"Adora," Glimmer's teeth chattered. "You don't have to do this. There's still time to make a plan."
"We've got no other options," Adora adjusted Swift Wind's harness with a grimace.
Over the horizon, the sun had just begun winking into sight, streaking the skyline bloody, its burgeoning flames tinging forest canopies a shadowy, muted crimson.
Her horse whinnied as she secured the harness with finality, its hooves pawing the dirt, cleats muffled by the fine layer of dust it kicked up.
"You were all up in arms when it came to me!" Glimmer pleaded. "Why is it different when you're the one who has to suffer for it?"
Adora shook her head.
"You're too important. I…if it's just this, I can get through it. If there's even a chance that Commander Catra isn't trying to press some sort of political advantage – and maybe even she is – I have to take it. Etheria deserves better than being war-torn."
Glimmer gently took hold of Adora's elbow.
"You deserve better too," she whispered. "You were willing to fight for me. For us, the Princess Alliance. I don't see why we can't do the same for you. We're…we're practically sending you over as a hostage."
Adora smiled, pulling her friend into a hug.
"It's okay. She-ra can handle herself if it comes to it. You know they couldn't restrain me even if they wanted. I'd die before they find some way to hold me over your heads."
"That's not-"
But Adora had already mounted Swift Wind, two fingers pressed to her mouth in a whistle. They set off, bulging satchel bouncing ponderously upon Adora's back, a sudden blistering wind in their wake ruffling the silk folds of Glimmer's coat.
"But Adora," Glimmer murmured helplessly to the wind left behind. "What about you?"
"Wildcat, are you sure about this?" Scorpia ventured somewhat nervously.
"Hell no," Catra scoffed. "But it's the only thing I can think of to keep everything from falling apart."
They were sitting in Catra's office – newly decorated and furnished after they cleared out Prime's old paraphernalia (there were too many cultural knick-knacks he'd picked up over the years from his conquests. Catra didn't like it; it felt invasive) – with Scorpia slouching on the chair across the desk from where Catra lounged in hers with the massive leather backing.
"Getting rid of that fascist prick was the easy part. Head so far up his own ass he let us crawl around his inner sanctum for months like we were termites."
Catra swung her legs from the armrests and straightened her posture.
"What isn't so simple is now," she sighed, placing her temple on her loosely steepled fingers. "The Horde community is in disarray. We knew this, we've planned for it, but it doesn't make it easy."
"But marrying She-ra will help?" Scorpia bit her lip.
She'd long since gotten over her crush for Catra. It'd been in fact the sobering experience she needed to realize how awfully Catra had been treating her, in turn giving her commander a reality check that had instigated this coup at all.
But Scorpia would be lying if it didn't sting the tiniest bit.
"We can't fight a war on two fronts, no matter how much we're winning by," Catra gestured around her, to what used to be Prime's fortress outside of the office. "I don't…I don't want this to be a place of fear anymore. There are so many people in the Horde that we've practically become our own nation. Or we would be, if their former leader wasn't such a raging dick that essentially enslaved his people. And even now, if there wasn't such civil strife. People are still so convinced they have to fight. That there has to be death, death, more of it, until nothing's left. They don't know how to live without Prime."
"You can lead them, Wildcat," Scorpia insisted, placing her claw gently on her commander's hand. "I know you can."
Catra shook her head.
"I can fill in as a…regent of sorts for a time, maybe. But we have to change things. Become a people, instead of a motley crew that only knows how to wage war. Fighting the stuck-up princesses at the same time while I help us do that is not something we can afford."
Catra grimaced.
"They probably don't believe us. So the best I can do is rope them and us together and show them that if I pull the noose, the Horde also chokes."
"If you think this is best, Wildcat," Scorpia nodded. "I'm proud of how far you've come."
For the first time in many weeks, Catra smiled. The barest crook of her lips but a smile nonetheless.
"I've done wrong by you, Scorpia," Catra's voice warbled the slightest bit. "You and Entrapta both, when all you've done is look out for me. It's my turn to look out for you."
When Adora arrived at the fortress gates, the first thing she noted was that it was no different.
She'd been here before, on stealth missions, on feeble attacks she'd tried to bring over to them rather than the other way around, but were ultimately laughable.
The fortress hadn't collapsed. It still loomed, a towering, sleek monstrosity that had manner of turrets, ramparts, sickly green ornaments adorning its pale surfaces.
