Soups
Struggling to balance a large tray with smoking, tiny pots between her pincers, Scorpia smiled.
"Hi! I didn't see you at lunch. Or breakfast. "she greeted her friend.
"I like working as I eat, but people complain if I do that during meals. "Entrapta explained, her eyes set on her tablet.
She sat at the edge of a gully with Emily resting at her right side. They weren't too far from the camp, since Entrapta had promised the others to not wander around, but it was far enough to give her some peace as she worked.
"But don't worry!" Entrapta added in " I found lots of mushroons and berries at the forest. According to my data about wild food, there's 97% of chance that any of these aren't poisonous." she pointed with her hair a basket full of 'wild food' behind herself and giggled maniacally.
"Oh. Good." Scorpia forced a smile "I think that they'll do it greatly with this soup we had for lunch today. I remembered that you said that soup always made you feel better. And I found these tiny p..." she trailled off, as tentacles of purple hair grabbed the pots, taking care to not spill the hot liquid.
Entrapta hungrily drank all the soup and licked at every drop left in the tiny pots, for the scorpion princess' happyness.
"More?" she asked.
"No, thanks. But it was delicious!" with now genuine animation, Entrapta returned the pots to the tray, before resuming her previous position at the tablet.
Putting her now lighter burden away, Scorpia sat at the other side of her friend.
"Y'know, before Catra and I started to work together, I avoided eating at the Horde refectory whenever I could. " she started "Nobody wanted to talk to me because they believed that I was promoted to Force Capitain only for my princess condition. So, I kinda know what you're going through. But you've got to be patient. In time, everybody'll realize how lucky they are for having you back! They're just a little upset because of your days in the Horde... which is funny because they accepted me pretty fast, though I spent my whole life in the Horde! But they care about you, even if they don't seem! I was there when Bow and Glimmer tried to exchange you for Catra. They did all but crying when you said you would stay with us, don't you remember? If I wasn't so angry at them for kidnapping Catra, I would've felt sorry for both."
Entrapta frowned as she tried to remember the incident. Exchange... exchange... oh, it had been that day when a brother she built for Emily almost destroyed one of the Horde's warehouses because of a loose connection. Luckily, nobody got hurt, but from that day on Kyle always ran whenever he saw Entrapta. She wondered why. Yeah, she remembered vaguely that Bow and Glimmer had talked to her by tablet, but she wasn't paying much attention. So they were sad because of her?
She embraced her tablet against her chest.
"I didn't understand when they said they had came for me. " she muttered "Why would they, if they had left me in the Fright Zone? But then, I didn't know that Catra had lied to me."
She gave a sad look at Scorpia, whom shook her head in sympathy. Both had been manipulated and mistreated by someone they cared for.
"They weren't always nice to me, before I joined the Horde." Entrapta went on"Bow told me that you have to give all of you to make friendship work. I'm trying, but nothing I can do is good enough. I think that being a good friend is beyond my habilities."
"That's not true! You're a wonderful friend! You've always treated me better than anyone else in the Fright Zone." Scorpia protested energically. A shadow crossed her face, making her sigh "You were my best friend before I defected. Too bad I took one year to realize that, after Catra sent you to Beast Island. I wasted all those months waiting for her to realize she had wronged you! So, if someone is a bad friend, it's me."
"We already discussed this " Entrapta retorted a bit impatiently "Catra made me a big favor senting me there! The entire place is full of precious First Ones tech! Anyway, Hordak no longer needed me." She pulled her mask on and started to type furiously "When the war is over, I'm going back there. No matter what people say."
Scorpia's eyes lit up in understanding. She looked at the tray on the grass, thinking how to say that... no, no, she shouldn't. Bow had asked – demanded – everyone to not talk about Hordak in Entrapta's presence. He looked angry then, something rare for Bow. Scorpia looked up from the tray to Emily, which was still resting at Entrapta's opposite side. Thanks to the robot, Scorpia had enough courage to abandon the only world she had known, so she would do the right thing. For Entrapta. Bow had good intentions, but... it was clear that concealing the truth wasn't doing any good for her.
"Hordak didn't know you were in Beast Island." Scorpia blurted out.
Entrapta froze. She didn't leave, but slid a bit away from her friend, forcing Emily to step aside.
"It is true! I didn't tell you before because of Bow. Please don't be angry at him, but he asked everyone to not mention Hordak in front of you because that disturbed you. He seems to think that Hordak... hurt you."
"That's absurd!" Entrapta jumped to her feet at the same time she pulled her mask up " Why would Hordak hurt me? We were lab partners!"
