Catra's POV
"I'm telling you, she sent us out here to die!"
"You don't know that," she says back to me, slashing at some vines that were blocking us, with her sword.
"We've been out here for hours now, and we're not any closer."
"You don't know that, I'm the one with the map."
"Yeah, because you think I'll throw it in a rage?"
"Because I know you will. Besides, you didn't have to come."
"I'm not going to leave you to figure this out on your own."
"And I'm grateful for that," she says as we start climbing over a fallen trunk.
"But?" I ask, hopping down on the other side of it.
"But, you're clearly not having fun out here."
"I'm fine," I say, brushing off her concerns. "Which way does the stupid thing say to go?"
"I'm… not sure. It's… still changing. It feels like every time we get closer, it moves further away. Yet, also like it's always a set distance away from us."
"So what, the magical shifting woods won't let us there?" This whole thing sounds so unbelievably stupid.
"Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Maybe we need a new strategy."
"Oh yeah, great. A new strategy. Want me to try and climb up these massive trees again just to not be able to see over the foliage? Or ask the woods nicely? Maybe we ignore the map that clearly isn't taking us anywhere?"
"What do you mean? We've been moving forward this whole time."
"We saw that log twice! This rock here? Probably four times," I say, walking up to a decently large rock, and I scratch it with a nail as a mark, as if to make a point.
"I'm trying, okay! I don't know what I'm doing, I'm trying!"
"I know you are, I'm just saying… we might be in over our heads here." Then, to myself, I mutter, "Shadow Weaver is going to find out about this…"
"I know I'm in over my head! I don't know anything about this princess stuff, or this stupid sword!" As if to prove the point, she tosses the sword to the ground. We're not walking anymore.
"Look, Adora-"
"I don't know what any of this means. I don't know who I'm supposed to be. Our whole life we were told that we needed to be afraid of princesses. That they were violent instigators who couldn't control their powers. What if- what if I do something terrible?" She sits down, setting the tablet down, and hangs her head.
"Adora… did you really believe all that?" I ask, walking up to her.
"What?" She looks up at me, staring at me with eyes that give no indication of what she's thinking.
"The- the princesses. You still think that?"
"I- yes. No. I don't know. They don't… no, I don't think that."
"Then why are you beating yourself up over the idea that you might be like that? Adora, you're not a bad person," I crouch down next to her, placing my hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to think anymore. I- I'm scared, Catra," she whispers, looking up at me, her face showing more raw emotion than she's let herself show in weeks. And this… it almost hurts me.
"I know. I- I'm sorry for doubting this. We'll figure this out for you."
She nods her head, looking back down at the tablet, and looks confused. "Do you hear that?"
"No?" I say confused, as she suddenly looks focused again. She gets up, moves forward, and grabs her sword.
"Come one!" She says, suddenly running towards something.
"Adora, wait up!" I shout, moving after her as moves through brushes and cuts more vines.
She runs through another bush, and I run after her only to realize we're now in a big, open clearing. With one structure in the middle of it. A tower? No, it almost looks like-
"I think that's it," Adora says, in wonder. She goes back to walking forward, and I follow her.
"What do you think it is?"
"I don't know, but there's a lot of stuff here. A clearing, a bunch of small buildings. Maybe an old First One's settlement?"
"Like… a kingdom? Is that a castle?"
"I guess we'll find out."
We approach the front of the structure, it's definitely big enough to be a castle. "Heh, maybe it's your kingdom."
"Shut up," she says, not even bothering to go with the joke. Noted, don't joke about that stuff right now. We get up to the door, except, there isn't actually any sort of door here.
"How do we get in?"
"I don't know, it's… there's something written there."
"What? That's a word?"
"Yeah, I think. It says… Eternia." As she speaks the word, a strange light in the shape of a triangle begins to grow, from below the scribble to the ground. The entire part of the wall starts to move, revealing a passageway beneath it.
"That was the door? How did you read that?"
"I- I don't know. Let's just go inside." She moves forward again, leaving me to have to collect myself and follow after her yet again as we head into this weird, glowing, triangular structure.
As we head down, getting farther from the door, we hear the same noise from earlier. The door just closed behind us, leaving us in near complete darkness, except for the subtle vibrant glow of the walls.
"Adora, can you even see in here?" I say, feeling as my eyes adjust to the low light level. Perks of being a magicat.
"Barely. You… might have to lead the way." I watch as she holds her hand out to me. She can't see at all, great. Almost begrudgingly, I grab her hand, and keep moving forward as she follows me closely.
"Do you see anything?" she asks after a few moments.
"Um… we're in a big circular room. Lots of other branching pathways… There's a mural here, I think. And more writing."
"What's it about? What's it say?"
"I don't know, it's in scribbles. And… a lady. Wearing a tiara and a cape. Maybe it's that lost princess Entrapta said."
"She-Ra?" She asks, and suddenly, every light in the room turns on at once. Adora shields her eyes for a second, readjusting, as I take a look at everything in better detail. The walls are… brilliantly vibrant. "Huh, these walls look just like those ones in my vision." Turning back to the mural, she adds, "I hope I don't have to wear that…" finally deciding to try and crack a joke.
As we're looking around, my eyes glance over this platform in the center of the room, and I start heading over. As I step closer, a strange half-translucent woman appears.
"Greetings, Administrator. What is your query?"
"Oh wow, that's her! I think. Not exactly."
"That's who?" I ask, turning around. This is weird, and I don't like any of this anymore.
"What is your query," the voice asks again.
"Um… I am Adora. This is Adora. Um… who is She-Ra?"
We look over at the hologram, which only once again asks, "What is your Query?"
"Adora, try being a little more succinct. It uh… it said, "greetings administrator," right? Maybe… She-Ra is an administrator," I whisper to her, keeping my eyes on… the thing.
"Um… Okay, got it. I am… I think anyway-"
"Adora!"
"Okay, okay!" She takes a deep breath. "I am She-Ra. Princess of… something…" she says, not quite sure what and not quite believing her words. "I… I want to speak to Light Hope."
