Adora breathed heavily as she steered the skiff through the Whispering Woods. The forest has been almost entirely destroyed by the snow and, while the storm had stopped and moonlight was starting to shine through the clouds, it was clear it would be months before the forest fully recovered.
The Force Captain bit her lip nervously when the Fright Zone came into view. She then glanced down at her unconscious passenger, now lying perfectly still on the floor of the skiff: Catra.
Adora could not help but admire how beautiful she looked. But then she would remember what the feline had done, causing her to frown in anger and frustration.
Catra deserved to die for betraying Hordak. She needed to be punished for her cowardice and insubordination. Adora had even heard Scorpia talking to the Force Commander – the feline had been working with a traitor! Despite all this, however, some part of Adora refused to accept it. She needed Catra. Adora was not sure how and why, but she did.
When they arrived, Adora parked the skiff and gently lifted Catra up, carrying her to the Throne Room.
When Catra woke up, she found herself in a dark room. Her hands were cuffed and her head hurt terribly. Just when the feline's senses told her she was back in the Fright Zone, her suspicions were confirmed by the lights suddenly turning on, revealing she was in the Throne Room. Hordak stood on the stairs leading up to his seat of power – his red eyes glaring down at her.
Catra tried and failed to get up. She was too dizzy to move and too scared to speak. How had she even made it to the Fright Zone so fast? Who had taken control after she was tazed? Was it Adora? Just then, Catra's senses identified the Force Captain standing behind her.
The feline spun her head around, looking for her friend. She saw Adora looking down at her with a dark expression. Catra could not tell if she was angry or sad.
"Force Commander?" Catra gulped. This was it – she was certain of it. Hordak was finally going to kill her.
Catra looked up at the Horde's leader, replying as indifferently as possible:
"Yes, Lord Hordak?" Hordak narrowed his eyes and growled:
"Force Captain Adora says you helped the Queen of Brightmoon escape and that you let her entire army go. She also says you are working with a traitor: Force Captain Scorpia. Is this true?" Catra turned back to look at Adora. The Force Captain looked away sadly.
Realizing that going against Adora's testimony would get her friend in trouble, Catra decided to make the ultimate sacrifice: admit the truth. Yes, Adora was not like she was before Shadow Weaver changed her…but she was still Adora and Catra loved her in spite of everything.
"Yes, it's true."
"I hope Hordak gets back soon! I cannot wait to show him the progress I've made on his new project!" Bow made a half-hearted attempt to reply to Entrapta but the gag still prevented him from communicating. He had been tied up for a couple of hours now, watching helplessly as Entrapta worked to fix Hordak's portal machine.
It had been three hours since Hordak had come down to the Black Garnet chamber to announce that his forces had taken Brightmoon and the war was all but over. He had then ordered Entrapta to stop tampering with the Back Garnet and to go with him to his sanctum. He had a new project for her. Bow had been temporarily untied and dragged to the new location as well.
Entrapta did not seem to have noticed Bow's suffering nor his many attempts at getting her attention. At this point, Bow had all but given up hope of escape; but he was still clinging to the possibility that Entrapta would listen to him if he could just get his gag removed.
As Bow was about to try biting through the rag for the twentieth time, Lonnie suddenly burst into the sanctum. Entrapta, who was engrossed in her work, barely acknowledged her presence. The new Force Captain headed straight for Bow and roughly pulled off his gag.
"Okay, Rebel Scum, you have ten seconds to tell me whether or not Catra is secretly working for the Rebellion!"
"Catra helped the Rebellion? Are you serious?!"
"Absolutely! She told me to take Glimmer, Mermista and Perfuma back to Brightmoon! She gave me a secret mission to tell her what you were up to once we got there but…after what Queen Angella said, I'm not so sure she was using that information to hurt you…" Glimmer scoffed at Scorpia's words:
"You're lying! You have to be lying! I saw you fighting Catra – you stung her!" Scorpia visibly grimaced at the memory, mumbling:
"She told me to. It had to look real…" Mermista groaned in frustration but was soon soothed by Sea Hawk massaging her shoulders.
The pirate had rushed to the aid of the princesses by picking them up in his ship after Mermista had got them all to the sea. He had taken them to the Kingdom of Snows, and they were now installed in Princess Frosta's palace, Queen Angella had finally told everyone about how Catra had sacrificed herself to save her. She had also related how the feline had let Juliet and the whole army go. The queen had not yet mentioned Adora.
The story of Catra's heroism had led to doubt and confusion from the princesses that Scorpia had felt compelled to explain. That explanation had now turned into a full confession.
Netossa, who had asked the initial question, finally resumed her interrogation:
"Okay, Scorpia. Assuming you're telling the truth, and Catra really is helping us, why is she? What are you not telling us?"
