"We're going to lose," the prisoner remarked.

Adora glanced up sharply at him, the first time Hordak had spoken since the trial had begun and he'd stated his guilt for all to hear.

The two of them were alone, the accused had been re-shackled at the wrist and escorted into a waiting chamber. Bow and some Brightmoon guards were outside, but only Adora and Hordak were within. The pale warlord hung his head low, pointed ears drooping.

"We're not beat yet," Adora said confidently. "I know it's not looking good out there yet but it's like they say in Brightmoon, it's always darkest before dawn... and we still have a lot of evidence to go over to help exonerate you."

"This is pointless."

"It is NOT pointless," the former Force Captain replied sharply. "You're a victim in this every bit as much as the rest of us... and the war is over," she argued. "Pinning all the blame on you and then punishing you for everything that happened isn't just unfair, it's downright criminal. It's just more people want to feel better by blaming someone else instead of forgiving them."

Hordak had no response to that, falling silent for a time as he pondered her words.

"Listen, I know things look bad now, but I snagged a few good witnesses before Mermista could... we've got a solid defense lined up. The biggest thing we need now is to convince the court that there was some good to your reign. And if we need someone to blame, we try to shift the opinion that it was Horde Prime's fault."

"A scapegoat who is deceased will not satisfy the masses," the pale ex-warlord reminded her.

"No... but it will be justice, and that's what this court system was designed for. Trust me, I read up on it," she said proudly.

He exhaled, slightly irked by her cheerfulness as he turned his crimson gaze on her. "Why are you truly doing this, F-... Adora. Your fight is done."

"My fight is never over as long as there is injustice in this world," she replied. "Besides... I was forgiven. I did awful things too. You should be as well."

He could have rightfully countered the numerous differences between her sins and his, but decided not to. There was little point, or so Hordak felt. But perhaps, just perhaps, there might be some truth to Adora's words. He certainly didn't feel like pursuing any further vengeance, not against Catra or the like of anyone else who had wronged him. He was finished with conquest and revenge.

He would see how this played out, for now.

Adora had heard it best from one of her instructors in the Horde: best Defense was a strong Offense. So she made sure Defense went in swinging right from the get go, starting with Force Captain Lonnie.

"You were brought up in the Horde?"

"Yeah, my father was a soldier, same as I was. Never knew my mother."

"And you served as Force Captain under Catra and Hordak?"

"After the former usurped command and made herself the boss alongside Hordak, yeah," the surly soldier replied.

"Can you tell us what Hordak's leadership style was like?"

"Sure can," Lonnie replied. "Brutal but efficient. He wanted something done, it got done. But you did the job, you got the rewards the same way. He wasn't big on ceremonies or medals but he let you know he was watching, good or bad."

Adora nodded, well aware of that. In comparison to Shadow Weavers tactics, which tended to praise Adora and criticize Catra regardless of what they'd actually done, and ignore virtually all others, Hordak was much more impartial in his judgements. Albeit that might have been due to his lack of involvement with any of them. He had no real personal attachment to his soldiers... at least not at first.

"And how did Hordak provide for his soldiers?" she asked.

Lonnie looked up sharply. "Provide what?"

"Well let's see, adequate food, a place to sleep..." Adora began counting on her fingers.

Puzzled, Lonnie replied, "Well, yeah. All those things."

"Education?"

"Yeah we weren't savages, we knew how to read and write and do arithmetic."

Adora turned in a slow circle, to face the audience, and even Queen Glimmer. "It may surprise you to know that the average level of education in the Horde vastly outstrips the rest of Etheria, save possibly Dryl, and is only surpassed by the Academy of Historic Enterprises."

"Smarter soldiers slaughtering us isn't a good thing," Mermista mumbled under her breath, barely audible.

Defense turned on her heel. "I'm sorry, was that a formal objection, Mermista?"

The Princess of the Seas shook her head. "No, it's fine, whatever."