"Light Hope?" The voice acts. Finally, something different!
"Yes. Light Hope is here. She has been… waiting for you."
"Cool, great. How do I talk to her?"
"You are not ready. You must let go."
"Let go of what?"
"Adora, maybe it's broken. Let's just go see if we can find anything without the use of this… thing…" I say, hesitantly reaching up and poking it. As I do, the tinge of the walls change color a bit to a more reddish hue, and the hologram shifts as well.
"Unauthorized Presence Detected. Security Protocol Activated."
"Uh oh… is that bad?" Adora asks.
"What did you do?" I say, looking at her. "Tell it to stop." Adora looks around quickly, various doors are now closing into the center chamber.
"Run!"
She takes off, and I sprint after her to one the corridors. We stop dead in our tracks, though, as we start to see red eyes illuminating from the halls.
"What are those?"
"I don't know. New hall!" She shouts, quickly turning to another one, but the door shuts down in front of us. Adora goes as if she's actually going to have any chance at lifting it, but quickly turns back around. "Nevermind, we'll take our chances!"
I nod, turning back to the last open hall as three massive mechanical monsters crawl out from the shadows. They're large, black spider-like creatures with a plethora of glowing red eyes. "Adora…"
"Just move!" She shouts, running towards them. I follow, and the spiders turn to attack us. Instead of fighting, though, Adora just runs through the legs of one as it tries to get her, and I bound off of the side of one to follow as we get past the spiders, and start sprinting through the hallway.
"Can you tell it to stop!" I shout in desperation.
"I have no idea, let's just keep going!"
As we keep moving we realize quickly that we're in a dead end. The spiders from behind us are closing in, as two more head up from behind those ones. We're trapped.
"Adora, we're going to die here! I knew Entrapta couldn't be trusted!"
"It's fine, the horde throws robots at us all the time, we'll be okay!"
"Ugh, I hate this!" I shout, readying my claws as Adora pulls the sword off her back.
The spiders move forward, and I Adora and I head forward at the same time. As the first spider moves on us, its pincers closing in on me, I jump up avoiding the attack, and go to take it out, as Adora thrusts the sword into the front of the thing's head.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to do much of anything, so I smash my hand down on one of the eyes, looking at it. Definitely robots, lots of wiring. If I can just find something that looks like it provides power…
Something grabs my foot, and I look down to see a strand of green goo wrapped around my lower leg. "What the…" Suddenly I'm pulled, and I jam my hand down into the broken eye of the spider I'm on. "Adora!"
"I got you! She shouts, moving for the webbing when one of the new spiders drops between us from the ceiling, immediately pushing her back. She uses the sword to keep the pincers from closing on her, but now she's pinned, and I turn to slash at the goo on me.
But they're too close, and I have to put both my hands up as a spider tries to bite down on me, and I'm able to manage just enough resistance to pull myself up, so that this spider slams its mouth into the one I'm already on. I turn back to face Adora when I feel something else connect with my side, there's too many of these things. I'm flung off the top spider, and slam into a wall, as this third one and the damaged one start closing in on me.
I take one more glance over to Adora, who seems to be struggling as the fifth Spider begins moving down the wall she's pinned against, towards her head. "Adora!" I shout again, looking up in horror.
Adora barely looks up, she just… takes a deep breath, and I watch as her eyes seem to glaze over. No! I move forward, when the damaged spider spews more goo onto me, knocking me to the floor. This can't be it, we just got here… Think, Catra… Something needs to happen, something needs to give… Then, I hear Adora's voice over the mechanical noises of the spider robots.
"For the honor of Grayskull!"
Adora's POV
"Will you fight for the honor of Grayskull?" The voice rings out in my ears as I'm struggling to hold this monster off. It's too strong, way too strong, and I'm only alive because this sword is made of something incredibly strong, too. But the words ring through me, and I'm not sure what they mean, but right now? If that's what it takes? I say the words.
I feel as if something awakens in me, something I've never felt before, and I feel myself being fueled by this near-overwhelming sense of energy. That, and raw, primal power. I'm still holding the sword, but it feels… lighter. And suddenly, I'm not even trying to hold this spider back. I look up, seeing the one closing in above me, and reach my hand up to stop it from closing around my head.
Something's wrong. This isn't adrenaline. I can't think about that. Catra is in danger. Changing my grip on the top spider's pincer to grab it, I almost feel my fingers dig into the metal, and I pull. Hard enough to yank the spider off the wall, and crush the second one in front of me. I don't know what this is yet, but I can't stop to think.
The spider's are large, and I need to get past these two. So instead of going around, I just… jump. Way higher than I should be able to, clearing the two spiders and half the room around me, when I notice how off-balance I am. Still focused only on Catra, I turn the sword, as gravity pulls me back down to the three spiders around her.
I land on the middle one, the weight of me seeming to crush the back of the spider as I drive the sword into the head, and I see Catra look up at me, her mouth hanging open. I turn quickly to the spiders on either side of us, and hop off the middle spider. I decide to… put some faith in whatever I'm feeling, and drive my foot into the side of the now broken spider. It takes the hit, had, and slides across the hallway into the Spider closest to Catra, and in one smooth motion, I turn and throw my sword, as if swords were weapons made to be thrown, and it impales the last Spider between the body and head segment.
I turn back to Catra, who is still just… staring up at me, in pure shock. I walk up to her, crouching down, and go to help her pull the green webbing off of her. "Come on, Catra, we need to-"
I see it. I allow myself to look at the gold bracer on my wrist, and I pause.
My words were enough for Catra, though, who suddenly seems a lot less shocked and a lot more confused. "Adora?"
I stand up, my eyes almost tunneling in as I visibly trace the lines going up my arm. These aren't my muscles… I look over slightly, looking at the gold and white emblem across my torso, with a blue gem that matches that sword resting in the center, and my eyes look down. The skirt I would never wear, the shorts under them, the exposed legs…
I look back up at Catra, who has pulled the last of the fake webs off of her and is standing up. "Adora?" She repeats, slower this time. She's… smaller? No, I'm taller…
I feel my breathing starting to pick up. It's like my mind is now racing to put everything I've heard the last two months, especially yesterday, together. "I-" Is all I can say. Then, the tension snaps all at once.
