" Hodak spoke out, Catra could only cringe on what he was going to stay, "I have no excuse for anything that my foolish and belief in Horde Prime may have inflicted on-"
"Hordak '' Marlena replied smiling, "I know things are complicated, but you did allow Adora a chance to live, as strange as it may seem to you, I nor Randor hold ill will against you anymore. Understand"
"I-" Hordak nodded but still seemed unsure.
Catra smirked at him, "Hey, if someone ain't mad at you, just don't look to deep into it okay"
"I suppose" Hordak sighed, "I still feel like punishment should be enacted"
"Well it's not gonna because we're moving past that" Catra muttered, "Wish I could believe my own advice"
"So Scorpia, how's the reconstruction coming along?" Bow asked.
"Oh, great, great…" Scorpia then started to seem a bit unsure, "Well, it's been a little hard, a bunch of old Fright Zone people don't wanna come back for one reason or another"
"Understandable-" Catra muttered.
"Yeah, a lot of them think I'm gonna be a bad ruler like my granddad or something," Scorpia replied.
Catra raised an eyebrow, "What does that mean? You don't have a bad bone in your body" she meant it too, Scorpia was almost too good, so good that even after everything she still wanted to be on good terms with all of them.
"I don't' know" Scorpia shrugged, "No one wants to give me more details"
Catra would have to join Scorpia next time she found some old Fright Zone inhabitants and get some to talk more. Sure Scorpia was not the ideal leader in a sense but that sounded like there was something more going on here.
"Here we are, files and records' ' Scorpia replied as they entered the old Horde database area. Guess Scorpia's issue would have to wait for now, but Catra will make a mental note to investigate later.
"Thankfully a lot of the computers are still intact, so hopefully we can find something"
"I'm sure we can Scorpia, you know how to find things"
Scorpia laughed, "Ah you're just saying that"
Catra was in a sense, Scorpia was a loyal friend, a reminder of the terrible person she used to be. Perhaps sometimes she would go a bit overboard to be nice; she would rather go overboard in one direction than go in another direction.
Although Perfuma had said balance was a healthy thing, but right now Catra
Right now the goal was to learn about her own origins.
For a long time Catra didn't really care about where she came from to be honest. It was never something she thought about. Her mind was always focused on the here and now. Whether it was beating Adora, winning the war, or even afterwards when it was focused on making amends, protecting and caring for Adora.
However, if Adora got to find out her past, why not her.
"I'm not interested in one upping Adora, I'm not in competition with Adora. I just wanna know"
It wasn't a competition, just with everyone learning about their past these days, it just seemed like something he should know about. Besides she liked Marlena, back on their journey with Eternia she seemed to be her strongest defender, just like Adora had been. Not in a protective way but just in a kind way.
Motherly.
Something inside Catra twisted as she never knew what having a mother really was. Then she turned to Glimmer for a moment, and remembered that it was here that she took away that feeling from her. How she remembered the day Adora told her, and how Catra told Glimmer and how just a whole bunch of feelings all exploded.
While Catra had known the portal incident had messed up the rebellion in a way that caused the Queen to disappear, she never knew it was directly those actions that had caused it. Just another check mark in the amount of guilt for her to carry. Another reason why she wondered why she wasn't locked away or worse.
"So, let's check the Catra file" Adora replied, sounding a bit nervous.
"R-Right, the file" Catra walked over to the files and began to go through them. During her time as second she had organized the various files from time to time, so she was familiar with it, "Ha! Here we go"
Catra pulled out her file and put it on the ground.
Glimmer looked down at first and smirked.
"What?"
"Is that, is that your full name?" Glimmer looked like she was trying to hard to repress her laughter.
"What?" Catra asked again, looking at the file.
Glimmer pointed to it, "Catra Elizabeth Applesauce Meow Meow" she started to snort out a laugh.
"Hey!" Adora said in her defense, "I gave her that full name, matched well with mine, Adora, Happysmile Rainbowfist"
Marlena smiled and shook her head, "Perhaps when you get back I should tell you what your full name is"
"Why were we afraid of the Horde again? '' Glimmer kept giggling.
