Chapter 5: To Forgive

The Builder

Luis approached the center of the rostrum, the eyes of Shin's governments watching him. He saw awe, trepidation and disgust. From high on the wall, the Guardians, massive beasts of stone, looked without emotion at him, as he stood upon the exquisite mosaic of gold that formed the image of five crowns in a circle, underneath a vaulted ceiling carved with the likenesses of Shin's greatest heroes.

Evert of the Red Fang watched him with the strongest distaste of them all, his eyes burning with the fury that could only be summoned from the most deep-seated of beliefs. Luis paid him nothing more than a look. He was not the focus here.

"We are crossing a bridge of land stretching over a tumultuous sea. On the horizon we can see the dark clouds of a storm approaching us with the promise of death. Do we not have a duty to our citizens to see them through this storm and bring them across the bridge? To see that they are not wiped away by the elements like so much refuse?

Now came the delicate part. Peace without surrender. Condemnation without judgement. Luis raised his voice higher.

"We have been accompanied thus far in the water by serpents who could rise from the water to feast on us at any time, dragging our lives down into the dark, cold water. No doubt this is a travesty. We have had to feed these serpents to satiate their hunger. But they have not yet struck. We tried to create cannons that could slay these serpents. Those efforts have been waylaid.

"Now, facing a tempest that could sweep us from our footing, our choices are clear. We can either throw stones at the great serpents beside us in the water, or we can be protected from the squall. Do we want to die vainly pelting beasts of the deep? Or do we want to reach for survival, so that we may set foot on safe shores?

"I understand the anger. Luis, the name the world knows me by, is itself a memory of the suffering inflicted on us. I understand the losses that we have suffered. I too, look for the day where we can strike with our full strength and achieve the freedom we deserve. But our fight means nothing if we do not survive to make it. So set aside your anger, for only a time, so that we may live for the day that we may truly be free!"

Luis' voice came with the full force of the passion he could muster. More than he felt, honestly. It was still dark out, and the worst time to give a speech was when you were dead on your feet after a stressful day stretched into the night.

But he had done well. He knew that. The fact that he had been able to take the final word on the floor without Evert or Abeil feeling confident enough to try to stall him was a sign of favor. The only question was if Gabin would be swayed.

Well under an hour of debating and posturing was unusual, but a decision had needed to be made posthaste.

"A show of hands," Luis said.

Evert of the Red Fang raised his left hand, voting against cooperation.

As expected.

Next came Arlet of the Barrow Watchers, joined by the Founders in an affirmative vote.

Abeil led the Crescent Collective in joining the Red Fang.

All eyes turned to Gabin and the Coalition. Gabin himself sat with his shoulders slumped, his root-dark figure enveloped in flowing robes that brought to mind the course of a river.

It was only seconds between Gabin and everyone else raising their hands, yet it felt to Luis like it stretched on for an eternity. Finally, Gabin raised both of his hands. The rest of the Coalition followed, some raising their right hands alone. Enough.

I guess you aren't an obstacle after all.

Normally formalities would have been in order, but there was no time for that. Luis stalked out of the chamber. He pulled out his communicator and punched a short message into it.

Yes vote, on coop. Gov will send support

The response was even shorter.

Received

He had been surprised, but the urgency of pulling back Shin from the brink had proven to be an important point of agreement between him and this Kid Cassandra, and her requests seemed reasonable. What was the phrase that he had heard Goddess say once? Strange bedfellows. Strange bedfellows indeed.

Catra

Catra felt a modicum of discomfort being left alone in the tent with this strange guest, and she couldn't quite place her claw on it. Nobody else seemed to mind, but Catra's skin crawled and her fur raised just a little bit at being alone with her.

I wonder if this is why I end up pushing people away.

Amelia was still staring at the spot in the air where Adora had teleported away with Glimmer, a dazed look on her face. She didn't say anything, instead sitting down beside Adora's bedroll.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Is it that question from earlier about how I get along with Adora?" asked Catra.

Amelia winced at that. Catra went back over what she had just said in her head. She had sounded harsh. Too biting perhaps? She felt a small bubble of panic come to the back of her throat at the idea that she was taking someone, someone she had just met, and pushing them away. Try to be nice, Catra.

"I guess I was just wondering why you're here," she said.