She was greeted, however, by a curiously baggy-clothed woman who was literally walking using her purple tresses as stilts of sorts.
"Hello! Who are you?" the woman blinked.
"Um…yes. I'm She-ra," Adora decided to remain in her transformed state, puffing out her chest to appear intimidating. To show she meant business and couldn't be used.
"Oh!" the woman blinked again. "Right. Catra said something about that."
And for several whole minutes, she said nothing. Just continued to blink owlishly at Adora.
She'd almost turned away back to the fortress when Adora finally seized the bars of the gate with one hand.
"Wait!" she exclaimed. "Aren't you…aren't you going to let me in?"
"Huh? Why?"
"I'm…well, I'm here to m-marry," Adora gulped, trying to shake her head of it. "Your commander. Catra."
"Right. I see."
The woman tilted her head. "I guess you want me to go get her?"
Inwardly, Adora screamed.
"Yes," she took a deep breath. "Please do so, Miss…?"
"I'm Entrapta!" she happily responded. "Sure, I'll go fetch her, I guess she's better at these sorts of things."
And Entrapta's hair cheerfully spidered her across the enormous lawn towards the fortress.
Only minutes later, a sour-faced looking commander – Adora had only ever seen her from afar, so she was startled at how starkly sullen Catra's visage was – shuffled slowly towards the gates.
There seemed to be perpetual scowl – like she'd caught a whiff of something pungent but stayed like that – on her face as she turned towards Adora.
"Why are you here?" she inquired bluntly.
"What?" Adora frowned. "You're the ones who sent the letter. I'm here to fulfill the terms of the truce. I'm supposed to come here to the Horde, like you wrote."
"Yeah, but your queen hadn't even written back yet," Catra fiddled with the bars and unlocked the gate regardless. "We didn't even know you'd agreed."
Adora's frown became more pronounced.
Catra seemed so…mundane. Not even cordial. But mundane. Adora had trouble reconciling the image she had of the terrifying, war-mongering force of nature that towered over Etheria, meaning to burn it to the ground, smirk painted on with the ink of scars and blood.
"Well, come in," Catra gestured to follow with two fingers.
Adora glared, purposefully hardening the lines that pronounced her chiseled features. Her eyes briefly gleamed, blue brimming the irises.
"I'll say right here and now, don't you dare expect me to go along with whatever plans you've got brewing," she growled as she followed. "Whatever mind games or tricks, or…political leverage you're hoping to gain. I'm here to make sure you hold up your end of the bargain, and I'm not one to shy away if things turn ugly when you don't."
Catra blinked. For a moment she looked remarkably like that other woman. Entrapta.
It was gone, however, and she scoffed.
"Very nice," she snorted. "Regular ray of sunshine, huh? Whatever helps you get out of bed. Turn right here."
Adora hadn't even noticed until now, but they'd already traversed the fortress' lobby and first set of stairs, heading deeper into the hallways that stretched long and languidly into other corridors. Were it not for Catra leading her, Adora would've been lost the moment she set foot in them.
"My office," Catra waved a hand towards a sign that said as much.
She opened the door and gestured for Adora to come in and sit down. She did so warily, still eyeing Catra with distrust so balefully evident her eyes were glowing with it.
She was prepared to go down fighting, if need be. Maybe when it inevitably goes south, she could at least take the commander with her.
Catra drew something up from the piles of paperwork that lined her desk.
"Here," Catra set the parchment in front of Adora, reversing it so Adora could read.
Catra tapped one clawed finger at its bottom.
"Sign on the line, after the x," Catra instructed. "You can read it if you want, but it's all a bunch of jargon stating that you agree to the marriage and the implications it confers. The armistice, the legal consequences, all that. Once you do, I'll send it back to your queen so she has tangible proof to fall back on."
Adora leveled her glare now at the parchment. Damn right she was going to read it. Leave nothing to chance.
When she was done, she looked up at the commander, who was tapping her finger not-quite-impatiently.
"That's it?"
"What?" Catra raised a quizzical brow.
"That's all there is to it? We're just married now? You're not gonna…parade me in front of your troops like a humiliated war criminal?"
Catra snorted again – this time Adora unwillingly noted it came eerily close to a raspy giggle – and kept her brow raised.
"No, but there's still time in the day. I'm open to ideas."