Jokes aside, Catra looked at her file, all it said was ``Magicat" then she thought of something causing the mood to go down.
"Hordak?"
Hordak looked up, unsure what to do.
"What Kingdom do the Magicats come from?" Catra asked.
Hordak replied, "I remember in the old days a feline kingdom named Halfmoon being named to me, but that is all i can remember"
Catra went to the main horde computer database and began typing, hoping that it was still there. She went through all the various campaigns and operations the Horde had done for the years. There were so many to count, a lot of the last ones in the four years were all led or authorized by her. However this must have been a early campaign, so she went back into the past until finally she saw a file that say Halfmoon
Operation Eclipse
Authorization: Hordak. Approved
Commander on the Ground: Shadow Weaver
"Shadow Weaver?" Catra muttered looking at the screen.
Hordak moved up a bit closer, "It appears Shadow Weaver personally oversaw this operation"
"You authorized it though you should know that" Catra said with a scowl.
"I authorized many things Catra" His eyes narrowed at her, "I remember authorizing many operations you insisted on, such as Salineas"
Catra's eyes narrowed but she nodded and kept looking and kept reading the screen.
Objective: Elimination of the Kingdom of Halfmoon's opposition
Completion: Yes
That was it, that was all the information that was there.
Halfmoon was gone, and the Magicat Kingdom went with it. The rest of Catra's people, scattered to the winds, and in her case, found in the Fright Zone.
"Catra?" Adora reached out her shoulder holding it, "Are you okay?"
Catra turned looking at Adora blinking, "Yeah, I'm okay" she lied, trying to keep it together, "Not like I knew the place anway, remember, family isn't where you come from, it's what you are now right?"
"Yeah, but that was your Kingdom"
Hordak now walked up to her, "Catra if I-"
"No, it's okay Hordak '' Catra said, trying to keep it together, "I'm not mad at you, really? I have no right to be, I mean I did the same to Salineas, Elberon, heck I destroyed the whole planet once, so maybe it's like cosmic punishment" She took a deep breath, voice shaking.
Adora walked up to her "Catra"
Catra stepped back causing Adora to frown
"Hey don't think like that Wild Cat, my Kingdom got taken too but now it's rebuilding"
Catra looked at Scorpia with a few tears in her eyes but smiled, "Because you're a good person Scorpia. So Uh yeah i uh...gotta go. Melog"
On cue Melog stood by Catra's slide and turned her invisible, allowing her to run off. Not far, just, she just needed to be alone right now the last thing she heard was Adora voice calling out to her
"Catra wait!"
She wished she could, she wished she could
-000-
Hordak's sanctum.
"Catra...Catra are you in here!" Glimmer called out, not sure why her friend would be here but it was good to look.
Glimmer slowly stepped into this old place, she had only really ever been here once in her life. During the portal incident. The day that changed the war for the worse. The day she lost her mother. What her past self would think if she found out that the person indirectly responsible for her mother being gone forever was just a few rooms away, walking free, and probably one of her best friends of all time.
How was that for irony in her life?
Though she still remembered the day Adora finally gave her the full story, or more like a mix of Catra and Adora gave her the full story of what happened to the portal. She knew her mother had sacrificed herself to save everyone, but she didn't remember who had pulled the trigger. Who had activated the portal. Originally for some reason she thought Hordak had done it
Catra fessed up almost instantly without hesitation and a lot of remorse. Not for fessing up but doing it. Later on she got really mad at Adora, accusing her of trying to protect her from her own actions.
It still amazed Glimmer that Catra of all people owned up so much as she did but she did.
As for Glimmer herself the raw emotions all came flooding up at once, anger, sorrow, but also, numbness. She could not hate Catra the way she probably once did all those years ago. If this was during the way she would not have hesitated to skin the feline limb from limb. But after she turned on the heart, after the Prime ship and after what happened too...No...It was too much.