"Yeah, I know it's not a very nice place, that's for sure," said Catra, giving the bedroll a kick. "We don't even have tents for most of us. Adora said she had a nice one before I came here too. Spacious, made of nice cloth from Brightmoon, even had a real bed… anyway, I wasn't there, but apparently their previous camp got utterly trashed and they lost everything."

Amelia nodded.

"That wasn't the question you wanted to ask, was it?"

Amelia gave a strangled series of mumbling sounds in response that Catra almost could have interpreted as a half-hearted protest of innocence.

This is the craziest thing. Am I really going to offer to tell her this stuff? After Adora gave me an out earlier?

I guess I just want to tell somebody. Somebody who didn't witness all of it.

"Come on, Amelia. Do you want to know or not?"

Was that putting her on the spot too hard? Pushing her to make a decision she might not want to make?

To Catra's relief, Amelia smiled instead. She sat up a little straighter, her slouching posture vanishing as she lifted herself straighter and more alert.

"Yes, I would like to hear about that."

"There's a lot to this," said Catra. "But I was a bad friend. I hurt people around me. And now she is giving me a second chance. One I want to make the best of."

Amelia's posture went even straighter than before. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at Catra.

Catra felt that same unease creeping up her spine again, looking into eyes that seemed to shine with what she could only call excitement. For a moment, she imagined herself backing off, not telling Amelia a word more than she already had. But she reached back in her mind to Amelia trying to talk down the soldiers at the portal, and her healing Bow.

I really am not a good judge of character, am I?

"So, the first thing you need to know is that me and Adora were raised together. Basically from birth. We grew up serving the Horde in the Fright Zone."

"You really grew up together? You shared your lives with each other?" asked Amelia, shuffling herself along the ground closer to Catra.

"Yup. We shared a bed. We trained together. We basically shared every experience together.

"I wasn't always a good friend. I guess I made that clear already. But the thing about Adora was that she always was willing to forgive. I could scratch her with my claws, and she would hold out her hand and to me. There were so many times where I treated her wrong, but she never stopped being my friend, never stopped trying to help me."

"Never?" asked Amelia, seeming more crestfallen than she had a second ago.

"Well, not precisely never. You'll see.

"Anyway, one day Adora left. I guess that's the simplest way of putting it. She was captured by some people, Bow and Glimmer, actually, and she decided that she was leaving the Horde. We'd spent our entire lives there, and she just... left.

"She went to go serve the Princess Alliance, and I stayed behind. And every difficulty, everything I had disliked about her just seemed to grow worse in my mind each day after. She got to be She-Ra, a 7 foot tall magical swordswoman. And even with Adora gone, all Shadow Weaver — the woman who had raised us — seemed to care about was getting her back. I became Force Captain, and she didn't care. All she wanted was Adora back. I might as well not have mattered.

Even now, that memory of smashing Shadow Weaver's crystal, severing her from the Black Garnet, made Catra feel so very happy.

"We fought a lot. Adora was always there with her new friends, and it seemed like she would always win, while I would go back to the Fright Zone with my tail between my legs. But I started to make friends there. Scorpia. She… you don't know her. Entrapta was with us for a time. I supported them. I took Shadow Weaver's place by Hordak's side. Even when I was out there, losing to Adora, things felt different.

"And then I threw it all away.

"I helped Hordak make a portal. And then Entrapta told me that opening it… opening… opening it could destroy Etheria. And I shipped her off. And I lied about it. I said she had betrayed us. I opened the portal to get back at Adora. I nearly destroyed us all.

"That made Adora give up on me. She'd always had faith in me, but that time, I had gone too far for her. She said she was over me, done trying to reach out to me."

"She really said that?"

"Well, something to that effect. I honestly can't blame her though. It was my fault."

"And if it hadn't been your fault?"

"Then we would be in a very different place right now."

Amelia's hands were clasped tightly together, but Catra could see them shaking.

"After that, it was one thing after another. Scorpia left. Hordak found out I lied about Entrapta's betrayal and tried to kill me. The team I was Force Captain of abandoned me. And I was alone.

"It was there, when everyone I cared about had left me, that she finally brought me back. She saved me from an alien warlord out in space when she could have easily left me behind. I helped Glimmer escape, staying behind so she could get away. I thought I was doomed. That was going to stay a servant of that monster until I died. And Adora came back for me. She came back when she could have flown as far away as possible, and it would have been the easy choice for her."