Scorpia cringed at such a violent reaction. But better angry than bitter. She showed her palms, err, her pincers up in confusion.
"Yeah. He yelled a lot and punished his soldiers by telling them to clean latrines or banished them to dangerous places... but I never heard that he had hit someone. Catra lied to him. She was scared about what Hordak would do to her when he learned that she tazed you. So she told him that you had helped the other princesses in. And Hordak... I rarely saw him after the portal mess, but anyone could see that he didn't take your disappearance well. He forbid us to say your name and had your stuff removed from his lab. Soon after that, Catra took over the Fright Zone and turned everything upside down."
Entrapta turned her back to Scorpia as the taller woman spoke, her fists spinning like mixer paddles, her body shivering. The scorpion princess got up slowly and stood behind her friend as moral support, but didn't touch her. She knew that Entrapta hated to be touched when she was stimming. Emily approached them, beeping with concern, and Entrapta leaned on her. Her hands touched the cold metal of the robot, for comfort.
"H-How did Hordak let Catra usurp him? He never trusted her!" she stuttered as soon as she calmed herself a bit.
"I don't know. Catra laughed a lot and said that she had found Hordak's weak spot – oops, that rhymed. That's why he would have to do as she said if he didn't wat to be humiliated in front of the entire Fright Zone. I always thought that Hordak's weak spot was you, no offense... I guess the right word is soft spot. But since you were no longer around, it had to be another thing."
Entrapta touched the right pocket of her overalls, feeling the smooth borders of a losangled object that shouldn't be there. Her heart ran fast, just like in that horrible moment when she found the crystal at the Fright Zone forge. A few minutes before, Bow had ran to look for Glimmer, leaving Swift Wind to babysit her. Fortunately, the winged unicorn distracted himself easily, so Entrapta could run to the ruins of the Fright Zone. She was there long enough to pick up not only the crystal, but also a few useful pieces of technology. Her so-called friends lectured her when she went back, but none of them asked if she hadn't been looking for anything else besides broken gadgets. Not even Adora, who was raised in that place, asked Entrapta if she had loved ones there and was worried about them. Hordak and Imp. Both had disappeared. She never had any clues of where the little devilish baby had gone, and about Hordak... Bow had told them angrily how the warlord tried to kill Glimmer before both vanished in the air (by teleport, of course!).
Those bad news just enlarged the dark hole that ate her heart since she woke up in the transport to Beast Island.
"Are you ok? Oh God, I knew I shouldn't have told you..." Scorpia's voice brought her back, reminding Entrapta that she wasn't alone.
"No!"the princess of Dryl whirled around and grabbed Scorpia's spiky shoulders with her hair, forcing the taller woman to bend until her face was almost touching Entrapta's"I mean, you did great! All fits together, now!"
Releasing Scorpia, she paced around as she made gestures with her hair and hands.
"During my first months at Beast Island, I expected that Hordak would send someone to rescue me. But the days went on and on, and I thought that he didn't need me anymore, since the portal had fulfilled its purpose." She ranted until she stopped abruptly, with a distressed look that would shock anybody whom knew her "Why did it never ocurred me that Catra could have lied to Hordak? Why did he believe her?"
"I think that none of you wanted to believe that Catra would be able to stoop so low. She has this kind of power over people."Scorpia offered as she scratched her head.
The two women smiled as exchanged a long, understanding look.
"Look, I'm truly sorry about you and Hordak. I know you're fond of him. But he's our enemy now. King Micah said that probably Horde Prime knows so much about Etheria because Hordak gave these informations to him." Scorpia warned.
"Or Catra. She disappeared, too" Entrapta remembered her, not noticing Scorpia's hurt look.
"Maybe" the white-haired woman sighed "Anyway, it would be better if you didn't mention Hordak in front of others, okay? For all we know, he could be one of those white-washed guys who can only say 'Glooory be to Horde Prriiiiime!'"" she imitated the clones with a deep, rough voice and gave a half-hearted smile "But at least you two had good moments together – bether than the ones I had with Catra. And now you know you made a difference in his life, right?
"Scorpiaaaa!" a child called.
The two women turned around to see Frosta running towards them. When the ice princess noticed who Scorpia was talking to, she stopped dead on her tracks and scowled.
"Hi, Frosta!" Entrapta waved with a hair-hand, obliviously.
"Scorpia, Netossa is making a volleyball net! I want you in my team!" Frosta called.