So the only way Glimmer had rationalized it was that it was not the same Catra she knew. It was a different Catra, Force Captain Catra of the Horde. Not the Catra who was her friend, not the one who was slowly but surely becoming more and more of this amazing person by the day. It may not have made sense to anyone but it made sense in her own head
Some people said she shouldn't forgive Catra, that she didn't deserve it. Sometimes Glimmer herself felt like she shouldn't have forgiven Catra.
But she did.
For whatever reasons she did, Glimmer forgave Catra, but she would not forget, nor would she never stop missing her mother.
Glimmer turned around to see Orko Hordak and Entrapta coming from down the hall as the two of them entered the room, apparently having a conversation.
"Wow this place is dinky" Orko's voice could be heard coming from the hallway.
"Oh it's not that bad once you get the hang of it" Entrapta replied seeming quite happy, "By the way I never got to say I LOVED your magic act during the dinner, I normally not into that sort of thing but for some reason your magic is just fascinating"
"What, oh wow, t-thanks" Orko sounded taken aback, "Most people think my magic is silly"
"Well I loved it! Oh ...Hi Glimmer!"
"Your majesty," Hordak nodded.
Glimmer blinked, whipping her eyes, "Oh, hi Entrapta, Hordak, Orko what uh, what are you doing here?"
"I came with you"
"No, I know I mean here in this part of the Fright Zone"
"Oooooh, i'm here to see if there was anything left over from Hordak Sanctum I could scrounge for science" Entrapta replied, "Orko was following me as I gave him my own private tour"
"We're supposed to be looking for Catra remember" Glimmer grunted.
Entrapta blinked, "Ooooooh right, well she's not here, might as well get some stuff while I'm not busy"
"This place is odd, odd and kinda scary"
"This place used to belong to family" Scorpia replied, "The whole thing, till the Horde showed up"
Hordak grimaced
Scorpia turned looking worried, "Oh no, I'm not-"
"It's alright, I have many foolish errors apparently to make up for today"
"Heh, you should have seen it in its' prime" Entrapta beamed. "So much science"
"Yeah," Glimmer grimace, "It was scarier"
Then a thought occurred to the Queen of Brighmoon, one that she should have asked a while ago, but work and reconstruction have left her preoccupied.
"Hey Entrapta"
"Yeah?"
"H-How possible is it to build another portal"
Entrapta turned around looking excited, "Why do you want me to, do you wanna build a portal, we could use it to make a connection to Eternia and…
"No, no...Well, maybe, but no, it's about...Finding my mother"
Entrapta then frowned, "Oh, well, I mean it's not impossible, it's possible, improbable though, very difficult, but not impossible"
"So you could do it?" Glimmer asked, sounding a bit desperate but that was because she was.
"Yes! Well I could, if i had the right supplies, Hordak, an well, again not impossible, but not very possible"
Glimmer sighed, "Well, will table this discussion for later okay"
"Okay? But, where is the table"
-000-
"Catra, Catra!" Scorpia called out over and over again, still nothing.
Adora took a deep breath as she and Scorpia and Marlena headed down towards the Fright Zone, determination in her eyes. The search for Catra's backstory was not over, not by a long shot and she was determined to get some answers one way or another. Although she hated not being with her love at the moment, she knew that sometimes a bit of space was needed before they could really talk it over.
"Poor Catra" Marlena replied, sighing,
"Yeah," Adora agreed.
"I don't know much about the wider Thunderian people, all but the planet of origin, but that was destroyed long ago, word is they became warriors for some unknown force, but apparently if they have I've never seen them"
"Hey I don't really know what happened to the rest of my people" Scorpia replied almost cheerfully, "So you know, guess that's something me and Catra can bond over"
"How are you and Catra doing Scorpia?" Adora asked, sounding curious.
"Oh better every day, I can tell she's really trying" Scorpia replied smiling.
Adora nodded, "That's good, I'm proud of her"
"You're treating her well too I hope" Scorpia asked with a twinge of suspicion in her voice but nothing too serious.
Adora nodded, "Of course, feel like each day is progress...except today when it feel like a step back"
"Yeah, i'm trying to learn by boundaries with her too" Scorpia replied.
"Boundaries?"