Scorpia, who was currently tied in Perfuma's vines while standing before Frosta's throne, looked at the woman who literally held her life in her hands and said:
"One of the Force Captains threatened to kill Perfuma and the others. She wanted to hurt me too. Catra was trying to save our lives." An awkward silence descended over the Great Hall. After nearly a moment had passed, Frosta asked:
"And who is this Force Captain?" Queen Angella then spoke up for the first time since Scorpia's initial confession:
"It was Adora. She's alive."
"Well, Adora, I must congratulate you. It seems you have uncovered one of the greatest traitors the Horde has ever known." Adora barely heard what Hordak was saying. She could not take her eyes off Catra.
Since the feline's confession, she had remained sitting on the floor of the Throne Room, not trying to get up or even look up at anything at all. Catra seemed resigned to her fate and Adora could not understand why she was not trying to offer up some justification for her actions. Hordak continued:
"Bring her to my sanctum. I have a machine that's well-suited for dealing with animals like her." As Hordak marched past the two women, heading for his sanctum, Adora looked desperately at Catra.
The Force Captain knew Hordak was going to hurt the feline…he might even kill her! The blonde pulled the former Force Commander off the ground and whispered urgently in her ear:
"I know you're not a traitor – I know it! If you just explain why you did it, I'm sure Hordak'll listen to you!" Catra looked at Adora with an expression of mild surprise before giving her a small smile:
"Nice to know you care, Princess…"
When Catra was brought into Hordak's sanctum, the first thing that caught her eye was the giant machine at the end of the room. The next thing she saw was Entrapta attaching something to the device with her sentient hair.
As Catra began to scan the room properly, she was surprised to see Bow being interrogated by Lonnie, who now had a Force Captain's badge. They both stopped talking when they saw her. Hordak then ordered Adora to bring Catra into the darkest corner of the room.
Adora gently pushed Catra to the ground, allowing her to kneel on the floor instead of falling face first. When Catra looked back up, her eyes met Hordak's. The leader of the Horde motioned for Adora to move back before leaning forward and snarling:
"I didn't want to do this, Catra, but you leave me no choice. This is what happens to traitors." With that, Hordak pulled a lever and all the air seemed to suddenly disappear, leaving Catra in a vacuum.
At first, the feline panicked and tried to move. She quickly found, however, that she was also unable to stand up due to an artificially increased gravitational pull.
As Catra collapsed to the ground, convulsing from lack of air and gradually losing control of her senses, the feline used all her remaining strength to turn her head to look at Adora. Catra wanted the last thing she saw to be the one good thing in her life. However, by the time she had managed to focus on her friend, the blonde had charged forward, leaping over Catra and attacking Hordak.
Catra gave a tiny smile before passing out yet again. She was right: Adora was still in there, protecting her until the end.
"ADORA! ADORA!" Bow kept screaming his friend's name, desperate for her to acknowledge him and explain what was happening. After Lonnie's initial question about Catra's loyalty, Bow had denied knowing anything about anything, pleading with the Force Captain to let him go and calling out to Entrapta with no success. Lonnie had been about to reapply Bow's gag when Hordak had suddenly walked in, followed by a handcuffed Catra and Adora in a full suit of Horde armour.
Both Bow and Lonnie had gasped in astonishment. Adora's hair was cut short and her expression was dark and distant. She did not look over at them, instead pushing Catra to the ground in a corner of Hordak's sanctum.
Bow had called over to Adora but had received no response. He had then watched in horror as Hordak activated the machine and Catra collapsed. At this moment, Lonnie had audibly gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. Even Entrapta had stopped what she was doing and made her way over and see what was happening. It was at this moment that Adora had attacked.
The blonde had leapt over Catra's limp body, landing on Hordak and forcing him to the ground. Adora had then turned off the machine, which had led to Hordak roaring in anger, firing his weapon directly at the blonde's face. He had narrowly missed her, but his laser had left a long cut down the left-side of her face. Adora had screamed in pain, pulled out her trusty stun baton, and hit Hordak so violently that he passed out.
After a moment of terrifying silence, Bow started screaming:
"Adora? ADORA!"