"Volleyball? Wow! Nobody never invited to play ball games before!" Scorpia cheered up for a few seconds, before remembering shamefully that Entrapta was still around and hadn't been invited. Her face fell.
"Uh... are you sure? My pincers will ruin the ball! And I may accidentally sting someone who'll come too close, I can't help."
"Frosta can cover your pincers, spikes and tail with ice," Entrapta suggested with a grin, before she covered her face again "Your exoesqueleton won't get frostbite."
"Good idea! Did you hear that, Frosta? I'm going to play volleyball!" Scorpia gleamed "And about you, Entrapta? With your hair, you c..." she turned around, but her purple-haired friend and the robot had vanished.
Sighing, Scorpia ran towards Frosta, whom impatiently took her pincer, leading her to the place where they were mounting the volleyball net.
"I'm coming back to pick up the tray later", the scorpion woman thought.
Turned into a giant ball of hair, Entrapta rolled down the gully to the prairie bellow, followed closely by Emily. As soon as she felt a flat plain, she stretched long, thick strands of hair to brake, slowing down gradually. Emily went a bit farther, but, as a robot, she could control her rolling better than her master. She easily made a turn and rolled back to Entrapta, whom had undone her hair and now lied panting on the grass, her precious handmade tablet on her lap.
"I'm so glad that Frosta came to get Scorpia, Emily!" Entrapta heaved, as soon the world stopped spinning "She was very nice to me, but now I need to think. And I think much better when I'm alone."
Emily started turning around, but Entrapta stopped her with her hair.
"Not you! I didn't mean all alone. You're able to be quiet when I'm thinking aloud. But Scorpia is not, as much as she tries. That's the advantage of having robot friends: you guys don't feel ignored if I do anything else while I'm talking to you."
She pulled her record from her pocket.
"Log 103... no, 4... fourth day of second camping. Everything makes sense, now. I knew that Hordak wouldn't throw the crystal away. He really liked it! He and Catra must have had a fight and she pulled the crystal off his armor... this is my fault! I should have installed the crystal inside his armor, or reinforced it, so it wouldn't be taken so easily. But it looked so cute on him!" she felt tears forming on her eyes "Everything went wrong. Hordak and Glimmer are missing. My friends from the Alliance actually wanted me back, but I dismissed them. That's why the princesses won't talk to me. And the rest – Bow, Adora and Micah - treat me like a child. I may not be good at people, but they shouldn't keep secrets from me!" unable to keep recording, she embraced her legs and started crying.
Scorpia was wrong. She was a bad friend. Because of her distractions, she had lost the only person who understood her. The only one who treated her like an equal. Forever. Maybe dead. The Bright Moon guard had killed a lot of clones before the castle was evacuated.
"I don't care if he's our enemy..." she said between sobs "I just want to see him again..."
Something hard poked her leg. Grudgingly, Entrapta looked up to see Emily was staring at her with her big pink eye. Once she got her master's attention, the robot looked at a group of nearby trees. Then she look at Entrapta and to the trees again. Used to Emily's body language, the princess quickly understood that Emily wanted to be followed and complied, more than grateful for having a distraction. Once they were under the shadow of the trees, Emilly started projecteding a hologram record against the trunks, so the image would be clearer. A warm, comforting feeling overwhelmed Entrapta as she recognized the laboratory where she once had been so happy.
"Log 101, first day after the explosion of the Portal. "her holographic version said "We're collecting what's left of the destroyed machines. We'll have to start from scratch..."
Entrapta sat on the grass to watch. Hordak was standing in the background, making her heart ache. He looked so atractive with the new armor and his hair pushed aside! But, what was he doing? He was staring at his own reflex on one of the vitrines. Funny, because Hordak usually hated seeing himself. Whenever he had a glimpse of his image, he looked away. But now... despite her difficult into reading expressions, even she could see that he was enjoying his new look. And he was touching the crystal on his neck as he smiled.
Oblivious to her lab partner's strange behaviour, Holo Entrapta (as the real one mentally called her copy) kept rambling to her record.
"On the bright side, the new armor I made for Hordak seems to be working fine. Except for occasional shocks, but..."
At the mention of his name, Hordak pulled his hand and whirled around, looking so guilty that Imp and the real Entrapta snickered. Before her holographic counterpart could check the reason of such hilarity, the door of the sanctum opened. It was a robot, bringing a tray with the lunch for Lord Hordak and Imp – a ration bar.
And also...
"You asked for soup?" Holo Entrapta asked in shock "I thought you didn't like it!"
