"I am not going to kill Catra."

Adora said it firmly, sternly. Her unwavering figure was reminiscent of her warrior goddess form even as she stood in her Horde reds with her hair tied back. Her arms were crossed, her feet braced, her jaw set. She looked ready to go to war over this (she had, before).

Glimmer pressed on as if she didn't even notice. "You have to." She faced Adora from the seat next to the queen's at the council table, still unable to take her mother's place just yet.

They had just concluded the latest Rebellion war meeting. Everyone had agreed that it was time to make a decisive move against the Horde; go on the offensive now, while the enemy was still reeling from the aftermath of the portal. Plus—if it could be counted as a plus—Shadow Weaver was on their side.

Adora had agreed right up until Glimmer explained exactly how she wanted to cripple the Horde.

"No!" she cried for seemingly the hundredth time since the other princesses had been dismissed from the room. She grunted in frustration and gripped her forehead with one hand. "You guys sound just like Light Hope." When she looked up at her two friends, her eyes were big and pleading. "Can't we come up with a plan that doesn't involve me killing Catra?" As much as she tried to control it, her voice wavered noticeably on the last bit.

Glimmer still did not care. "She killed my mom!"

Bow grimaced awkwardly, still trying to play the peaceful mediator even as the two girls' frustrations escalated on either side of him. "She's not—dead," he corrected, raising a finger to emphasize the technicality.

And, though he may have been right, "She's effectively dead!" Glimmer fumed, turning her sparking magenta gaze on him with blazing intensity. When he cowered a little in his seat, the new queen returned her focus to Adora to explain tightly, almost grudgingly, "Look. We're not actually asking you to kill Catra. Even though she deserves it." She said the last part in a low growl.

Adora's expression crumpled in confusion. "You're not?"

"What we want you to do is almost kill her," Bow specified, smiling as if now the idea were infinitely more comforting.

It was not.

"What?"

"Yeah. It's the perfect plan," Glimmer backed him up. She crossed her arms in an authoritative echo of Adora's pose and explained, "We give her one more chance to see the light."

"It will be a huge wake-up call," Bow put in.

"And if she doesn't change her mind after that…" Glimmer trailed off and shrugged, feigning a very weak façade of regret.

"But she will!" the archer assured quickly. "So we don't need to worry about that."

Adora looked between them for a long moment, painfully unconvinced. She dreaded asking the next question, but figured she didn't have much choice. The two of them seemed like they'd already discussed this without her and decided it really was their best option. She was outvoted. "So how am I supposed to do this?" she ventured with a sigh.

"Stab her, silly," Glimmer provided with a roll of her eyes like that was the most ridiculous question—like she hadn't just given the most ridiculous answer—ever.

"What!" Adora practically shrieked. Couldn't they try something a little less…you know, deadly? "So how do I make sure I don't accidentally actually kill her?"

"You're She-Ra!" Bow explained brightly, like that was a reassuring fact and not the absolute root of the problem.

"That's actually way less comforting than people realize."

"What he means is, you can heal people," Glimmer said in a more measured tone, although it had the perhaps intended side effect of coming across extremely patronizing. Of course. It was much easier to act calm when you didn't care a lick for the proposed victim. "You just poke her with the sword, wait till her blood and guts are spilled all over the floor—"

"Okay! Okay. I get it," Adora cut her off before her explanation got even more graphic. She got it, but she very much did not like it. She would honestly try anything else before happily agreeing to stab Catra to the point of death. Or…almost death. But nobody else cared whether she was happy about it. All they cared about was beating the Horde, and if this seemed like the best way to do it then she didn't get a choice. She was She-Ra, the protector of the people. She was pretty much designed to do whatever they wanted. And if they wanted her to be a heartless weapon, well, that was her fate. Shoulders slumping in defeat, she demanded weakly, "Whose idea was this, again?"

"Glimmer's," Bow volunteered.

"Right. Of course."

Glimmer either took that as an expression of agreement or willfully ignored the heavy sarcasm imbued in the statement, because she plowed on decisively, "So it's settled, then?"

"No!" Adora could not sit here and take this any longer. She was sick of being run over; pushed to the side by the popular vote because she was She-Ra, as if that meant she had less say instead of more. She was the face of the Rebellion, yes, but she was also the Princess of Power, for Hordak's sake! Shouldn't she be able to decide whom she wanted to stab and whom she didn't? "It's not settled! Nothing is settled! This is a terrible idea." She re-crossed her arms stubbornly.

Glimmer faced her with the stubbornness to match. "Do you have a better one?"

Adora didn't, not yet, but she wasn't about to admit that. Instead she insisted, "I'm not going to almost kill my—my—" Crap. She'd slipped. Maybe her friends didn't notice. "Catra, just to—"

"Adora," Glimmer cut her off, an edge in her voice but somehow gentler than before. She stood and rounded the table to Adora and reached out to grip her hands, unwinding her belligerently crossed arms. Even in the midst of her queenly new look, her magenta eyes were still familiar. They held Adora's earnestly. "She has to be stopped. After everything she did…you know that." She gave Adora's hands a comforting squeeze when the blonde dropped her eyes regretfully. "If we don't try something now, you might not get another option later."

Bow, too, stood and moved to Adora's shoulder. The presence of her two friends beside her was admittedly comforting, but not nearly enough to soften the hard truth they were pushing. Especially when the archer clarified gently, caringly, "You might actually have to do it."

"I know! I know." Adora knew better than anyone. She was the one who had to face her old friend on the battlefield every time they engaged the Horde. She was the one who had to look into those two-toned eyes and try to trick herself into believing they were the eyes of her enemy and not the girl she'd known so well. She was the one who would feel it like her own heart being ripped out if Catra ever really did die. And if it happened at her own hands to boot, she wasn't sure she would make it. Gripping her head, trying to push away morbid thoughts of a world without Catra in it, Adora turned away from her friends and their expectant eyes. It took her several deep breaths to work up the nerve to admit, "I'm just afraid that…maybe she still won't change her mind, even if…even if I…"

"Adora," Glimmer interrupted gently. She followed Adora's retreat, stepping close enough to lay a hand on her shoulder. It was meant to be comforting, but it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds; the manifestation of all the responsibility resting squarely on her shoulders. "None of this is your fault," the queen soothed. "No matter what she chooses, it's not your fault."

Adora was silent, because as much as she wanted to believe that, she knew better.

"You've got this, Adora," Bow encouraged as well, placing his hand on her other shoulder.

Adora still knew better.

…