Catra expected to be more tired. Sure, she still felt like she had been run over by an entire squadron of tanks - but that was par for the course when it came to most of her fights against Adora. But considering everything that happened in that last fight, she was honestly surprised that she was conscious - let alone had the strength to carry the idiot on her back while Sparkles and Crop Top spoke with Simon and the other villagers who had returned. A heavy silence fell over the group as they all bid their farewells, and it wasn't until they were unable to even see the slight wisps of smoke still rising above Gren that it was broken.

"So," Crop Top began awkwardly, he trailed off, though, seemingly unable to find the right words.

"What the heck was that?!" Sparkles shouted. "We were just investigating the forest when BOOM the village is under attack and Adora suddenly wants to kill you!" Her hands were waving through the air before she froze and pointed an accusatory finger at Catra. "You were behind it, weren't you?"

"Glimmer, come on," Crop Top whined. "You saw Catra. She was fighting the bandits, just like the rest of us."

"No, she's right," Catra admitted, fighting not to snicker at the shocked looks on their faces. "I tricked that Leon guy into sending a one-man message to Bright Moon so the bandits would intercept it, get spooked, and attack."

"And now, because of you, Captain Leon is..." Sparkles trailed off, tears gathering in her eyes. Catra scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"They're soldiers, Sparkles, dying is kind of an occupational hazard."

"How can you be so heartless?" Crop Top shouted. "Do you not care at all that well over a dozen men and women died because of you?"

"What did you think was going to happen if you managed to find the bandits?" Catra retaliated. "Thought you were just going to ask nicely for them to return what they had taken and go on their merry way?"

"We would have thought of something," he continued. "Together!"

Catra stopped and gently lowered Adora to the ground before marching over to the wonder twins. "Let's get something straight," she hissed, relishing in the tiny spike of fear she smelled in the air between them. "We aren't friends. We aren't a team. I don't need to explain myself to you, nor do I need to justify my actions. I was given a mission same as you, and I did what was necessary to accomplish it."

"We'll see if you feel that way when my mother hears about this," Sparkles spat.

"All of this still doesn't explain why Adora attacked you like that," Crop Top cut in. "No matter how mad she is, she'd never attack a friend."

Catra scoffed and rolled her eyes. "That's because it was She-ra attacking me."

"That doesn't make any sense," Sparkles retorted. "Adora is She-ra."

Catra groaned and walked back over to pick Adora up. "You two idiots don't know anything about her, do you?"

"Of course we do!" Crop Top exclaimed, hurrying to catch up with her. "We're best friends!"

Catra suppressed a growl. She had been suspecting it for a while, but that last fight proved her theory that more than Adora's physical form changed whenever she transformed into She-ra. The changes were subtle: the Adora from before finding the Sword was still a stubborn, adorable idiot; she still charged headfirst into her problems; but the Adora Catra grew up with was not nearly as quick to choose violence. Even as kids, she was always trying to talk to Catra's bullies, get them to understand why it was wrong to hurt her. It became clear as they fought on opposite sides, though, that more and more, Adora's go-to solution was transforming into an eight-foot warrior princess and beating something up. Adora would be appalled at the violence and death that had Gren, but She-ra thrived in it.

Catra had honestly been surprised at how long it had taken Adora to ask to use her sword during their morning training sessions. She became antsy if didn't have the blade within reach, and Catra had caught her admiring it - running her hands up and down the blade - several times. That last fight against She-ra had filled Catra with fear. She wondered how much of Adora was actually left after all this time, and how long it would be until she lost her forever.

"No," Catra muttered. "If you knew her like I did, you'd hate that sword too." Catra ignored them for the rest of the journey back to Bright Moon, where she ignored Adora's friends and the guard shouting something about the Queen and followed her nose to Adora's room. Once there, she gently placed her on the bed near the center of the room, removed her boots and socks, and undid her ponytail, before pulling the blanket over her. She allowed herself to place a soft kiss on Adora's forehead before walking out the door and following her nose to wherever Scorpia and Entrapta were. She found the two of them hanging out in some courtyard outside the castle, and allowed Scorpia to pick her up in a giant hug while Entrapta put down whatever gizmo it was she was working on and joined them.