Scorpia nodded, "See when I was talking with Perfuma back in the early days, she kinda told me that while what Catra did to me was wrong, I mean a grade not good at all. I kinda, sorta am not completely blameless"
"Really?" Adora raised a eyebrow, "How so"
"Well, I may have sorta pushed myself onto Catra waaaaaay to hard, like in a way when she DID NOT need me at the moment" Scorpia replied looking a bit embarrassed at herself, "Again, not saying what Catra did to me was right but how I sorta tried to be your replacement wasn't the best way to handle things either"
"My replacement," Adora chuckled.
"Yeah, i mean you were gone she needed a friend, I thought I could replace you in her heart and well, you' know the rest"
"Noble intent young Scorpia" Marlena replied smiling, "Even if the execution was a bit of"
"Yeah, i mean Catra apologizes to me every day but I haven't really apologize to her for that beginning stuff, again Perfuma said I didn't deserve what happened or anything but she said it's more, complicated with that"
Adora chuckled, "Everything seems complicated in our lives it seems, my uncle is a evil Skeleton who wants to kill everyone"
"I know it's crazy!" Scorpia chuckled.
They kept walking down the halls through the many corridors that made up the Fright Zone and all it's old and tin plated glory.
"So where exactly are you going Adora"
"Shadow Weaver's old office, if there was anything abou Catra then it would have been there, it's after all where I found her"
"Oh man haven't been there in years, not since i had get some of the paperwork
Adora remembered that day perfectly, she had gone to Shadow Weaver's office having to wait a bit while she dealt with some Horde business. Of course Adora being the curious girl she was, started looking around things only to find a box at the corner, and inside a big fluffy ball of kitten. Then, well the rest as they say is history.
Finally they arrived and Adora entered as if it was a common thing but stopped for a moment taking a deep breath. Her body froze, along with her mind.
"Adora?" Marlena asked as the two stepped in.
"Sorry, just, a lot of memories here"
"Bad ones?"
"That's the thing" Adora replied as she walked around, "Bad, but also, some good, like I learned to tie my shoes right there" she pointed to a corner of the office, "Sometimes i have my own tiny desk where i learn to spell and write"
"Basic things a parent would teach," Marlena said, sounding saddened.
Adora frowned, "Yeah, one who wanted me as a weapon or something" she had to remember what Shadow Weaver had did to her and Catra alive. Yet even after that pure hatred always felt out of reach for whatever illogical reason.
Going over to Shadow Weaver unnoticed private files she began to dig.
Dig.
Dig
Dig
"Boy look at all these files" Scorpia chuckled, "I remember me and Catra sitting down plotting world domination, not saying they were good times but uh, nostalgia...Although in hindsight not great nostalgia"
A lot of the files were of Adora, images, old Horde test, various notes and other things about her development.
"Well, she was very thorough about your upbringing," Marlena replied looking at all the notes that were about Adora.
"Yeah" Adora sighed, "I was the favorite while Catra..." she wanted to finish by saying 'lived in my shadow'
"Just like your father"
Adora looked up confused.
"It's interesting, he too knows what it was like to be the golden child while someone else stood in his shadow"
"Keldor?" Adora asked.
Marlena nodded, "Yes, Keldor, Randor worries that he never gave his brother the proper chance ".
Adora shivered, she had seen what happened to Catra when she went down the dark path. Here in the Fright Zone actually, the day she activated the portal. That was the day that she thought whatever bit of hope was left had died. Not until Catra had saved Glimmer from Horde Prime did that spark of hope return. Though in a way it had never left just remained dormant until a single spark slowly became a fire, that was her true feelings hidden deep within her, within both of them.
"Well Skeletor isn't changing, Catra is"
"I never said she wasn't, I think Catra is a very unique woman, a rarity of people who fall and want to climb back up"
Adora looked at Marlena and sighed, "Sorry, not used to people being sympathetic to my side of things"
"I can understand that"
Adora continued to rummage until she found a file, looked more like some handwritten notes and read over them. Her eyes widened as she saw the context and looked a bit shocked for a moment. Clutching her hands a bit.
"We need to find Catra" Adora said as she ran out to the fright zone, what she found might change things.