"What did you do!?"
"I don't know!"
"What is this!?"
"I don't know!"
"Is this She-Ra?"
"Stop asking questions!"
"How do you turn it off!?"
I look back over at the sword, my breathing still fast, and everything feeling wrong. I turn back to Catra and just… feel myself go a little dizzy. This is too much. I feel the energy leaving me, I can almost feel my shrinking as my vision flutters, and I fall forward. Catra catches me instantly, and I don't actually faint, so I'm able to catch myself.
"Adora, what's going on? I thought the sword was magic, not-"
"Catra," I say, using her shoulders to steady myself. "Stop. I don't know. This is why we're here, remember?"
"I… yeah. Sorry. It's just… that isn't… I didn't think it would be that."
"We don't even know what that was," I let go of Catra, walking over the fifth bot and pulling my sword out of it. It's buried deep, it's almost too hard to dislodge. How strong was I?
"Well then, let's keep going back to looking, even though I'm starting to really think we should get out of here."
"No, we're fine. We'll keep going. We walked into a hallway, not a spider storage closet. We must have missed something, come one."
I start walking back the way we came, keeping an eye for any passageway on the walls we may have overlooked in our panic. Catra runs up next to me, following. "Adora, wait, we aren't going to talk about that?"
"I don't have time to think about what that was, or what it means. We need answers, not speculations."
"Seriously? You don't even know how you did that, do you?"
"No. But it doesn't matter. Maybe it's just the words…" I pull the sword off my back again, and say, "For the Honor of Grayskull." I turn back to face Catra when nothing happens, and shrug.
"Great, so we're just going to keep moving through these halls forever?"
"I don't know, maybe. We need to figure out how to stop the castle from freaking out. Here, I was right, a side hall. Definitely smaller, but it's here," I say, grabbing Catra's hand and us down it.
"Yeah, I'm not sure I like walking through a magic death trap."
"Relax, Catra, we aren't going to die here."
We keep moving down the hallway, just like the larger one it's long and empty. The patterns on the wall are intricate, sometimes there's more of these words Catra can't read. Come to think of it, when did I ever learn this? I don't know, I shake the thought out of my head and we keep moving.
"Oh great, another dead end," Catra murmurs, as the end of the hall comes into view.
Hmm… No. You don't just have hallways that lead to nothing. I look around, looking for anything that stands out. A button, a lever… another word.
"There's that word again. Eternia," as this strange word leaves my lips, another small triangle door opens up, revealing another room. I look at Catra, and we head in. The room is dark. Too dark. I look over at her.
"No way, I'm not leading us through this room." I just hold the stare, my eyes pleading with her, and she sighs. "No."
I shrug my shoulders, and just start walking into the room. There's bound to be something eventually.
"Adora, what are you doing?" She shouts, running up and grabbing my arm. "I don't like this, let's find another way."
"No, wait… I think I see something," I say, still moving into the unseeable abyss.
"Adora, let's leave… please," she turns around, quickly adding, "where'd the door go?"
"Hello? Light Hope?" I ask, approaching a small red light, just floating, spinning, further into the darkness. As we get close enough, it almost casts enough light to show just a bit of the floor, and I reach out to touch it.
"Wait!" Catra shouts, but I already have my finger on it, and the light suddenly gets far brighter, highlighting both of us.
"What's it doing?" I ask, and suddenly. The light turns off. For one second, darkness. Then, the lights suddenly turn on and… we're in the Fright Zone… "What is this? How are we back here?"
"I have no idea what's going on, even less than you do. We can't really be in the Fright Zone."
"Did Shadow Weaver find us? Is this a trick?"
"I doubt that, she has no idea this place is here. Let's just… take a look around." Catra reasons, turning around to head over towards a different part of the room.
We take a few steps around, in different directions, scouting out everything. I don't know what I'm looking for, but we have to find some way out of this, right? I mean, what is this place? How could it know what the Fright Zone was if this thing is really centuries old?
"Hey Adora! This isn't real!" I hear Catra shout. I turn around to head over to her when I hear something that shakes me completely.
"Catra?" I hear my voice ask. But it isn't my voice, not now. It's younger, much younger.
I turn towards the voice, seeing a much younger me, staring at me. But young me said Catra… I turn around, seeing a young Catra standing on the other side of me. Like the young me, she also looks 10 years younger, this was before she started wearing that mask of hers.
The young Catra shouts out, "Adora!" She runs towards me, towards the younger me, coming straight for me. I brace myself for the impact, as this Catra doesn't seem to recognize my presence here, but she just… phases right through me. A hologram… and way more advanced than the Light Hope secretary thing.
"Hey Adora?" Catra starts, walking up to me. "There's something about-"
"Shh." I say, watching the young her run up to the young me. Catra follows my eyes, and freezes.
"Ahh! Does it look broken to you?" The young Catra asks.
"It's not broken, you're fine!" The young me responds, almost playing off the panic on our friend's face. She wasn't hurt here, she really was okay. Wait… was?
"I'm bleeding!" Young Catra had asked, looking down at her hand after rubbing it under her nose.
"You're not bleeding! Why would you try to pick a fight with Octavia anyway?" I asked her, knowing how much older and tougher Octavia could be.
"I didn't do anything! All I did was exist near her," she lied, and I leaned in as if to pry for more. She obliged, adding, "and scratch her on the eyeball. And call her a Dumb Face."
I remember this almost as visibly as it's being presented back to me. I remember as I scoffed at Catra, following her to where Octavia was recovering, and joined Catra in continuing to make her day worse. Not that she had deserved it, and I'm sure Catra started it, but… I wanted to support my friend. And Catra did take a hit from a much larger person, and I wanted to make sure Octavia knew that Catra wasn't a lone target.
As Octavia roared, Catra and I had started running through the halls to get away, our hands together, laughing.