"How did it go?" Scorpia asked. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine," Catra replied once she was placed back on the ground. "What about you two?"

"Oh, well, no one's really been mean," Scorpia replied, waving a claw dismissively. "I've mostly been hanging out with Traps."

"I must say, Bright Moon finds itself in a wearily dull middle ground," Entrapta added. "There is very little opportunity for innovation like we had back at our village, but they also do not possess the resources or supplies to encourage much in the way of discovery. I tried to examine the Moonstone once, but was rather summarily forbidden from getting near it."

"That's good," Catra muttered. "I was... worried."

Both of her friends smiled, and Catra basked in their non-judgemental presences as she relaid the events of the last mission.

"Sucks that you lost some troops, Wild Cat," Scorpia said sadly before immediately brightening once more. "But it sounds like you managed to complete the mission without any civilian casualties. Plus that Leon guy sounds like a jerk."

"I concur," Entrapta added. "Not to mention, having contacts along such an important trade route will prove itself a boon. Also, if the papers you managed to grab show proof of his underhanded dealings with the village, it's likely that the Queen will be more leniant with you."

"Speaking of which," Catra grumbled as a guard finally caught up to her before bending over and panting. "Geez, do these guys ever train?"

"Not as much as we did," Scorpia said. "I asked if there was a training ground I could use, and they just laughed."

"I can't believe they've lasted this long," Catra said, getting to her feet and smiling to her two friends. "I'll see you two later."

Entrapta nodded while Scorpia hugged her once more. "Say hi to Adora for us," she whispered. Catra threw her a thumbs up before walking past the guard before he had a chance to speak and making her way towards the war room. She was stopped at the door by a guard who tried to announce her presence, but she was running low on patience as it was, and simply shoved him aside.

"I take it you wanted to see me?" She drawled as Momma Sparkles sat with her daughter, Crop Top, and the two princesses who had captured Catra in the first place.

"I just received the report from Commander Glimmer about your actions in Gren," the Queen said, her thunderous expression turning downright murderous as Catra raised a hand to interrupt her and reached into the satchel she carried under her Beast-skin cloak. She pulled out the papers she had taken from Tubby's office and tossed them on the table. "What are these?"

"Proof that the man you had stationed in the village of Gren was embezzling while over-taxing your 'subjects'." Catra drawled.

"Why was Commander Glimmer not involved with this discovery?"

Catra shrugged. "You said I answered to you."

Angella frowned as she read the papers, and a tense silence filled the room. Catra had jotted down her own little report (it seemed old habits died hard), putting the finishing touches on it the night before, and she could tell the Queen had gotten to it when she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. The way the report was written made it easy to infer that the Rebellion was mostly at fault for bleeding Gren dry and making them ripe for bandits to loot. She had to bend the truth in a few places. but Catra was confident that she would come out looking like the reluctant little pet the Rebellion wanted her to be.

"It seems I was quick to... misjudge you, Catra." It looked like the words were physically painful for her to say. "This... battle... you had with She-ra, what made it different from others in the past?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed that Adora's changed since she joined your little Rebellion," Catra hissed. "What I fought back there wasn't her at all."

"Yes, you mention this theory of yours," Angella replied dismissively. "The simple fact of the matter is there is no evidence to back up your claim. If Adora has changed at all, it is because she has left a toxic environment and found people who truly care for her. I shudder to think what someone with her potential would turn out like had she stayed with the Horde." The words with you went unsaid, but Catra could see them in the way they were all looking at her. Catra felt the fire within her roar, demanding she reduce the castle and the surrounding area to nothing but ash and slag, but she forced it down.

"That doesn't explain why she acted the way she did," Catra said evenly.

"My daughter and her friends have yet to spend a considerable amount of time on the front lines," Angella rationalized. "With Adora's emotions in such a... heightened state, it comes as no surprise that she acted the way she did."