"That is for you" Hordak explained, as he broke a small piece of the bar and handed it to Imp "Force Capitain Scorpia told me you preferred eating in your laborathory. I thought we could eat togeth... hrm" (he cleared his throat)"to avoid wasting time."
Holo Entrapta tasted the green, smoking content of one of the pots.
"This is not ration soup! It's pea soup! Hmmm!" she licked her lips "I haven't eaten this since I left Dryl!"
Entrapta remembered that moment well. However, back then she hadn't seen Hordak's reaction because she had her back turned away from him. Now she could see him smiling as he watched her enjoying the food he had ordered especially for her.
Once again, her eyes filled with tears.
"A few officials buy food on the black market. I pretend to ignore it because I know that you Etherians ocasionally need something that please your palates, even if it is not as nutritious as the ration bars." Hordak explained as he ate.
He spoke with his mouth full (Entrapta had learned that wasn't socially aceptable), but in spite of this, his manners were almost graceful, like Catra's. He ate slowly, munching one piece at time, and ocasionally making faces. It could be nutritious, but even him didn't find it savoury.
"Oh. So that's how Scorpia got all that hot chocolate! Clever!" Holo Entrapta laughed, as she finished eating. She stared thoughtfully at the now empty pots.
"You, too, should please your palate" she blurted out.
Hordak startled, at a point that Holo Entrapta thought he had choked. She formed a big hand of hair to pat his back, when he turned around, scowling. Sheepishly, she unmade the hand. For a very awkward moment, he stared at her, as if he was planning to say something, but gave up.
"If you're done, let's go back to work," he commanded as he turned towards his worktable, but Holo Entrapta didn't let him go more than two steps. She jumped on hair-legs and cut his pace.
"You heard me! Why can't you allow yourself to have the same things you allow your soldiers? Everybody here complains about how strict you are, but from what I've observed, you're a lot stricter to yourself!"
Back when Emily recorded that holo-video, Entrapta hadn't understood the strange look on Hordak's face at that moment. But now, after spending the last two months helping to evacuate some villages and treating wounded people, she could recognize it.
Suffering.
"You wouldn't understand" he answered wearily.
"Try me! You've already admitted that I'm the most intelligent person you ever met in Etheria."
Hordak looked away, then back to her, with resignation.
"I have no right to have the same the privileges as my creator."he stated "We clones are made to his image, but we are beneath him. We're not worthy to enjoy the pleasures aimed to Horde Prime and the few ones he favors."
"But you don't mind if your subordinates enjoy these pleasures." She insisted.
"Your culture is very different from ours. The people of this planet have many ways of thinking that are beyond me. I can't be too indulgent in order to not lose the respect of my troops, but I can't forbid things they see as 'natural', or I would have a rebellion running in my own army."
Holo Entrapta squealed in delight.
"You understand social dynamics! I have tried to decipher behaviour patterns for years and I haven't gotten even close to this!"she beamed, her eyes gleaming with admiration.
Hordak gave a half-smile.
"I may not be a native, but I have been stranded here long before you were born."
"Actually, I was a kid. I'm 30 years now." she supplied.
His non-existant eyebrows raised, signaling that he thought she was a lot younger. Again, that pained look crossed his face.
"Thirty years. It looked so much more than that." he muttered wistfully " I was forced to adaptate to this world, in order to fulfill my plan. I made myself a name and changed my appearance, so I would be feared by my enemies and soldier. Hope that Horde Prime will understand these sacrifices were necessary."
Holo Entrapta stared at him in shock.
"He didn't even allow you to have a name" she constated "And friends, are they forbidden, too?"
As an answer, the Lord of the Fright Zone leaned on his work table, his back turned to her. His shoulders tensed and his talons curled, as if he wanted to dig them in the metal of the table. Holo Entrapta touched his shoulder with a pigtail.
"It's okay. You don't have to answer. I am sorry I have pressed you like this. Thanks for the soup." Dejectedly, she turned around to walk back to the device she had been fixing before lunch.
Hordak looked upon his shoulder. It was unusual from his lab partner giving up when her curiosity was piqued. Still, she had just let that go... for him? His eyes were round and his mouth opened, which meant surprise. As Entrapta watched that, she wondered if that was the first time Hordak had someone caring about whatever he would feel. If he would feel hurt by words or another sort of threatment.
Probably it was.
"No, wait. I..." the villain called as he strode after her "I think I understand your curiosity about my past."
"You do?" she played with her hair, avoiding to look at him"I know I can be a bit too much, but I can't help."