Or make them worse
-000-
Catra ran, ran right past the training room.
Memories started to come back to her.
It was a few weeks before the Battle of Salineas and she had changed the training schedule for the battle. Double duty, even those who were the best trained were to do triple their regular amount. She would pair elite fighters with the more for lack of a better term inexperienced fighters. The goal was to quickly get newly minted graduated cadets up to speed with studying and training with there more veteran soldiers
The inexperienced ones she called 'The Kyles'
Observing training she watched with intenses vigor as all the soldiers with Commander Cobalt.
"A-Are you sure this is necessary for Force Captain" Cobalt asked.
Catra turned to glare at him, "Are you questioning me commander?"
"No of course not-""Lord Hordak needs all troops up and ready for a major push against the rebellion so they will train night and day if they half to...UNDERSTAND!" Catra was now right in his face, claws out incase she had to make a point,
Cobalt sighed and nodded, "Yes Force Captain" he then eyed her with suspicion, "You sure have been spending quite a lot of time with Lord Hordak recently"
"We are on the verge of victory, Lord Hordak expects us to be ready, and as second in command I'm making sure we are ready!"
"Of course" Cobalt nodded, still eyeing her, Catra wanted to claw them both out, but kept her calm, for now "Still, it would seem Hordak has taken you into his confidence quite a bit"
Catra eyes twitched as he eyed Cobalt now with a sneer, "I don't care that you've been in the Horde since the beginning, I'm the second in command, and by Lord Hordak's authority I execute his will, got it!"
Cobalt eyes narrowed at her but he nodded, "Of course, I'm not questioning Lord Hordaks' decisions"
"That's right, Lord Hordak decision, if you wish to take it up with him, I will GLADLY tell him"
"...Of course not, Force Captain"
Catra smirked. It was a lie, or at least partly a lie, while Hordak knew what the big mission was, she pretty much gave the directives to triple all training regiments, pushing all the soldiers to the brink. She would not have weakness. Plus all that stuff about Hordak's will. He had no will in the Horde anymore as far as she was concerned, this was her will, her Horde, her army. Hordak was merely a public face for which she could assert authority.
Better that he was kept alive then going through the mess of having to gain everyone's authority. Work through Hordak to have authority, then maybe when the time was right get rid of him, but only ask if they had conquered Etheria.
Watching she saw one of the newer troopers, a recently fresh trooper, Sarah as she recalled stumbling against a simple dodge maneuver.
"ENOUGH!" Catra shouted walking over to the troops now, "This is ridiculous" she pushed Sarah out of the way,
"S-sorry Force Captain" The soldier spluttered getting up, "We're not used to these dodging exercise"
Catra sneered at her, there could be no room for weakness in her army "Seems you need more motivation" she took out her wip, and began to lunge at it "Here...DODGE THIS!"
With a blink Catra in the present came out of her memory, heart clenched.
"D-Did was I-"
"Catra that was the past, you are not that person anymore"
The memory continued to play in her mind.
Catra's whip attack hadn't been dodged and instead she just continued to whip the helpless soldier over and over again until her anger until Commander Cobalt intevend grabbing the whip and stopping her.
"What, are you…."
Cobalt sneered, "You can't just go brutalizing our soldiers like this"
"I'm the second in command I can do whatever I want" Catra huffed undignified.
Cobalt glared back at her, "If you were half the commander Shadow Weaver was-"
"I'M TEN TIMES THE COMMANDER SHADOW WEAVER WAS!"
Finally there was silence, all the soldiers looked at her with a mix of terror and awe.
"GET BACK TO TRAINING! NOW!"
With a flinch they all obeyed, Catra glared back at Cobalt for a moment before huffing off.
Catra in the present day began breathing began to shake a bit, "I'm just like I was becoming-" She couldn't finish the sentence
Catra finally decided to make herself visible again after a bit of running. Of course the place she decided to take a break was none other than the Black Garnet chambers. Part of her wanted to keep running, but she was tired, and she needed to stop. Also part of her wanted to stay here, for as much as she loathed this section of the Fright Zone the most, it was familiar to her, and she still had a bit of an unhealthy feeling towards familiarity.