Catra kept her expression carefully blank as Adora's friends nodded, accepting the explaination. None of them understood that Catra had seen Adora at both her worst and her best, and regardless of how naive she was, deep down she was still a trained soldier since childhood. She would never allow herself to be overtaken by emotions in a live combat situation, and if she did, Catra knew without a doubt that her Adora was the kind to freeze up and withdraw inside herself, not lash out at the world like she did.

"Very well." Catra droned. "Will there be anything else, Your Majesty?"

"No. The loss of life is always regrettable, but based off what you have provided, it could have been much worse. You completed your mission in a timely manner to the best of your ability, Former Force Captain. You may yet prove yourself our ally."

Catra only just managed to turn around before she rolled her eyes. She left without another word, ignoring the sound of Sparkles arguing with her mom. She hadn't expected things to go any differently, but that didn't make her any happier. For now, though, she needed to find answers.

It didn't take much to convince Scorpia and Entrapta to follow her into the city. The three of them were watched wherever they went, but none of the guards tried to approach them, for which Catra was grateful.

"So, you do still have that weird magic?" Scorpia clarified as they followed Entrapta from stall to stall. The market in Bright Moon sold everything from food to furniture, and Catra could pretty much hear the ideas buzzing in her head.

"Yeah," Catra replied. "Whatever happened to me while fighting She-ra is gone, but the fire stuff is still there. Try not to go around blabbing about it, though. The dorks here think that whatever happened with that glowing rock was temporary. They don't really believe there was anything wrong with Adora in that last fight, so they can just chalk it up to one of our usual ones."

"I'm most interested in hearing more about this fight of yours," Entrapta said, appearing out of nowhere. "The changes you described in yourself and Adora seem most fascinating." She had tried looking inside herself the way she did for the fire that she somehow now controlled, but whatever force that had granted her the strength to face off against an almost deity had vanished. She had been worried that she, too, had been possessed by something like Adora was, but her instincts told her that wasn't the case. She did remember the feeling of something trying to crush her, but there was no... mind behind it, just immeasurable power begging to be released and knowledge that sent white-hot drills of pain through her head whenever she tried to recall it. It did remind her somewhat of the destructive urges she felt from the fire in her chest, but this was less destructive. Whatever power she had tapped into didn't care how it was used, just that it was.

"Do you think you were really fighting the actual She-ra?" Scorpia added, dropping her voice as they passed by some more guards.

Catra nodded. "Adora needs a reason to fight. She excelled in the Horde, and here because she's being told that she's helping people, and that's all she really cares about. The woman I fought just wanted an excuse. She acted all angry and self-righteous, but I could tell she was enjoying the fact that she needed to use a modicum of effort on me."

"Curious," Entrapta muttered.

"What is?" Scorpia asked.

"Mythological canon establishes the She-ra as a savior. There are many stories - particularly in Plumeria - about her acting as a healer, or a leader, or some other paragon of virtue. But she is never called She-ra the Healing Princess, or the Noble Princess She-ra. It is always She-ra the Princess of Power, or the Warrior Princess She-ra."

"Considering she punched me through a building, I think she deserves those titles," Catra grouched.

"Perhaps, but for such a powerful being, I can recall very few stories about her past exploits in battle."

"Well, She-ra's, like, super old, right?" Scorpia mused. "Maybe people just... forgot those stories, or something."

"Maybe," Catra conceded. The amount of guards watching them decreased significantly as the street beneath their feet changed from well-maintained cobblestone to dirt and gravel. The houses on either side were shabby and quickly-built, and even further Catra could make out tents where those who had yet to find a place to stay were taking shelter.

"I'm real proud of you for doing this, Wildcat," Scorpia said, her grin wide and sincere.

"Whatever," Catra mumbled. "Let's just get this over with. Then we can get back to Entrapta's lab."

*(OoO)*

When she finally opened her eyes, she felt as if her soul was splintering. Pieces of her swirled around her mind in a hurricane, smashing into shards of something distinctly other and leaving her confused about who she even was. She sat up on a firm mattress and looked around the dark room, vaguely recognising it, before settling on a familiar set of mismatched eyes.