We're running, our hands locked, just genuinely enjoying ourselves despite how upset Catra was moments before. It's only when we stop to breathe that I realize that I was running myself. When did that happen? Did we become projections of our past selves? How did I not realize this?
Catra stops laughing too, looking at me, her normal self, too. She looks as confused as I feel, and when she feels as I squeeze her hand, she seems almost… embarrassed.
Although we had already been doing it a lot today, like both times when it was dark, she actually pulls away this time. "What… happened?"
"I guess it was a simulation. I don't really know why or how, but… I guess this place knows our memories.
"Great… This place is so weird."
"I know, but we're trying to figure it out. We still have a lot to learn about She-Ra. How to use her, how to turn her on and off, it's a lot."
"Yeah, I know. This… must all be hard on you." She says, moving forward.
"Why do you say that?" I ask, following. She suddenly seems a lot more upset, like that memory was something she'd rather not have seen.
"You're stressed, busy all the time. Outside of our missions, you're drowning in training and paperwork."
We walk into an open room of sorts. A chasm, with a pillar spanning the hole. She looks back at me and easily hops on. I follow, and we start moving across.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me," I say, wondering why she's so upset about this. I try to ping it off the memory we saw… does she think we're not that close anymore? "Is this because I've been too busy for us?"
She seems to pause for a second, bingo. "Why would I care about that? We make time when we can." She hops off the other side of the pillar, me seconds behind her.
"Catra, I know when you aren't telling me something. You've acted like things were weird between us for weeks, when all I've been doing is working harder for the Fight Zone." As I step off the pillar, the rocks crumble beneath my foot, "whoa whoa whoa!"
Catra grabs my hand quickly, as my foot slips down towards the chasm, pulling me back in. "I'm not being weird, I'm just… worried you're stressed."
"Thanks," I say, as we continue walking forward. "But I'm fine. Lonnie and Kyle have both approached me too, where is this all coming from?"
"You really don't know?"
"Not exactly. I… I feel it too, you know. The distance." I smile, stepping closer to her, "I'm sorry, Catra. I'm still learning about this whole Force Captain thing, and now this She-Ra thing."
"It's not that big of a deal Adora, really. So you're moving closer to your goals, that's a good thing."
"It was our goal, Catra," I say, knowing full well what she is referring to.
"Our goal? Get over yourself," she says teasingly.
I wrap my arm around her, pulling her into me, "you know it's true!" I laugh, as she pushes me off of her, towards a pillar. I brace myself for the impact, but instead I fall through it, into more sudden darkness.
Catra's POV
"Adora!" I shout, banging on the once again solid pillar. What is this place? Why did it take her? "Adora!" I shout louder, before I just rest my head against the pillar and close my eyes, feeling frustrated.
When I finally open them, we're not at the edge of the chasm room. Instead, I'm in what appears to be… the Black Garnet chamber?
"Adora?" I ask, hesitantly, looking around the room. And there she is, standing in the middle of it, in front of Shadow Weaver. I walk over, that isn't really her, it can't be, but I feel my fur sticking up along my body either way, willing myself to keep my tail from flailing up like I always do when I see her.
"Adora," Shadow Weaver speaks in that low, drawn out cadence of hers. "I don't see why you're so upset with this, you know she'd just mess it up again." Great. Talking about me. But… When was this? Adora looks like herself here.
"Shadow Weaver, I don't think that's true. My team may not be perfect, but all of them give their all, even Catra. She spent hours working this out with no breaks to get this right."
I gulp. The conversation I missed before Princess Prom, the one where I was sent to go see if Scorpia figured the airship out. Adora did try to change her mind?
"Your team, I trust to handle this. Catra, I do not. I have watched your missions, from Thaymor to Salineas. I have seen her failure to keep up with you, and we already discussed her outright betrayal at Plumeria."
I gulp, Shadow Weaver was still watching us? Was she watching me that whole time? Did she know I disobeyed and helped Adora out of that situation with the three princesses? Oh no… the sword…
I feel like I shouldn't be watching this, like I should grab Adora, if this is the real her, and try to pull us out of this. Why am I being shown this?
"She- it wasn't what it looked like. She misread my intentions, and opted to make sure I didn't do anything I would regret."
"And yet, she took away the one edge you had that would have let you win there. You were a second away from taking the Princess of Bright Moon off the field. This is your chance to rectify the mistake of letting her get away."
""Shadow Weaver, the plan isn't an assassination."
"Adora you are not here to befriend the enemy, you are a soldier in a war for the future of Etheria, to liberate the good people from the Princesses' tyrannical rule."
Adora pauses, or, paused, at this. "I- I know. They won't hold back on me, I shouldn't on them."
"You have a good heart, Adora. You want to play the part of a liberator so well you would rather try to reason with those who cannot be reasoned with than do what needs to be done to keep them from hurting others."
"I know, but-"
"But," Shadow Weaver cut her off, "heart is a weakness you cannot afford. Your fondness for Catra is apparent to every person on your team, in the Fright Zone, and in the field. When they recognize it, they will use it against you."
Adora looked down in hesitation. Seeing it makes my heart skip a beat, and my face falls into a frown, before she finally looked up and said, "She can handle herself."
"That may be true, but it will only take one slip up for you to use her, and then what? What will happen to that heart of yours, then."
Adora paused again, like she doesn't know how to respond. "I… I'll do what needs to be done."
"Good. Whether it be the enemy or your own distractions, you can not allow her to interfere with your mission."
"Yes, Shadow Weaver…" Adora responds, looking down, and I finally had enough. I move forward, out of this sort of trance I was in, and move to grab Adora's arm. Surprisingly, it's real. This was her, and I pull her away from Shadow Weaver.
"Adora, let's go." I say forcefully, trying to hide how upsetting this conversation was for me. Adora's eyes go wide as she looks at me, then back to Shadow Weaver, finally out of the trance of the memory.