Hordak started to reach, but stopped himself from touching her.
"Answering your question, I never could understand the meaning of this 'friendship' word you Etherians seem to consider so precious." He spoke slowly, clearly choosing his words "Until recently."
Holo Entrapta gasped and whirled around, her eyes eagerly searching for his. Real Entrapta barely could breath, anticipating the next part.
"But now, it is one of the rare things I allow myself to have while I am here." Hordak finished, smiling timidly.
Both Holo and Real Entraptas smiled back at him, with identical shining eyes.
"That's enough, Emily. Thank you so much." The scientist sniffled.
Their exchange of looks wouldn't last more than a few seconds, before they would compose themselves and go back to their respective works. And she wanted to keep that moment in her mind, the way it was before it had been broken. Too bad that, back then, none of the two had realized they had done something much more important than building a portal.
Both had put each other's feelings above their own interestes and issues.
As soon as Emily turned off the records, her master hugged her tightly. The round robot would be smiling, if she could.
"Let's go back before someone'll come after us." She said with confidence, her hair lifting her as it turned into four long legs.
If the other thought she had broken her promise and ran off, they'd no longer allow her to leave the camp by herself. Not that they could really stop her, but Entrapta realized that she really wanted to earn their trust. Maybe Scorpia was right and she could be friends with them again – really friends, this time.
More two strands of hair picked up her tablet, as she draw her record again.
"Log 104, afterthought " she started "I just watched the holo-record Emily made the day after the portal exploded. Thanks to all the data I gathered during these two months by observing the other members of the camp, I noticed several nuances in Hordak's behaviour that I hadn't seen when we worked together. He really liked... he likes me. More than I thought. He's not the monster everyone talks he is, but a victim of the system that created him. Apparently, Horde Prime has a strong hold over him, much like Catra had over Scorpia. Or, more acurately, like the First Ones virus had over my robots. That confirms my theory that clones are like robots, thus they are programmed to conquer planets. Which means that Hordak is not completely guilty from the terrible things everyone attributes to him."
She was forced to silence because escalating the gully litterally took her breath away. Once she and Emily where back up there, the inventor stood in silence for a moment, resting. Voices came from the camp – probably from the volleyball game – but she didn't bother with them.
"Now that I am more calm, I don't believe that Hordak is – or was – among the clones that attacked Etheria. If Micah is right, Horde Prime must be receiving informations about us from Hordak. That means my lab partner is somewhere up there on space, along with Glimmer. And... Catra." She paused with a frown, before shrugging the cat away. Thinking about Catra was disturbing. Apparently, her once-alleged friend lived to make all people around her unhappy. She didn't worth Entrapta's thought.
"Since Glimmer tried to save me from the Horde, it is just fair that I'll help saving her now. " Entrapta concluded as she loaded a few schematics on her tablet. A big drawing popped up, showing a object with a form similar to a fork.
"At some point, Horde Prime will have to install a basis of communications on Etheria, so he'll be able to contact his clones and Etherian people. Probably some kind of antenna. If I'll get close enough to this antenna, or whatever, I'll be able to catch the sign of Horde Prime's ship."
She paused, a smile spreading from ear to ear.
"I'm going to space!"
THE END
NOTES:
Insects (and arachnoids, like scorpions) don't get frostbite. There's a video on youtube explaining they can be frozen during winter and wake up aparently unscathed when ice melts.
We never see Hordak eating in the series, but I like thinking his manners aren't as bad as 80s Hordak's, whom ate like a pig. And also, would be another thing he'd have in common with Catra.
Please don't wish death to Bow and Frosta (and the rest of the camp). Bow was scared to see Entrapta depressed at Beast Island as she said that 'things with Hordak were confusing". And he saw Hordak attacking Glimmer! So it would be natural if he thought that Hordak was abusive of Entrapta.
As I said in the synopsis, this fanfic happens before the beginning of S5, thus before Launch. Like many fans, I was furious at the way Frosta, Perfuma and Mermista treated Entrapta in that episode. But it doesn't mean that they are Cinderella's evil sisters, like many comic artists and ficwriters portrait them. Mermista showed more than once that she actually cares about Entrapta, in her rough ways. And Frosta covered Adora, Bow and Swift Wind when they ran from Bright Moon to rescue Entrapta from Beast Island, so she showed some concern about her, too. But we know how brattish Frosta can be 'sometimes'. One of the biggest charms of She-Ra is that the 'good' guys are full of flaws and can be mean, just like the bad guys can do some good.