Anger roared within the eye of the storm, and she clutched onto the one thing that all the pieces of her could agree on. The owner of those cold, beautiful, infuriating eyes sat calmly in a chair next to her, and leveled her with a stare that penetrated right through the maelstrom of identity.

"You're angry," the woman spoke, and one of the shards thrilled at the sound, while another shuddered, feeding the rage at her center. "Why?"

She opened her mouth and froze. Why did she feel such rage toward those gorgeous eyes? She shook it off as the resentment and fury mounted.

"I'm sure I have a good reason," she spat.

"Then tell me."

"I do not have to explain myself to the likes of you." How dare this... beast make such demands of her! She, who wielded the power to raze mountains and topple kingdoms, would never lower herself in such a way.

A wave of heat washed over her, and she felt a phantom pain in her shoulder and knee. Splinters and contradictions filled her heart and she shuddered. Parts of her were screaming to eliminate this creature before her while she still had a chance, and others wanted nothing more than embrace this strange heat, allow herself to be wrapped up in it until the storm passed and she could finally think clearly.

"I don't care what she thinks," the woman growled, and shivers ran down her spine. "I want to know why you're mad at me."

"What are you talking about?" Was this woman insane? Who was she talking about? All these questions burned in her mind, and made her vision flicker with pain.

"Think back," the woman instructed. "You were near a village."

Shards of memory coalesced like broken glass, and she remembered the smell of smoke and the ground shaking.

"There was... an attack," she murmured. "I fought."

"No," the woman said. "You didn't."

She shook her head. She could have sworn she remembered fighting. But at the same time, those memories were different - like a series of pictures, rather than moments recalled. Her head ached and she groaned until two soft, dangerous, warm hands rubbed at her temple. The memories came, faster and faster, the shards and pieces whirling around her soul. She looked up into those blue-and-yellow eyes and a name tumbled over her lips.

"Catra." It was a prayer, and curse.

The eyes crinkled in the dim light. "Hey, Adora."

Like lightning, the shards that made her slammed together and she gasped. Her anger flared and she lashed out, pushing Catra onto the floor and punching her in the jaw.

"How could you?" She snarled. "People are dead because of you!"

"And others are alive." Catra reasoned.

"How can you be so calm?" Adora demanded.

"People die every day," Catra was staying remarkably calm, and it only served to infuriate Adora even more. "It sucks, but that's life."

"We were supposed to save them!" Golden light burned within her. "I was supposed to save them!" Before she knew what she was doing, she had reared back to punch Catra once more. This time Catra managed to move her head enough for her fist to slam into the ground, rather than her face, cratering it under the meteoric power.

"You're letting her pride get the better of you, Adora," Catra replied, her glowing eyes boring into Adora's soul. "Remember, you're guilty, not ashamed."

"What are you talking about?" Adora yelled. "Answer me!"

"The villagers, Adora. Focus on the villagers." She recalled Simon and Max and the other inhabitants of Gren. Talking to them during the day, and listening to them laugh and sing at night. Her anger magnified as she remembered warping with Glimmer and Bow into the middle of the village to find fires burning and not a villager in sight, but as it did, the golden power dimmed, and her strength diminished.

"How could you?" Adora shouted. "You sent a man to his death! Brought the bandits right to their doorstep! The villagers -"

"Are safe," Catra finished, still unfazed by the anger being directed toward her. "While you and your little playmates were out playing detectives, I worked with Simon to come up with an evacuation plan."

"And you didn't tell us?!" Adora hissed. "We're supposed to be working together, Catra!"

That prompted a reaction: Catra's lips pulled back and Adora could see her fangs gnashing as she stood up, easily knocking Adora off of her. "Is that what you think is going on?" She asked, her voice low and dangerous.

"Queen Angella gave us this mission and instructed me to look after-"

"You know what, Adora?" Catra snarled. "I'm getting real tired of you thinking you're better than me."

Adora scoffed. "I do not -"

"You and your little friends dragged me along on this mission, and then spent the entire time avoiding me!" Catra accused. "You all went off to play hero, checking in only to make sure I didn't decide to start murdering babies or something!"