There it still stood, the black garnet. Boy was she still weirded out by it. More weirded out by the fact that this was apparently where Scorpia got her own powers from. A strange irony, for someone like Scorpia who was so good, innocent, pure, to be connected with something in Catra's life she had associated with all the pain and agony of her childhood. With Shadow Weaver.
Carefully Catra walked up to the crystal and saw her reflection in it, however it began to change and morph. She stepped back as the morphing continued until it turned into the image of Shadow Weaver herself.
"Look at you" she said in that harsh tone she was so used too, "Weak, useless"
"N-No" Catra muttered, "I'm not, i'm alive and you're dead, I won"
"Oh Catra, i'm never dead, you and Adora are my legacy to this world, like it or not, you are what I have made you into"
Catra sneered, "No, I'm not that person anymore, y-you made me a monster"
Shadow Weaver chuckled, "Stubborn as always, then perhaps another vision is in order"
The image turned again but this time it transformed not into someone else, but into her, Catra, or well, Force Captain Catar, wth her black and red Horde officer uniform, hair long and sleek and headpiece firmly placed on her face.
The other Catra laughed, "Wow, we've gone soft"
"No, not i'm not YOU anymore"
"Look at you, letting Adora once again get all the glory, now she has a home planet and a family and what about us, our kingdom of origin is gone. But Adora, nope, she has her planet, and a her blood family"
"No, she's not like that, I"m happy for Adora, she deserves it, I-I
"And we don't? See once again Adora is dragging us down, we deserve a home, a planet, we could have everything we want...We deserve to have everything we want!'
"No, no, I don't think like that-" Catra sneered, "Adora NEVER gets what she wants"
"Now she is family, knowing where she comes from, our people and world are dead! We once again get nothing!"
"No! I don't wanna be you! Not now! Not ever!"
Before Catra could punch the evil reflection of herself she felt herself being jumped on as Melog now stood on top of her meowing and licking her face a bit. Somehow that calmed her down. Her Krytin friend is still standing by her side no matter what. Still, it brought her somes shame that she had to be brought from the brink.
"Don't feel that way Catra, no one expects a full recovery after so many years of hardship, if it's even possible " Melog's voice echoed in her now, it was far more soothing than the harsh ones of Shadow Weaver or her past self.
Catra sniffed, "Y-You sound like Perfuma" she chuckled.
"The flower one is wise"
"Catra!"
"Adora" Catra slowly got up.
"Catra" Adora ran into the room and rushed to hug her, Catra hugged her back, she needed some comfort right now, "Oh good your still here"
Marlena also walked in just watching from afar
"Yeah, like, like I said, I n-needed some space is all"
Adora gently put her head on Catra's and smiled, "Still, also um, w-we found something, in S-Shadow Weavers office"
"What?"
Adora took a deep breath and handed it to her, "Please just, just don't run away if you get upset"
Catra eyed Adora for a moment and began to read it was a personal note, from Shadow Weaver herself.
It appears that the legends are somewhat true, Magicats are descendants of the mythical cat warrior species known as Thunderian, servants of a great power, although who many do not seem to want to speak of. Although I know little of what lies beyond Etheria, I have heard of an ancient culture such as that. .Hordak had mentioned them once to me, as part of a wider universe, for whatever reason he too does not particularly like the idea of a feline Kingdom in opposition. Something we agree with for once. I have tried to see if they have any particular magical abilities like the ancient stories predict, however there doesn't seem to be. The only Cat we brought with us seems to be useless what's worse, Adora has taken a interest in her. Perhaps I'll let her keep the creature as a pet and learn about responsibility. A valuable lesson for any future Force Captain of the Horde. However, should she become a distraction, then I will take action.
Catra looked up from the letter and then at Adora and then back at the letter. So, it was true, Shadow Weaver attacked the Magiccat Kingdom of Halfmoon because apparently Magicats did originate from these Thunderian aliens thousand of years ago. She even took Catra back with her hoping she had some sort of magic. But apparently she didn't. While Adora did. That might explain why among other reasons she treated her this.