"Catra, you weren't supposed to-"
"Whatever," I say. Who cares if Shadow Weaver turned something about Adora's hesitations into an excuse to pit me as weak? Who cares that Shadow Weaver is able to so effectively use leaps in reasoning to get people to arrive at the conclusions she wants? Who cares that Shadow Weaver is trying more and more to turn Adora into her perfect soldier?
"Catra, wait-" Adora shouts, desperation in her voice, but I cut her off.
"We need to get out of here, I'm done here," I say, we'll learn more about She-Ra some other way.
"No, Catra, stop!" Adora shouts, breaking my grip on her wrist and grabbing my shoulders. "That- that wasn't real."
"Adora, you're a terrible liar. Let go of me," my voice is stern, cold. Probably a little too mean for the situation, but my mind is racing and connecting dots I don't want to connect.
"No, I mean, of course I didn't really listen to her," she seems to be begging as she says this, as if she really needs me to listen, but I only kind of do.
"You didn't? You told her what she wanted to hear? You're still going out into battle with your heart on your sleeve like you always did before we made it to the field?"
"Catra, it isn't like that!"
"Of course it isn't. You're not sucking up to Shadow Weaver, sticking up for me only as far as you can remain in her good graces. You're not listening to her, and closing off your emotions in battle like you did every time you ordered or fired a shot at Salineas."
"Stop! You aren't listening to me!"
"Why should I? You haven't been listening to me. I've been trying to tell you for weeks not to let her get to you, but apparently she is."
"What makes you say that?"
"You don't remember when you threatened Glimmer? I told you you were taking it too far, and as soon as I'm not a hundred percent with you, you push me away. Send me to run useless patrols with the rest of our team."
"You- I- Ugh! I needed you out of there, or Shadow Weaver was going to remove you herself. She practically gave you a death glare through her mask when you pulled me back. She thinks you're sabotaging the team."
"No, say it how you always do now," I snap, her use of words suddenly making something click for me.
"What?"
"It was always our team, Adora. As in, equals among all five of us. Ever since you got told you might be a candidate for the Thaymor invasion, especially since you got promoted, you joined Shadow Weaver in saying it was your team. She thinks I'm sabotaging your team."
"I- I didn't- I don't-" I got her, and she knows I did. Something changed when she got promoted. "What is this about, really?" She asks, trying to turn the conversation off of her.
"Don't change the subject. She's getting to you, and you know it."
"She is not getting to me!" She shouts. Now it's a real argument.
"Then why did you really push me away! Why have you been so afraid to keep me close!"
"You're the one who's been pulling back! You don't come visit my room, you slink away when we're in the cafeteria, you don't talk to me after training!"
"Because you never want to just be. It's always work this, the sword that. I tried to bridge the gap, when you asked me to help you in going through our files on Runestones, but you always pull back away. You're too busy trying to get ahead!"
"I need to get ahead to keep us safe!"
"Don't pretend this is for my own good, don't use her words!"
The scene shifts again, suddenly, and we're in a different place in the Fright Zone, the locker room. After only a second, the entrance opens, and I watch as a younger me storms in. This must be… a few years ago. Early teens. And It's not a good memory.
That much is clear by how as soon as I entered the room, I ripped the training harness off of myself and threw it to the ground.
"Catra, wait!" Adora had shouted from behind me, following me in. I see the limp in her leg, and wince in self hatred.
"Leave me alone!" I shouted back, in anger. Not at her, just in general. I remember this day clearly, even without the simulation digging up the deepest details. We were running a training regimen just prior. I made a mistake, one mistake, and it brought both our scores down as a result, and that means it's only a matter of time before she would show up.
"Catra, it's okay! I'm not mad at you, you were just trying to help."
"I said leave me alone!" I turned around, getting in her face. I feel myself cringe a little at how much of a snarl there was in my voice. I needed her to leave, because I didn't want her to be there when I got in actual trouble.
But she didn't leave. Her expression dropped, her face of concern and pity becoming one of pure focus, as she just stepped closer. She was never afraid of me, she's seen me at my lowest.
"I'm not leaving, Catra," she had said, forcibly. Yet all the same, her voice still carried just as much support as it always did.
"Then you're an idiot, you know what comes next!"
"I don't care what comes next, I'm not going to let you do it alone," she placed her hands on my shoulders, and I finally started to calm down. I'd survive, of course I would. What could Shadow Weaver possibly do to me?
I let the anger fall from my face, knowing the whole time I should never have even showed it to her, but of course, even just thinking the name of the witch is enough to make her appear, as the door opens behind Adora.
"Move," Shadow Weaver says simply, firmly, and Adora immediately obeys, letting go and stepping to the side, next to me. Shadow Weaver just hovers closer, coming right in front of us, right in front of me. "What do you have to say for yourself, cadet?" She says, her mask turned down at me.
I take a step back, do what I always do. A deep breath. Let the fur on my back stand, focus on keeping my tails and ears under my control. Hide the fear, show the calm. "I screwed up," I admit, immediately, knowing better than to try and defend myself here.
"You screwed up, how?"
"I… I didn't trust my team. I didn't trust Adora." She was pinned on a raised platform, and had three bots on her. I couldn't get to them, I could get to her. I made a choice, one she was too stubborn to do, and pulled her back. Only we lost our footing on the platform, and fell. I was and am good at falling, I know how to land properly. To roll, to use my knees as cushions, my tail for balance. Normal Etherians aren't as graceful. She took the hit hard, landed on her left leg. She'd be out of commission for at least a week because of me.
"Because of you, you turned a tricky situation into a total loss for your team, and Adora has paid the consequences."
"I- I'm fine," Adora said next to me, almost forcing the words out, but you could read the pain on her face. She shouldn't have even been standing.
"Adora, I will hear no excuses for her behavior here," Shadow Weaver says, her attention shifting behind us. "Rogelio, Lonnie, get her to the infirmary for a leg brace. Kyle, go with."
Adora hangs her head in defeat, there was no way I wasn't being left with her now. The others come over from the back of the locker room, Rogelio and Lonnie each hesitantly grabbing one of Adora's arms to keep her weight off her injured leg.