"Catra," Adora gaped. "That's not-"

Catra cut her off again. "I don't care what you think you were doing, Adora. You want to hang out with your new friends without me, fine! But that bitch you work for has two of my friends in this castle, and unless I do what I'm told, I don't know what will happen to them."

Adora reeled back, as if struck. "What... what are you talking about? The Queen wouldn't -"

Catra sneered. "How would you know? You've been here for months, but you don't really know anything about her, do you? You don't know what is needed to run a kingdom, to command an army."

"I don't need to," Adora argued, but her voice was weak. "I'm just trying to help people. The Rebellion is doing that."

Catra scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Well no need to worry about that. Word's already spreading about how the Mighty She-ra saved the day. Despite the fact that I'm the one who led the evacuation. I'm the one who came up with the plan to lure in the bandits. I'm the one who killed their leader. And I'm the one who nearly got killed because you were having a temper tantrum and lost control of that so-called saviour living in your head."

Adora reeled back, as if struck. "K-killed? What do you mean killed?"

Catra's anger seemed to go back down to a simnmer and she grunted, turning away. "Try to remember, Adora. You got back to the village with your friends, and then transformed. What happened next?"

Adora closed her eyes, and focused. She gasped as her head felt like it was being split in half, and images of wanton violence filled her mind. She watched herself slaughter the attacking bandits, and felt sick as she recalled the feeling of excitement as she plunged her sword through the chest of one man. When she remembered turning on Catra, and the... the arousal at the idea of taking down someone with more skill than a simple bandit, she sprinted to the bathroom and retched violently over the toilet.

Soothing hands gathered her hair away from her face and rubbed her back. She sobbed as she emptied the contents of her stomach until there was nothing left, and allowed herself to be pulled back into Catra's warm embrace, murmuring apologies over and over, even as the anger burned ever higher within her soul.

"Cat-Catra, I'm... I was going to..." she broke down, sobbing into Catra's chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She mumbled over and over again.

"Don't apologize," Catra murmured. "It wasn't you."

"What's happening to me?" She whimpered miserably.

"I don't know," Catra replied honestly.

"I can't tell who I am anymore."

"I can," Catra whispered, running her hands through Adora's hair. "I'm not going to let her take you."

They stayed like that for several minutes before Catra pulled her up to her feet, directing her to drink some water and clean her mouth while she flushed the toilet.

"Do... Do you think the queen would know anything?" She asked cautiously.

"She didn't believe me," Catra explained. "And if you went to her now, she'd just think that I'm manupulating you."

Adora didn't have the energy to defend Angella or her friends, and allowed herself to be pulled back to the bed and into Catra's arms. "What's something that's changed?"

Catra was quiet for a while, stroking her fingers lightly over Adora's arm while purring. "You liked reading."

"Really?" Adora asked. It sort of made sense. She could remember spending hours curled up next to Catra when they were kids, reading whatever texts she could get her hands on. They were usually things like equipment manuals, or field reports, but she could remember going through the reports and pretending she was there, making up entire stories with Catra centered around them. When she got to Bright Moon, that sort of fell by the wayside. The castle supposedly had a massive library, but she had yet to step foot in it. There was always a mission to go on, or training to do with Light Hope, or hanging out with Bow and Glimmer that distracted her until she forgot about it entirely. The memories filled her with dread, and she could feel the golden power of She-ra raging against the edges of her identity, but the sound of Catra's purring chased away the fear, and she felt safe as the power dimmed.

"Sleep, Adora," Catra whispered. "I've got you."

A/N: And now we're starting to get to the main romantic plotline. A lot of stories feature Catra getting the help she needs and Adora being her support as she figures out who she is behind all the trauma and so on, so I wanted to flip it. Catra still has a ton of issues (self-hatred, poor communication skills, inability to work with others) that she needs to work through, but I wanted her to be the one keeping Adora together for once. Their relationship and growing codependence might not be the healthiest thing in the real world, but I wanted to make a story about them striking out on their own and shedding the manipulations and destinies and such.

(Also, I read Long Live the King on AO3 and - setting aside the smut - I liked the idea the author went with and wanted to do something similar)

Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing!

TTFN