"This isn't a laughing matter," Adora gritted her teeth.
"Relax," Catra deadpanned. "Oh, wait, actually yeah. Tomorrow I do want to make a small appearance and you have to be there too. Show everyone that the truce is being upheld, they don't have to go tearing down the countryside anymore, blah blah."
"There's really nothing more? I always thought getting married - even if this isn't really the same thing – I always thought-"
Adora, as she was oft to do, stumbled over her words.
"What, princess," Catra rasped. "You need a ceremony? You expecting flowers and frills and – I don't fucking know what you nobles eat – chocolate…scones or something?"
"No!" Adora protested hotly. "I just…"
"Right," Catra actually had the gall to smirk. "Your room is three doors down. I assume you've got your own toiletries and clothes and stuff, but if you don't, you can ask some of my staff to point you in the direction of the town. Oh yeah, let me know if you need money."
Adora's breaths were coming out stuttered. Her face, blooming an angry red. Eyes narrowed as her pupils darted to Catra and the window and back.
"What's happening?" she forced out. "When's the part when you drop the façade and throw me in the dungeons like a prisoner, or make me live in your quarters and-"
Adora couldn't finish the thought.
For the first time, Catra glared.
"I know Prime left us on a pretty bad note," Catra began slowly. "Heck, I know I didn't make a good impression. And I'm not going to start trying now, either. I even remember you, you know. I remember you killing my men and women with that glowing sword of yours."
She drew herself up, and for the first time Adora saw flashes of the conqueror she expected.
"But what do you think we are?" Catra demanded.
Adora didn't know what to say.
Catra sat back down.
"Anyway, you're not a prisoner. We have an actual prisoner and you're definitely not her."
Catra pulled another page from the mountain of paper and began scribbling something, not sparing Adora another glance.
"Your room, three doors down. If you need anything you can let Kyle know, he's probably scuttling around somewhere."
Adora left, heading to where Catra directed.
Her room was nice. Smaller than she was used to, but nice. Pillows on the bed were neatly stacked. A desk. Quaint little drapes across the window where she could see out into the town in the distance.
She saw her reflection in the full length mirror. Saw how blotchy the red on her face had become.
She shrunk back into Adora.
A knock on her door woke her up.
Blearily, she pulled on her gown and tried to smooth her disheveled hair.
She opened the door, yawning.
"Hey, just wanted to- whoa."
Catra gaped at her for a second.
Adora's eyes widened. She almost forgot for a moment where she was.
"I'm sorry, I should've cleaned up a bit-"
"No, no," Catra reassured. "I've just never actually seen you not as She-ra before."
"Oh. Oh yeah."
"Anyway," Catra gestured behind her. "There's breakfast in the Mess. Ends at 11. Be ready by 3, I'll take you to where we hold ceremonies so we can show everyone you're alive."
When Adora nodded, and Catra left, she slumped to her knees.
She examined her hands. Not laden with scars that weren't from her own battles. Her room, not a stone-walled cell with protruding chains.
The commander, not the tyrant Adora almost wished she could be, even as she convinced herself the jury was still out. That Catra was surreptitiously still stringing her along, lulling her into a false sense of security, placing her as a pawn in her grand plan to scorch Etheria into charcoal.
Because otherwise…Because otherwise-
Adora thought of Glimmer, thought of her home and what she'd given up. Of her friends and those who had supported she who had no one before.
Catra's indifference in place of cruelty was a weapon of its own.
Adora felt hollowed out, like something had burrowed in, carved at her innards until they were lined with sludge, until she was naught but flesh formed around it.
She was composed of fumes, acrid and low. Serpentine smoke stitched together into the sinews of some sordid facsimile. It burned in her throat, acidic, caressed at her and peeled away layers of what was She-ra, what was Adora, and became slick against her chest, clutching at her, overwhelming her-
And Adora started crying, there on the floor.
Author's note: I had a fucking brain blast and wrote most of this on my phone at 2 pm in a breakfast republic.
Holy balls I did not mean for it to get so angsty at the end. What the fuck is wrong with me. Adora was just supposed to feel put out at first. Bruv.
On another note, I am giving myself a pat on the back because it has been literal years since I've updated something this fast.
There was a lot in my enlightened frenzy that one chapter couldn't cover, expect things to boil over a bit come chapter 3, heheh