"Let's go, Adora," Lonnie whispers. She turned to look at me, one of the very few moments Lonnie and I had ever shared a glance that wasn't filled with malice either way, and then everyone else was gone, and I was alone with Shadow Weaver.
"How many more times do I have to tell you cadet, you are not here to get in Adora's way, you are not here to keep her safe from things that would not harm her, only to help her succeed."
"I- Shadow Weaver, I-"
"You don't even think you made a mistake, do you? Just that her getting hurt was an accident?"
"Yeah, pretty much," I murmured, lowering my head.
"Catra… I understand your concern for her, I do. But your lack of faith is a detriment your team can not afford. There is no use worrying about keeping her safe if you're the one who ends up hurting her anyway."
"What about the risk? Those bots could've seriously hurt her, I couldn't let that happen."
"That's why you fix it before it's a problem. If you'd have taken your training more seriously, you'd have been fast enough to intervene before she was in danger, or to keep her out of danger entirely. Your job is to know how to handle emergency situations, yes, but first and foremost to keep them from happening."
"I- yes, Shadow Weaver."
"Do not mistake my tone for mercy, Catra. This is still a warning. If your actions ever cause Adora harm again, I will inflict the same injuries back on you tenfold. If you put Adora in a cast for a week, again, I will make sure you stay in one for months. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Go back to the barracks, Catra, don't let me see you before tomorrow's drills," she had threatened, before exiting the room, not giving me a chance to say anything further to call her out or defend myself.
It was a bad day. A really bad one. I was basically told I was to be confined to my room, and the midday time meant no afternoon rations. There were good moments, like later that day when Adora finally walked back into the barracks, she actually guessed the damage well enough and had smuggled in a ration for me, but the rest of the week was a nightmare of looking over at Adora, seeing her unable to do the one thing she knows- being a soldier. Shadow Weaver got one part right, I never let it happen again.
But as soon as the doors closed behind her, they open again, and Adora comes running right back in, her older self. I look down, noticing that at some point I had started perceiving the simulation from my own eyes. How did that happen again? I was waiting for it this time?
"It- it made me hear that. I'm sorry," she says, placing her arms around me, but all it does is make me more frustrated at everything.
"Sorry? Like you didn't know what happened, like you don't know how awful Shadow Weaver always is to me, always has been, always will be!" I shout. I shouldn't shout, even now I recognize that, but everything I'm seeing…
"Of course I know that. Do you know how many times she's told me you're only still here because of me? I know what she does, and I really am sorry."
"Of course I know, I fully remember the day we got caught in the Black garnet chamber, where she chewed me out and you barely lifted a finger."
"Well I'm lifting a finger now! If I don't do this, if I don't prove that I can do my job despite what we think of each other, she'll, well, who knows what she'll do!?"
"What we think of each other? Adora, you're acting like I'm some scared little pet who needs to be doted over. I can take care of myself!"
"Is that why you've been pushing me away, to prove a point I know is true? You've never been a pet, Catra, we're equals!"
"No, we aren't! I'm pushing you away because you're giving her what she wants and are leaving me behind!" I shout, louder than anything said so far. She finally pauses, finally stops trying to argue back.
When she speaks again, it's quiet. Soft. Like she knows I'm at least partially right. "You didn't like that I got a direct assignment from Hordak… So what do you want from me? To have you be a Force Captain too? I can't make that happen."
"You know that second place suits me just fine," I lie, as I want more than anything to be… equals… "But right now, I feel like you're winding up ten steps ahead of me, and moving too fast for me to catch up. And if you get far enough ahead… What if you do decide you don't need me? What if you listen to Shadow Weaver too much?"
"Catra…" she puts her arms back on me, pulling me into a hug. I let it happen. "That is never going to happen."
"Easy to say, harder to prove. What if you don't have a choice?"
"I'll always have a choice, Catra, and I am never going to choose to leave you." She says it with such certainty, such drive and commitment, like I was stupid to think any of this. Maybe, at least, I can let her have that part.
"I- I know," I say, but this isn't a win. This doesn't fix everything. But I'm still not happy with her appeasement of Shadow Weaver, but she refuses to budge on it, like she doesn't see how she acted at Plumeria or just the other day towards Glimmer is wrong, or how she felt like she needed to push me away right after what she said to Glimmer to… protect me? At least, I guess I can let myself calm down a little if she's going to be more careful about… making sure I'm not left behind.
I pick my head off of her, stepping back, when I realize that the scene is different again.
Adora's POV
We're outside now, at a Fright Zone complex entrance in the scrapyard. We only have a few memories here… but I quickly become confused when I see A simulation of Catra at her current age walking. When was this? We haven't been out here in years, not since we got stuck outside after missing curfew…
"No! I told you to stop asking about it!" Catra shouts, or shouted. Is this the past?
"Sorry! I just, you seem upset. And we're all friends, so I thought-" Kyle's voice…
Interrupted by Catra shouting, "Kyle, drop it… I told you, nothing happened."
I look over at the real Catra, who is standing next to me, mouth open. She's… she knows this. She's shocked. "Catra?" I ask her.
"No, no no no…" she murmurs, as the simulation of her and Kyle appears in view, walking straight towards us.
"-stop speaking to me." I tune back into this past conversation.
"Okay, Catra. Understood." Kyle says, hanging his head in defeat.
"Adora, we need to go now-" Real Catra grabs my arm, her face desperate, as the simulations walk through us. It's strange, I actually see the instant the simulation seems to… take control of Catra, as she lets go of my arm and starts walking next to Kyle. What doesn't she want me to see?
"Fine." She says after a moment, "I'm worried about Adora." Wait, this was really recent. Was this just the other day?
I keep following, feeling like I'm eavesdropping on something I shouldn't, but also like I don't really have a choice, like I'm supposed to listen. There are a few things they say that stick out.
Kyle asked if this is about the sword.
Catra thinks I'm confused, Kyle thinks I'm stressed.
Kyle said Lonnie thinks I'm fine.