"Adora is dead. I saw Shadow Weaver kill her…" Glimmer's face was pale as she recalled the memory. Queen Angella shook her head and approached her daughter, pulling her in for a hug. She whispered:
"She's alive. She's not herself…but it's her." Swift Wind whinnied, exclaiming:
"That explains it! I've been feeling like I still had a connection with She-Ra! I just wasn't sure how it was possible!" Mermista hit the buffet table angrily:
"Hello? Are we forgetting that it was Adora who attacked us?! She's working with Catra and is clearly no longer on our side! She even tried to kill the queen! We have to treat her like the enemy she is!" Netossa sighed, propping herself up on her crutches:
"Unfortunately, Mermista's right. Adora's not in her right mind and she's dangerous. It's great that she's alive, but we've got to accept that she's now a member of the Horde." Frosta rolled her eyes:
"So, the honorary princess who ruined Princess Prom also betrayed you and joined the enemy? That's not very surprising." This got Glimmer mad, causing her to yell:
"Hey, watch it! Adora was…is our friend! She was distracted at Princess Prom just like the rest of us! And it wasn't her who ruined your party – it was Catra!" Frosta scoffed:
"Oh, please! The second Catra walked in, Adora was all over her. I may be only eleven but I know a homoerotic dance when I see one. They were working together!" Several of the princesses blushed, remembering Catra dipping Adora. Angella then frowned:
"Princess Frosta, regardless of whatever romantic affiliation you claim to have witnessed, it does not change the fact that Adora is She-Ra and she pledged her allegiance to the Rebellion. She helped us save the kingdoms of almost everyone in this room, fighting the Horde and Catra on numerous occasions! I am certain something has been done to her to make her act this way!" Mermista hummed loudly:
"I don't know…the emotionless child has a point. She never actually killed any of the Horde's soldiers, did she?" Glimmer crossed her arms angrily:
"Should she have?" Ignoring her, Mermista continued:
"And what about Catra? Did she ever hurt her?" Scorpia nodded slowly, murmuring:
"They hurt each other. A lot."
Adora finally turned to face the dark-skinned boy in the crop top. He was tied to the pipes behind her, and the Force Captain standing next to him pulled out her stun baton. Before Adora could do anything, however, a woman with long sentient purple hair suddenly appeared in front of her. She looked right past the blonde, staring at Hordak's fallen body and shouting in alarm:
"Hordak!" Adora grabbed the woman's shirt and pulled her towards her while growling:
"Who are you?" The princess gave a hesitant smile before chirping nervously:
"Hey Adora! I'm Entrapta! Nice to meet you again!" Adora glared at Entrapta, snarling:
"You're a princess…Hordak was working with a princess?" The other Force Captain, who was still standing by the tied up boy, activated her stun baton. The boy then yelled:
"Adora! What's happening? Is Catra okay? Are you okay? Please say something!" Adora raised an eyebrow at the boy:
"And who are you supposed to be?" The Force Captain responded for him:
"I'm Force Captain Lonnie and this is Bow. He works for the Rebellion and I was interrogating him." Adora nodded slowly, muttering:
"In Hordak's sanctum? He must be an important member of the Rebellion to be held here…" Adora then let Entrapta go, pushing her to the ground. The princess fell down with a thud and Adora turned around, rushing to where Catra lay motionless on the floor.
As the blonde cradled Catra in her arms, Lonnie slowly walked towards them both. As she did, she spoke slowly and deliberately:
"Okay, Adora, we can do this the easy way or the hard way…put Catra down and surrender!" Adora looked up at Lonnie. Her eyes were filled with pain as she stood up and silently showed Lonnie Catra's Force Commander badge. Pinning it on her armour, Adora then announced:
"I'm now the leader of the Horde. Both Hordak and Catra worked with princesses, meaning they have betrayed the very mandate of this army. You now work for me." Lonnie raised her eyebrow, considering her options.
If Kyle and Rogelio had been there, she would have ignored Adora and the three of them would have taken her down. They were not there, however, and the only people who could have helped her were either tied up or knocked out. So Lonnie made the only logical choice she could:
"Alright. Whatever you say, Adora."
"Lord Adora. You'll address me as Lord Adora." Lonnie nodded nervously. Bow gasped in disbelief while Entrapta got back up and ran back towards the machine she had been working on. Adora continued:
"Now then, I want you to take Hordak to the cells. I'll deal with Catra." Lonnie nodded once more, awkwardly saluting as she did so. She then threw her former employer over her shoulder and walked out of the room. As Adora turned back to Catra, Bow yelled:
"Adora, please! You don't mean that – you can't! You're She-Ra! You're our friend! You-" Adora interrupted him:
"She-Ra? Who's She-Ra?" Before Bow could answer, Catra stirred. Adora ignored him and fell to her knees next to her friend.
When Catra woke up, the person she saw was Adora. She still had her short hair and they were both still in Hordak's sanctum. Adora looked concerned, whispering:
"It's okay, it's just me. Are you alright?" Catra nodded slowly, trying to get up and realizing her hands were still cuffed. She murmured:
"Well, I'm not dead. That's got to count for something." The feline then looked back at Adora, noticing a long red cut down the left side of her face. It cut Adora's eyebrow in two and Catra realized it was bleeding.