Catra let out a deep, relieved sigh.

"That's the short version, anyway. I certainly don't blame you if you find it a little hard to believe it, Amelia."

"Is it the same?"

"The same?
"The same now as before Adora left the Horde."

"Definitely not. It's not like we were able to just make up. And her friends still give me glances when they think I'm not looking. But, I think we are friends again. And I am making amends."

"Friends," Amelia said, unclenching her hands to rest them on her knees. "Friends," she said again, clasping her hands. "Why did Adora save you?"

"I don't think it's something you can cut down to a simple answer like that. But, like I said, I think it's because she wants to see the best in me. She wants to believe in me. And I gave her something she could hold on to, a reason to believe that, despite everything I had done, I was still someone worth having in her life."

"I guess some people are just naturally willing to forgive and see the good in people," said Amelia, her voice trembling.

"Hey, I'm not always great at reading this stuff, but are you okay, Amelia?"

"No, not really."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Amelia hesitated for a second, and Catra could tell she was unsure of how she would respond as she bit her lower lip. Catra didn't push her to respond.

"Yes, that would be nice," Amelia finally said.

Catra sat down on the ground beside her.

"She still won't forgive me," Amelia said, her fingernails digging into her palms. "One bad day, one mistake and no matter what I do, she wants nothing to do with me. I save lives every day. I have lost count of how many lives I have saved since Gold Morning, and she just doesn't care."

"When you say she wants nothing to do with you-"

"She doesn't even want to see me. She flies into a rage if I walk up to her. Nothing I ever do is good enough for her to even look at me like I'm not the worst person in the world."

Catra nodded. "When did you last see her?"

"Not a week ago," said Amy. "And twice a few months before that."

" Uh, huh. And, if she didn't want to see you, how did you end up in the same places?"

Amelia let out a deep breath and muttered out a response. "She does hero work. Her work brought her to me the last two times. Before that it was a family event. She was told ahead of time, but made a scene anyway."

"Hero work?"
"Yeah, she's a hero. Dresses up in costume and beats up the bad guys."

"People do that of their own free will?"

Amelia gave Catra a puzzled glance.

"I'm kidding. That sounds positively noble."

"So, you've met those three times since you two fell out with each other."

"Yes. Just those three."

"Look, Amelia," said Catra. "Like you said, some people aren't forgiving. If someone doesn't want to forgive you, I don't think you can make them."
"But-"

"Listen to me, first, all right."

Amelia swallowed, but nodded her head. That same crestfallen look Catra had seen on her earlier had come back stronger.

"I think what's most important is that you're willing to change. I pushed people away and hurt them, but I am trying to help people. I helped Glimmer because I believed it was the best thing to do. I'm not perfect. I have so much more to make up for. But doing the right thing, not doing what you did in the future — that's the best step you can take. You can't make whoever you're talking about forgive you for what you did if they don't want to. But you can ensure you never hurt someone like that again. And you can find someone who appreciates you."

"I guess," said Amelia, "it's just that I want her to be the one that forgives me, not anyone else. We shared so much together. So many memories, like you and Adora did. And, there are other people like her. But I didn't share all those experiences with her. They're just not the same as her."

These two must have been close.

Catra felt images creeping in her mind, of Adora never coming to rescue her on the Velvet Glove, deciding she could never change.

Even if I wasn't imprisoned on that ship, how would I have felt if she had decided she never wanted to let me back into her life? After everyone else had left me too.

"I don't want to promise anything I can't give, Amelia. But if you really feel you need her so badly... maybe we will be able to help?"

"Adora said you have something important to take care of."

"Yes, and it is important. But if we make it through, maybe I can help you."

"I'm not sure if you'll be able to do anything. She is surrounded by people who feed her delusions, egg on her anger towards me."

"Like I said, Amelia, I'm not making any promises about what I can do. I'm just saying I'm willing to help. Besides, you saved Bow's life. I think we owe you something."

"Maybe," said Amelia. Her voice was muted in volume and tone, but Catra could see some of the vigor returning to her.

"I guess I should probably ask some questions," said Catra. "So, what's her name?"

"Victoria," said Amelia.

"And you two grew up together?"

"Yes. I was adopted. She was the real daughter. Always treated like it too."

Well, there is another thing I think I can relate too.

"And you two got along."