Kyle asked Catra if we're best friends, and for some reason… she hesitated. I don't know why, but it hurts to see that split second of hesitation, even though when she said, "yeah, I guess," she said it with utter certainty, yet also… disappointment?
The conversation ends with Kyle being sappy about us all being friends, and Catra actually… smiles? Catra has been opening up and talking to not only Scorpia, but Kyle too? Have I been… that busy for her? I mean, it's a good thing. I've been telling her for years that everyone is friends with her too… But I feel like she's listening for reasons I shouldn't have let happen.
*Boom*
I pause with Catra and Kyle, this was the night after Princess Prom…
"What was that?" Kyle had asked in surprise.
Wait, but why then did Shadow Weaver seem to think-
Catra explains her theory, but then turns around seemingly after hearing something else. Her hearing was always good…
"There's something else."
"What, more of them? Oh, we're in trouble… what if they get-"
"ADVENTURE!" The sailor guy shouted, I don't know his name yet.
"Who the he-" Catra started to say, having whatever obvious obscenity she was going to say being cut off as Kyle takes a… suction-tipped arrow to his forehead, electrocuting and knocking him out instantly.
Catra then took a hit from Entrapta, out of nowhere, and muttered, "ow…" as she stood back up. Bow said the guy's name is Sea Hawk, they taunted each other for a moment, and Catra took off. I give chase after her, just as the other three rebellion people did, when something seems off.
I'm keeping pace with Catra.
She's supposed to be faster, way faster. Did the hit she took hurt that much? I follow her as she ran to the door, punching in the code, before… hesitating… why did she…
She took a hit from a net arrow, knocking her down. The rebellion members rush into the hallway, and as Entrapta starts messing with a terminal, Bow tries to interrogate Catra. Catra refuses, but when Bow looks up… I watch as Catra's face twisted as if she was thinking of her way out, but… she wasn't. Her claws were already primed to slice straight through the net… she's waiting… but Bow was already distracted?
She already had her plan… then she said, "You're not going to find her in the prison."
I feel my face drop from confusion to… something blank. If she said that…
Catra made her move, getting free instantly, and I can tell she made sure not to break Bow's tablet.
I follow, even though I know how this ends, but only to catch up to Catra so I can grab her arm. This immediately breaks her out of the simulation, and she looks around for a moment, stunned.
"You led them to her," I say, but my voice has no sense of an accusation in it. Her actions were clear enough.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" She says, immediately collecting herself and pulling off of me.
"You sabotaged us! Shadow Weaver was right…" I say, my voice reeling in shock.
"What? Shadow Weaver was right?"
"You leading them to us was sloppy, even for you, Shadow Weaver figured something was up."
"Did you just call me sloppy?" Catra says, still trying to steer the conversation, but it doesn't matter. We're both mad now.
"You… you don't want to be second in command, do you? You're jealous!"
"You're delusional!"
"The looks you gave me the whole time at Salineas, the incident at Plumeria, the distance, and this?"
"Adora, you're not listening to me! It's not jealousy!"
"Why are you trying to hold me back? Even outside, in the woods, and the whole time in here, you were trying to get me to turn around."
Catra pauses for a second, she's thinking. Choosing her words carefully, for once. "I'm trying to keep you from losing yourself!"
"What?"
"Use the context, Adora. I already told you you're listening too much to Shadow Weaver, devoting yourself more and more to this mission, or this sword-"
"How is pitting us against each other, and against Shadow Weaver, helping with any of that? You're supposed to have my back!"
"I do! That's what I'm trying to do! We're looking out for each other, just like we promised all those years ago. And me looking out for you? Is keeping you honest with yourself, and keeping you from losing yourself to fear."
"You think I'm not being honest? You think I'm afraid?"
"I think we have no idea what we're doing, and you admit it, but you aren't acting like it. You're trying to control everything, trying to keep everything the way you need it to be so you don't snap under the pressure of being a Force Captain, because this She-Ra stuff is really getting to you."
"Why do you think so fully that the sword is wrong with everything?"
"Because… that night you found the sword, I was scared. I don't know why, but I had this feeling. This awful feeling that everything was going to change if you went back out there. But you didn't. You stayed. And everything was perfect, for that short bit of time, until you saw the sword again at Thaymor."
"I thought it was important and I was right. This sword is the key to everything somehow, I just need to figure it out. Then, I can win the war for the horde. Shadow Weaver looses all sway over us, and we're safe."
"But this sword became an obsession. Over what it meant. Every fight we had with the rebellion I swear you were trying harder to grab it than finish the mission. And when you made that move against that Bow person, I… that wasn't you."
"Oh for the love of- I told you, I wasn't going to kill anymore!"
"And you aren't one to maim either. There's a key difference between you and I. I don't feel bad about hurting people. You do. You're supposed to be the one with the heart, because you're a good person, Adora."
"What- what are you-"
"Even when we were cadets, when we'd all play tricks on Kyle, you'd almost always be the only one to go up to him, to make sure he was okay. You always apologize after sparring sessions no matter your partner, even Rogelio, whose thick skin meant he rarely felt a blow. You told me years ago you never wanted to hurt anyone, even in war. And that day you found me, abandoned in a box in the rain, you did everything you could to help me, to convince Shadow Weaver to give me a home. Even if it was messed up…"
"Catra, I don't go out in the field wanting to hurt people. What, do you think I've become some sort of monster just because I got a sword and a badge?"
"No, I get it, you're doing your job. But you're putting more and more aside to do this job. You didn't have to threaten Sparkles as a prisoner, we already had her, but you decided to be cruel and twist the knife that was her friendship with the Archer even deeper. That's something I would do, never you."
"I'm going to do what I need to to make sure we accomplish our goals."
"You speak like you're being noble about it, but those goals were always supposed to be a fantasy."
"You and I together, best friends on top of everything, a fantasy?" I ask, not believing how cold she could be about the idea, and I realize it's the first time we've stopped talking long enough for us to actually think. She… she's right in a lot of ways. Am I losing myself?
As I hang my head slightly, the scene shifts. We're on the roof of the Fright Zone. Catra and I, together. On top of… everything… How could she not see it?