Grinning, Adora continued to question Lonnie. "Did you see Hordak in action when he took the field?"

"Sure, peripherally but I was there," she replied. "His new tech was what enabled us to capture Salineas."

Here, now, was what Adora was hoping to address to alleviate concerns. "And tell me, when the Horde conquered Salineas, what happened to its people?"

"Standard Horde policy," Lonnie replied.

"Can you clarify that for us?"

The dreadlocked girl shrugged. "Well, if an enemy wants to retreat we generally let them go... not worth chasing after them. If they stay and fight we knock 'em unconscious and drag 'em to the transports. Kill 'em only if we have to."

"And the buildings? The kingdom itself?"

"Secure all routes in and out, and yeah we roll down any sentry towers or communication hubs or anything but... most Etherian kingdoms don't have those, so we don't generally bother. Then we just have to secure the palace and call it a day."

Adora nodded, this is what she'd been looking for. No ravaging, pillaging, burning, looting. The Horde may have been evil, but they were a pragmatic sort of evil. Some of its commanders went a bit overboard, but Hordak had never had an interest in such things. "Would you go as far as to say that the Horde approach to warfare was conquering only land and resources, and not in extermination or genocide?"

"Well yeah, sure."

"And is that how Hordak himself acted during the conquest of Salineas?"

"Of course," Lonnie replied. "He himself kept us on focus when a platoon tried to break rank and chase after the mermaids... thought for a minute he was going to shoot them himself. He didn't, but he was still pissed. They got reprimanded when the battle was over."

Adora winced. "No further questions," she said briskly, hoping to slip over that slight before it was examined more closely. The idea that Hordak could and would shoot his own troops, whether for a good reason or not, would not help his case.

Mermista and Sea Hawk cross-examined Lonnie's references to the Battle of Salineas, but ultimately they had everything they needed and quickly let Adora move on through her defense. The rest of her witnesses were of some assistance. Double Trouble at least had the decency to say the Horde paid well, and did do a rather convincing testimonial of Hordak's feelings for Entrapta influencing his decisions, both good and bad, towards the end of the war. Princess Spinerella, likewise, gave a glowing indorsement on what it was like to be victimized by Horde Prime. If anything, she claimed that being a victim through chips was an easier fate to shake off, as opposed to the poor treatment the clones had received.

Some good, some bad, defense was making a comeback, and their star witness was approaching the witness stand even now.

Next up was Princess Entrapta.

On one hand, Adora was counting on Entrapta to make a passionate argument on behalf of Hordak, whom she held in the highest regard. On the other, she was scattered brained and easily distracted even on the best of days, and the prosecution would take full advantage of that if possible. So Adora decided to do her best to get things moving swiftly with the Princess of Dryl.

She was well known to almost everyone by this point, from both sides of the conflict. They covered her defection to the Horde in brief detail. Her upgrades to Horde armor and weapons, as well as war machines. Her fiddling around with the Black Garnet to learn more about First One's tech. They covered the portal tech experiments, of course, as well as the enhancements the gadgeteer princess had done to Hordak's armor. But that's where Adora really cut to the chase.

"But when the portal was ready, you were banished to Beast Island?" clarified Adora.

"That's right, I was going to warn Hordak the portal was dangerous... but uh... uh someone," and here she pointedly avoided looking at Catra. "... knocked me unconscious and sent me to Beast Island. I mean, it wasn't so bad, it was so fascinating, they had these tiny little..."

Adora coughed, bringing her back on topic.

"Right, sorry. But yeah, Hordak never would have gone ahead if he'd known how dangerous the portal was."

"Objection, that's speculation," Mermista complained.

Glimmer rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement. "Sustained."

Seeing no need to belabor the argument, Adora moved on, coaxing Entrapta to tell them of her return to the Rebellion and her subsequent efforts to save Hordak from the Horde (the irony was not lost on anyone). How they subsequently saved Wrong in his place, but her efforts had helped to re-awaken the memories suppressed by Horde Prime, and proved to be a crucial element during a very critical time in the midst of the last battle.