"We… there were difficulties at times. She could be bullheaded, make bad decisions, fall back on me to solve whatever mess she had made without trying to change and learn from it. But, despite all that stuff she did, yes, I would say so."

Catra, despite herself, found herself disliking this Victoria. She knew that she shouldn't take every word of Amelia's at face value, but she certainly sounded like a difficult person. Still, the fact that Amelia still wanted to reconnect with her meant there was something, despite all the grousing Amelia had made.

There was more to tease out, but, especially since this conversation could be cut short at any minute, Catra figured she might as well cut to the chase.

"I guess I'm going to have to ask. What exactly did you do that ruined your relationship when you made it through all these other difficulties?"

Amelia squirmed at the question. Quite literally, twisting her figure and rubbing her legs along the ground like she wanted to burrow into it.

"Amelia-"

"It was one time. One bad day, one bad moment. That's it-"

Boom.

Amelia whipped her head as a thunderous sound reverberated in the cavern, Catra jumping into the air from her sitting position and landing on all fours, the hairs on her tail standing up to make it twice as thick across.

Outside, there were no more loud sounds, but Catra could hear some hurried, shouted exchanges.

Catra began to edge to the flap on the tent when Glimmer appeared in front of her.

"Catra, stay here," she said. She vanished without another word.

Catra stood in place, flustered, but feeling calmer. Glimmer had been curt, but most definitely not panicked. Catra had seen that before.

Another half minute or so passed, Amelia standing up and dusting herself off. "Any idea?" she asked, her voice hushed.

"I thought someone might have broken through the portal, but things seem pretty calm," said Catra. This definitely isn't an attack by the Horde.

Glimmer appeared again inside the tent. "Catra, you're going to come outside with me."

"Is everything okay?" Catra asked.

"I wouldn't say 'okay,' but we don't appear to be in imminent danger of dying or being chipped, so I'm happy with it."

"Should I come?" Amelia asked.

"Actually, you are very specifically supposed to stay in here," said Glimmer. "We finally found Wrong Hordak, and he'll be coming over to keep an eye on you."

Amy opened her mouth to protest, but Glimmer quickly clarified, "Not that we think you'd come out anyway. It's… mostly just to give him something to do. Anyway Catra, come on, no time to waste."

Catra left the tent with Glimmer, Wrong Hordak rushing over to take her place. Before Wrong Hordak closed the tent flap behind himself, Catra took one last look at Amelia, standing in the shadows, her gaze pointed past Catra and Glimmer to where the rest of the Rebellion had gathered around the portal, whose barrier had collapsed. She seemed fixated on a single point, where Catra could see Adora.

Catra felt that unease one last time as the flap went down after Wrong Hordak walked into the tent. For the first time, her unease was something more than a gut feeling. What exactly did you do, Amelia?

The Regent of the Seven Skies

Horde Prime's little brother approached him in the cathedral at the heart of the Velvet Glove, blessed to come within his presence. Horde Prime sat in his throne, two clones by his side, the cavernous space as grand as he was.

"Lord Prime, we have conducted our initial scan of Etheria."

The little brother said no more. Not without prompting.

"And what did you find, little brother?"

"As expected, we found that Etheria is rich in magic. We found that this magic has, however, been capped and harnessed by something located within the planet. No doubt this is the Heart of Etheria. All this information is consistent with prior scans and tests done on the planet."

"Is that all then?" asked Horde Prime.

"No, Lord Prime. There is one unexpected thing which I wish to inform you of."

Horde Prime didn't like the choice of word there. "Inform" implied that Horde Prime was not already in possession of this information, shared in the mind of his clones. Still, it was a small slip-up, and did not appear to be a sign of wavering faith.

"Then tell me, Little Brother, what surprised you."

"As you know, magic is a strange thing. It cannot easily be quantified using our normal methods. However, we are able to make estimates of the ambient magic found on Etheria, as it is taken and siphoned towards the Heart, but before it enters it. What we find strange, however, is that there are instances of dimensional torsion on the planet that do not seem to be linked to the Heart, or Etheria's magic. In other words, the layers between our dimension and others appear to be weaker here."

Horde Prime reclined in his throne, stroking his chin. "This would seem to be possible by several factors. Etheria's return from Despondos. The opening of the portal that sent the message alerting me of Etheria's former location. Those would both explain a degree of instability in Etheria's dimensional state."

"What surprises me is that none of our other instruments detected any of this previously."