The Force Commander immediately forced herself up, summoning all her strength to raise her cuffed hands and hold Adora's face in her hands, saying:
"Adora, you're bleeding! What happened? Are you alright?" Adora gave a small smile, blushed and nodded, clearly enjoying Catra's touch way too much. The sweet moment was interrupted by Bow, who Catra had forgotten was in the room.
"Catra, are you okay? What's going on over there?" Adora growled angrily, standing up and walking over to Bow:
"Did I give you permission to be speak, prisoner? Shut up!" Bow's face went pale as he pleaded:
"Adora, please! You're scaring me!" Adora's expression changed as she crossed the room. Gone was the earnest love and concern she had for Catra. Now she was the ruthless leader of the Horde, and she was going to teach this Rebel Scum a lesson.
As Adora pulled out her stun baton again, activating it and raising it above her head, Catra yelled:
"NOOO! Adora, stop!" Adora lowered her weapon and turned back to face the feline. Catra sighed, saying:
"You're not thinking clearly. You haven't been thinking clearly for a long time. A while ago, Shadow Weaver messed with your head. Do you remember that?" Adora furrowed her brow, nodding uncertainly. Catra continued:
"She made you forget a lot of things. She made you forget that you used to be a member of the Rebellion and all the princesses were your friends. You used to fight me and everyone else here. You don't want to hurt Bow, Adora. He's your friend." Adora's face was blank.
Two long minutes passed where no one said anything. Entrapta, who was still hiding behind her machine, poked her head out and began whispering excitedly into her recorder. Ignoring her, Adora finally spoke. She looked at Catra, her heart clearly broken:
"You…you lied to me…" Catra started to tear up. Overwhelmed by emotion, Adora turned back to Bow and yelled angrily:
"You said I was She-Ra! Who is She-Ra? Tell me now!"
Bow was panicking. Catra's explanation of what had happened to his friend was so incredible it made sense. He knew he could not tell Adora about the awesome power she wielded as a princess – not when she was in this state. The archer slowly shook his head. This angered Adora, who wrapped her hands around his neck, threatening to strangle him. She screamed in Bow's face:
"WHO IS SHE-RA?! ANSWER ME!" Bow closed his eyes, certain he was going to die. His life quickly flashed before his eyes – Glimmer was in most of it. Just then, he heard Entrapta yell:
"Adora! Stop it!" This made the blonde pause and loosen her grip on Bow. Bow opened his eyes to see Adora staring at Entrapta in confusion. The princess had left the safety of her machine, and was now right next to both of them. She was not hovering above them, however. Instead, she stood on the floor, looking up at Adora with pleading eyes.
Adora narrowed her eyes, let go of Bow, and slapped Entrapta across her face, causing her to fall down. She then turned back to Bow and punched him hard in his stomach, literally taking his breath away for a short period of time. She then turned around and walked menacingly towards Catra.
It was at this point that Bow finally passed out from the stress. The last thing he saw was Entrapta quickly getting her feet, calling his name in concern.
When an awkward silence filled the room, Perfuma finally spoke up:
"Okay, guys? I think this has been enough interrogation for one day. Let's just take a pause, maybe do some meditation-" Mermista groaned:
"NO! Listen, I don't care what Scorpia says! Catra's still the one who took my kingdom from me! She's not innocent and she's definitely not on our side! As soon as we go back out there, she's mine!" The water princess stomped off, followed closely by Sea Hawk and a concerned Spinerella. Netossa then addressed the room:
"Okay, maybe Perfuma's right – let's take a breather! Glimmer, do you mind keeping an eye on Scorpia?" Before Glimmer could speak, Perfuma replied:
"I'll do it! I don't mind…she's wrapped in my vines anyway…" Netossa raised an eyebrow before nodding and leaving the Great Hall, followed by Glimmer and Princess Frosta. Queen Angella watched sadly as they left. Swift Wind then trotted up to her, asking:
"Do you think they believed you when you said Adora was always on our side?" Angella shook her head, sighing:
"I wouldn't have believed me. Why should they?" After the queen and alicorn left the room, Perfuma and Scorpia awkwardly sat down at the foot of Frosta's throne. Scorpia broke the silence by saying:
"So…um…are you doing okay?" Perfuma gave Scorpia a sad smile:
"Not really but thank you for asking. How about you?" Scorpia sighed:
"Not great. I mean, I was spying on you guys and I don't think anyone believed me when I said Catra wasn't as bad as you thought…" Perfuma smiled comfortingly:
"I believed you! And…I'm sure you're not that bad either…" Scorpia blushed, looking away from Perfuma in embarrassment:
"Oh, um, thanks!" Perfuma, now starting to blush as well, continued:
"Whatever the truth is, thank you for saving me and my friends! It means a lot…" Scorpia turned back to face Perfuma and gave her the biggest smile she could manage:
"You're welcome."