"Entrapta, you were with Horde Prime in his final moments?" asked Adora.

The purple-haired princess nodded vigorously. "I sure was! It was fascinating... I mean, oh, uh, can you clarify? He kinda had two final moments..."

"On board the Velvet Glove," Adora clarified. When the body was destroyed.

"Oh, yes. I was there. I'd been taken prisoner by the Horde."

"Can you describe for us exactly what happened? Please, the smallest detail could be of importance."

Entrapta proceeded to do just that, explaining how the efforts of the Rebellion had driven Horde Prime to a rarely achieved level of frustration that had him sending in more clones, soldiers, drones, and the like than he'd ever done before, and barely minutes before he was on the verge of using the Heart of Etheria to wipe out all of existence. Entrapta went into detail about the clone who'd been assigned to guard her, realizing who it was, and her attempts to re-forge a connection with Hordak once she'd found him.

And then Horde Prime had ordered her execution, with Hordak as the executioner.

Quickly cutting off possible supposition and guesswork, Entrapta went on to say Hordak fought the order, and fought hard. It was clear from the get go he had no desire to hurt her. He then turned his own weapon on his old master and blasted Prime through his own viewscreens, then picked him up and...

"And he said, and I'll never forget: I gave myself a name, I made a life of my own, I found a friend," Entrapta repeated earnestly.

In the pews, there was some hushed whispers and mutterings, more than a few found the whole thing romantic, in a tragic sort of way. Hordak himself looked embarrassed by his declaration. Without the adrenaline rush of fighting off his oppressive master/creator/brother, his pale cheeks seemed faintly flushed and he averted his gaze from the stands.

Entrapta smiled sympathetically his way. "He said: I am Hordak, and I defy your will. And then he dropped Prime to his death."

There was a tap from the table on the Prosecutors side. "That wasn't the end of Prime though, was it?" asked Mermista dryly.

Fidgeting, the Princess of Dryl answered "Well, no, but..."

"Objection," Adora gently cut her off. "Mermista do you have a formal objection to make?"

"Eh, no, not really. Just trying to be difficult."

Everyone rolled their eyes at the Princess Prosecutor. "Strike the remark from the record," Queen Glimmer ordered.

Castaspella nodded, flicking her fingers at her mirror. "Gladly," she deadpanned.

"You may question the witness when it's your turn, Mermista."

"Ugh, fine."

Adora smirked, she was almost done anyway. "Princess Entrapta, you know full well yourself how difficult it was to re-integrate into Etherian society following your own work in the Horde... it can't have been easy for you. But my last question is this: would you be willing to help Hordak do the same thing, if he was found innocent following this trial?"

Little stars lit up Entrapta's eyes at the very idea of it. "I'd be honored!"

"Thank you, no further questions. All yours," she added for the prosecution, reclaiming her seat.

Mermista stood. "Entrapta, this is probably going to sound bogus, but I figured I should ask anyway. When you defected to the Horde, did it never occur to you that providing technological upgrades to the Horde would be a bad thing?"

The purple-haired princess wilted a little. "I, uh... I'm ashamed to say I didn't think much of it at the time. I was caught up the scientific discovery of it all. The chance to learn about so much First One's tech, and all the resources available to me. I... got kind of tunnel vision-y."

"So you felt zero qualms handing over game-changer tech to an evil warlord?" asked Mermista.

Adora frowned, but for the moment held back a comment. This could actually work in their favor.

"Well actually most of the tech I designed early on I gave to Catra or Scorpia, I rarely met with Hordak until we became lab partners. And after that the biggest focus was on the portals, I kinda forgot all about making weapon upgrades."

"Ugh," Mermista groaned. "You really are clueless... I give up, I'm done with this witness."

The judge rolled her eyes at Mermista's melodrama, but nodded to Entrapta, letting her step down from the stand. She scurried back to the audience seats as the next witness was called. But as she did, she paused long enough behind Hordak to let some of her long, prehensile purple hair brush against his shoulder and give a gentle squeeze.