Horde Prime nodded, bowing his head. "Tell the observation team to continue monitoring the planet for dimensional torsion. That being said, if it does not interfere with the function of the Heart, or the stability of the planet, I do not believe it is a matter of importance."

"Yes, Lord Prime," said his little brother. "There is one more thing I wish to tell you. It is an observation of the planet, but it is unrelated to the scan. I will display it on your screen."

Horde Prime granted his little brother permission. He turned his head around as the image was streamed to the screen behind his throne.

The image was of a silver woman, wreathed in wings, suspended in the air.

"She appeared out of the ocean a short while ago, Lord Prime. She flew into the upper atmosphere and stayed there, and has been observed by the blockade around the planet. She appears to be following an orbit around Etheria, although slowly. And, since you may ask, we do not believe that she is related to the dimensional torsion. It is weakest over the ocean."

"I will ensure that the ships are alerted, and will have her kept within sight of their cannons. Thank you little brother. You may leave now in my service."

The clone turned around, walking towards the exit of the room, Horde Prime's eyes fixated on him for the entire length of his walk. There was no escaping his gaze.

His clone left the room, leaving Horde Prime with his attendants. Prime stood from his throne. "The preparations for activating the Heart should begin with the utmost haste. However, now, I wish to head to the Hall of Memories. There is something which I wish to examine. One of you will come with me."

...

The Hall of Memories was a smaller room, unadorned and dimly lit, its shaded interior and dark walls a contrast to the bright grandeur of the rest of the Velvet Glove. It was here that Horde Prime alone (and not for hundreds of years had a single other being entered this room) could access the full repository of information of the civilizations he had vanquished.

Horde Prime accessed the terminal with a touch of his palm, lighting up a screen that accessed his library. He had considered a more convenient neural interface, but decided against it. It would not do to allow these records of lesser civilizations he had crushed to be accessed in such a direct manner to his mind.

The last time Prime had accessed this terminal, he had been searching for religious prophecies of civilizations. That had been in a previous body of his. Now, he could not remember why he had done so. He took a brief glance at a selection of the phrases displayed before him.

And when the nine shield maidens sit upon the tribunal, so shall it have been achieved.

The present, future and past, shall fall under his shadow.

And the Eye shall see all brought under a domain of multitudinous fear.

With a swipe of his claw, Prime dispatched the phrases. They were not worth his time, although a notion tickled at the back of his mind. A humorous one, of himself as the one who fulfilled these prophecies.

Horde Prime found the catalog he was searching for with a single tap on the main screen of the terminal. The First Ones' directory of planets, maintained until their final downfall. He searched within it for a particular planet: Exalia.

Now, he knew, that planet was gone, destroyed in a cataclysmic accident in the early days of his war with the First Ones. And, in the hazy recesses of memories from so early in his existence, he could recall the sight of a many-winged being rising over the battlefield.

The First Ones' records on Exalia were heavy on the planet's strategic values as a central command in its sector, but spoke little of the planet itself. Its native inhabitants had been subjugated by a rogue admiral turned pirate lord, and therefore already cowed when it had been claimed by the First Ones' empire, and the planet hadn't been extracted for natural resources. The planet had also had no known magic.

Faintly, Hordak could recall the natives, a humanoid race who wielded solid light as weapons.

Right at the end of the entry, Horde Prime found what had escaped his mind. Before he had landed there, Exalia had been abandoned by the First Ones. Already retreating from that sector of space, a rebellion among the natives had driven them off the planet. And, Horde Prime found interesting, they had reported that the natives had fought with powerful tools of destruction that they should not have possessed. However, there were no further details.

It was that entry that filled in a gap in the recesses of his memory. Of giants as tall as mountains emerging from from the ranks of the natives. Of them summoning machines and elements with which to strike his Horde down.

Horde Prime once again shut down the terminal with a press. He was frustrated, in a small way, with the lack of information in the entry. But it confirmed that something strange had happened on that planet even before he had tried to subjugate it.

He would not halt his attempts to access the Heart of Etheria, and he would give it his foremost attention, but this did merit investigation.

Horde Prime left the Hall of Memories, the door sealing behind him automatically. He turned to the clone waiting outside, the one who had once dared to call himself Hordak, in defiance of his will. "I will be accessing the memories of a previous body of mine," said Horde Prime. "There is something which I need to witness."