"So, what are we gonna do when we're all grown up, and we defeat the princesses?" I hear myself ask, from the ledge, and Catra and I turn to see ourselves as kids again, overlooking the Fright Zone.
"Hmm… Well once we conquer the world, I think we're going to have to make sure we're the ones actually ruling it." Catra responded, chuckling.
"What, overthrow Hordak? We can't!" I said back, surprised. How could Catra have suggested something so stupid?
"What if we get so strong, he wouldn't be able to stop us?" Catra asked, looking to the left to watch my shocked expression.
"Seriously? Why would we do that? It's a lot of responsibility…" I said, my childlike mind actually considering the possibilities.
"We're best friends, right? I'm pretty sure that means we're supposed to give each other the world," Catra had said, it again sounding so simple. So possible.
"I- okay!" I agreed in a playful way. At the time, this was all play, just us coming up with ideas of power fantasies.
Catra stood up, holding her hand down to me, and I joined her. "Yes! Adora, we're going to conquer the world!"
"And we're going to do it together, and with our team, and we can make the Fright Zone better for everyone!"
I feel my heart break at those words. Catra was right… I did used to say "our" team. And there was that unbridled optimism, that naivety.
I watch as the two of us hugged each other, and when I pulled away, I pull away.
I'm looking into Catra's eyes, and I can see the sadness in them, just as I feel it in me. Things aren't that simple anymore… things aren't easy. They're complicated, confusing, and just… overwhelming.
"When… when did you start taking that seriously…" she asks, all traces of anger between her and I are gone.
"I… it was always the plan, just not like that. I was always pushing, to make myself better. Shadow Weaver says your place in this world is what you make of it, and I wanted to make a place for us. So she and no one else could hurt us," I say, pouring my heart out into my words to make them as honest as I can.
"But then you found the sword…" her eyes behind me, to the sword hilt sticking over my shoulder.
"I guess… I guess I did have an idea or two…"
She looks back at me, into my eyes, "like?"
"I… this sword complicates everything. Things are going to get worse, I know it. It's only a matter of time before Shadow Weaver finds out-"
"Adora… she watched all our missions up until Salineas."
"I know, and-"
"She already knows about the sword."
"... what? I mean, she implied she did, but I thought she just knew something."
"Do you know why she stopped?"
"Something about warding spells…" I say, fuzzy on the details.
"Warding spells… on the rebellion? Adora, that means she could be watching now." Catra looks around, as if trying to sense her presence, but relaxed. "I don't think she is. I usually… if I try to feel it, I usually do. But still."
"Then… then I need to tell her. Maybe she can help me understand this thing."
"No! After everything she's done to us, how she's still manipulating you, she'll just try to turn you into a weapon."
I pause at her words, this time it actually sinks in, "that's all she ever wanted from me, so what changes?"
"Wait, so your plan is to let her use you like a cannon? She points, you swing?"
"It doesn't have to be that way. Entrapta implied I was trouble, real trouble, for the rebellion. You saw that strength I used against the spiders earlier. This sword is powerful. Real power. Somehow, maybe… if I can learn to use it, even from her, eventually we won't have to listen to her anymore. I can finally…" keep you safe from her, for good.
"FInally what? What are you trying to imply?"
"Maybe… maybe our dream doesn't have to be a fantasy."
Catra's eyes yet again narrow, yet again as if her mind is racing. "Adora…"
"We wouldn't have to be afraid of her, we wouldn't have to be afraid of Hordak, or this war… I could fix everything."'
"Adora…" she says, like she can't put her thoughts into words about what I'm saying.
"She-Ra could be the real key to making things better for everyone! We could be… liberators!"
"Adora! Liberators from who? You know the princesses aren't tyrants, you know this war is just a battle for power between two sides. These aren't the thoughts of a liberator, these are the thoughts of a conqueror."
I pause, biting my lip slightly. She's… what are the princesses? But if Shadow Weaver lied about so much, what else did she lie about? "I- I know. I'm not a hero, Catra. But I can make the world better for us."
"At what cost!?" She shouts, and for once… I don't have an answer.
"Catra… I don't know what's really going on with everything. I don't know how much of anything I know is a lie, and that terrifies me. The only thing I know is that I'm here, now, with you. That's what matters."
"I- Adora, this isn't something you come back from…"
"I know, change is scary and bad and can ruin everything. But… I don't mind the change, not when I'm with you. Maybe this is just part of us growing up," I say, struggling to make sense of everything I'm feeling. Why is everything so intense? I'm just expressing my desire to keep being friends… right?
"Adora… you're right. Things have changed a lot these last few months. And I… I just want to make sure you're okay."
"I'm okay. Now, I don't suppose we're going to find this Light Hope person after all, so let's just go find something that gives off an energy signature," I say, pulling Entrapta's tablet off my back for the first time since we got here, and turning it on. The screen is bright, and I wait a few seconds to adjust before looking at the energy readings.
"Wait, that thing gives off that much light? Why were you holding my hand in the dark, then!?"
"Uh…" I say, looking over to our right. Sure enough, the tablet was right, and there was a lot of interference. Standing right there, just a few feet from us, stands Light Hope.
Catra turns, seeing Light Hope, and she shrieks, jumping back a foot, out of my view. I'm guessing her fur is probably standing every which way.
"Light Hope?" I ask, hoping this is actually her.
"Adora," the figure says, in the same voice I've heard so many times since touching this sword, "you are making it very difficult to reach you. You must let go."
I turn around at Catra, not even sure why, she's just standing right behind me, a step to the side. Then I realize what this place was doing. It was trying to drive us apart. I turn back to Light Hope.
"I'm not, "letting go," of anything until you tell me what's going on here."
Light Hope stares at me for a moment, as if calculating. "Very well. I… shall explain," she says, waving her hand.
Suddenly, the scene of the Fright Zone shifts, and the ledge of the roof that Catra and I were standing at moves out from under us. Before either of us can react, we're both falling, as the simulation turns off the Fright Zone. Everything goes black, as Catra and I scream out.