"I meant what I said," she whispered. "I'll do anything I can to help when this is all over."

Hordak did not turn his head, but he nodded briefly, indicating he'd heard her. He had very sharp ears, after all. Right now, however, he needed to stay focused. Their next witness was up.

"Your name for the record?"

"I go by Wrong now," the clone responded, making it sound almost like the 'R' was dropped, and it almost sounded like 'Wong'. "Because if to serve Prime is the way, then I have no wish to be right."

Adora grimaced at the cliché statement but decided it was better than a variety of other outcomes that could have occurred. In the wake of Prime's defeat his clones had been, almost to a one, completely lost of what to do. Some had tried to carry on his work (that effort had been quickly cut off by Adora and the Alliance), some had tried to integrate into Etherian society. With varying degrees of success. After all, when you all looked and sounded like two of the most infamous warlords on the planet, well, it didn't help your employment opportunities. Some had chosen new names, like Wrong, but the others still had no real identity of their own. It was going to be a long while yet before they were all properly taken care of.

"Well, Wrong. Can you tell us a little about what it was like to serve Horde Prime?"

He blanched, finding the topic distasteful, but he'd already agreed to speak up in defense of his brother Hordak. "Horde Prime was... was a tyrant," he said, haltingly. Like he had to force the words out. "He demanded absolute obedience from us, absolute perfection. Yet he lied to us while demanding the truth, told us to sacrifice ourselves for him yet would never do the same in the same position. He was... he was a hypocrite. And a monster," Wrong proclaimed. "And Hordak should be lauded for his efforts to try and destroy him once and for all."

"Objection!" Mermista lazily threw out. "We're looking for facts, not opinions."

Judge Glimmer reluctantly agreed. "Sustained."

"You and Hordak were raised the same way then?" Adora tried a different tact.

"It was not raised as I have been taught it means here," Wrong replied. "We were not born, we were cloned. We were not groomed and guided to adulthood.. we were force-grown in tubes. Fed information in tubes. And if we stepped out of line..."

"Your memories were erased."

"That's right," he confirmed. "All that we are, all that we were... lost."

"Thank you, that's all we needed, Wrong." Adora smiled comfortingly to the poor clone, who responded with a wink. Still getting used to certain social cues, he still enjoyed it as something of a personal tell.

Defense finished, Mermista rose up again. "Wrong, I just gotta understand something... if you had your memory erased anytime you were out of line... how exactly do you remember it?"

"Its... well its kinda of a shadow of a memory... an echo," he explained. "A feeling. And we who served Prime saw it happen to others. I personally bore witness to the attempted erasures of Hordak's memories and personality on at least one occasion," he said, indicating his brother the defendant.

"Attempted?" asked Mermista, raising a single brow.

"My brother is stronger than I," Wrong said, nodding to the accused respectfully. "While his memories may be suppressed for a time, his mind could fight the domination of Prime. He alone, amongst hundreds of us, was able to resist. To forge a new name and new identity for himself, and hold on to such when Prime tried to strip him of these things."

Exactly why that was, none could say. Perhaps Hordak had been defective from conception, perhaps his extended time on Etheria had given him a certain resiliency to such mental wipes. The exact science behind it was uncertain, even after all this time. The results were not. Hordak had done what had previously been unthinkable, at least insofar as the galactic Horde had believed possible.

Wrong was permitted to leave the witness chair and returned to the crowd. With his testimony finished, the majority of the defense was done. In truth, there was only one last person who needed to take the stand, and at this point, would make or break the trial with their testimony.

Hordak himself.

Authors Notes:
Wrong Hordak, or WH, deserves a way better name.

I considered using some sort of magic to 'speak with the dead' and get the testimonials of the likes of Shadow Weaver and Angella, but ultimately decided not to. Such magic seems very at odds with the sort of setting the show has.