Adora was the special one.
Catra, Catra had nothin but the ruined Kingdom and apparently a destroyed planet with a people who were just spread throughout the world.
"C-Catra" Adora sounded concerned.
"S-So, there wasnt any reason why i was brought here, no special reason, just...nothing. I'm no one" Catra chuckled a bit, a angry bitter chuckle
"That's not true" Adora said, "You are someone, someone special and someone I love"
There was silence.
"Catra, are you mad?" Adora asked, sounding concerned.
Catra looked at Marlena, "Marlena, c-could you give me and Adora a minute please"
Marlena nodded, seeming unsure but nodded anyway leaving the two girls alone.
Taking a deep breath Catra stood in front of Adora and turned around and walked up a wall. Then in an instant she screamed to the top of her lungs, her voice echoing across the room, showing off ever and began punching the wall. Harder and harder, letting every bit of her anger out as she screamed and then finally collapsed to her knees.
A moment of silence past between the two of them Catra saw the large whole she had managed to put into the wall.
"Wow," Adora said sounding surprised, "You got really strong"
"Yeah well" Catra took a deep breath, "I wanted to see if i could outmuscle you doing the war"
Adora let out a soft chuckle, "I think you did"
"I'm sorry" Catra turned, looking at Adora now a few tears running down her face.
"For what, you didn't do anything wrong" Adora sounded concerned.
"For how I feel?"
"Huh?'
Catra looked at Adora, upset, but not angry, "I'm jealous okay, I'm jealous you got to find a family, and a planet, a people, while I once again got screwed over by Shadow Weaver. Once again you are the 'special one' and I hate because every time I start to think that way, I forget how much you hate being special too and how much you never asked for it, and how much you were forced into something you didn't want and I hate that you hate it, and I hate that i sometimes get mixed up and…."
Adora held her tighter, quieting her "I'm sorry, you feel, whatever you need to feel right now okay".
"No, no, don't be-" Catra groaned looking down at the ground, "It's my dumb feelings"
"Your feelings aren't dumb, and honestly if I had realized that more maybe-"
"No!" Catra put a hand over Adora's mouth, "Don't say anything, no regrets remember, here and now remember, don't blame yourself for my choices".
Adora was quiet for a moment but nodded. The two just held each other tight. Any bit of jealousy Catra might have felt faded away, as she remembered she loved this person who she held in her arms right now, and that she would do anything to protect her. She would not let love get warped into hate, never again.
"I-I can postpone Marlena and I's trip too…
"Don't on my account, you wanna see the First One old home right? I mean know where you come from more?"
Adora shrugged, "I guess"
"You don't sound sure"
"I mean, I kinda, I don't know, Marlena and I- she's a good woman but…" Adora eyes looked up at the Black Garnet, "It's hard to see her as my mother still, because I still think of, well, you know"
Catra realized what Adora was saying and somehow instead of being sympathetic, got angry, "You have a loving and kind person who wants to be your mom and you still have feelings for Shadow Weaver!"
"Hey, I know you do too"
"I do not-" Catra stopped knowing that was a lie, she missed Shadow Weaver ever single darn day and she loathed her heart for it, "Okay y-yeah, I do miss her, a lot actually, is that wrong, also I too think of her as well, you know"? She took a deep breath, "Back when I was trying really hard to win the war, I didn't do it just so I can prove to you I was better, I wanted to prove it to her as well. Like, I don't know, I wanted her and I to be like some evil mother daughter team you know"
"I get that-" Adora chuckled shaking her head, "We are so messed up aren't we"
"Why are we even together?" Catra asked, smirking.
Adora cupped her cheeks, "Because I love you"
"I love you two dummy, and I'm sorry for feeling jealous of you, I'm working on not"
"I know, you show me every day"
They kissed, a kiss of reconciliation, they knew things like this would happen again, but at least they were able to kiss it out instead of fighting a war for control of the planet.
Progress, small progress, but still...Progress.
"So uh, you and your mom and I are going to a planet huh, w-what's the planet called"
Adora smiled, "Apparently it's called...Third Earth"