Chapter 18

Catra hadn't meant to cut so deep. When she saw the blood staining the white clothes of She-Ra, guilt panged at her heart. But she wouldn't let Adora see that, she couldn't. While Catra had inflicted that physical blow, Adora had stabbed her with betrayal. She chose to be her enemy instead of coming back to the Horde.

Fine. If she won't go back as a soldier, she'll come back as a war prisoner.

Adora, with the eyes of She-Ra, looked up at her in shock, surprise, and hurt. She muttered her name so softly it played with her heart strings. She lunged for her, that mighty warrior all the legends are written about, knocking her to the ground where she straddled her. That golden tiara looked dumber the more often Catra saw it. Her sword clattered to the ground, she had grunted from the impact on the stone.

With eyes of burning vengeance, she turned to her team. "Are you guys going to help or just stand there?" She growled.

"You said Adora was yours so we haven't intervened," Ryan said, shrugging.

"Then go find the other princesses and secure the castle," Catra said slowly, a warning, a very dangerous one that got sharper the longer they stood there.

"Yes, Force Captain," Jack said and ushered them away before Catra killed them with her bare claws. Since she wasn't paying attention, Adora had the upper hand. She grabbed her and bucked, they rolled so that she was on top of Catra. She also knew all the places Catra kept her daggers and had snatched one. Adora was about to bring it down upon her chest, though she caught it. She wasn't as strong as She-Ra, so that was a struggle to keep the sharp point at bay.

She could see Adora hesitating, an act Shadow Weaver would have skinned her for back in the Horde. Catra wasn't allowed to hesitate, she wasn't allowed to get weak, she wasn't allowed to slow down. She saw a tear slide down Adora's glowing cheek. Catra took this show of weakness and shoved it back in her face, she kicked her abdomen, she cried out in pain and released the dagger. Catra threw it away and then scurried out from under her. Behind her, she scratched her back, not deep gouges this time, just light scratches.

Adora forced herself up on shaken legs and then swiftly grabbed the collar of Catra's shirt. "I don't want to hurt you, Catra," her voice broke.

"Shame. I'll hurt you." She kicked off Adora, flipping back. She jumped to the top of the wall where she crouched, looking down at her. "You know, for the Princess of Power, I'm not seeing much power. What's wrong? Don't know how to use your magic?" She mocked her. "Shadow Weaver told me about She-Ra, about you. Honestly, it didn't bother me as much, I couldn't care less who you are. But you've joined them. You left me."

"No, I left the Horde, I left Shadow Weaver. I never wanted to leave you behind. Come with me, fight with me not against me. Don't let Shadow Weaver use you like she did me."

Catra bared her teeth. She'd never let that hag use her, she wasn't Adora. "Don't you get it? I'm never going with you. I have a life in the Horde, I don't have a life here. If you're happier with your new friends then fine, but know you've made an enemy within me." Adora picked up the sword, turned, and with all her strength, sliced it across the air. At first, Catra didn't know what she was doing but a great beam of bright white light travelled quickly like lightning towards her. She jumped away from the light, the wall behind her was destroyed, bricks went flying, the structure came tumbling down.

Adora leapt and caught Catra, flinging her away. Her back smacked against a wall on the opposite side of the courtyard. She was winded for a moment, coughing as she forced her tiring body up from the ground. She looked at her, at She-Ra, at the glowing sword and the bright aura around her. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest. Adora's face was wiped of sorrow, the only thing remaining was determination.

"If that's how you feel then fine," she said quietly. "Be that way, Catra. But I won't let you harm innocent people." She pointed the tip of the sword at Catra's neck. "You go back to Hordak, you crawl back to Shadow Weaver, and you tell them I'm coming for them. I will tear down every Horde banner across Etheria. It is my sacred duty to protect this land and I will do so. Before you go, I want you to know that I didn't have a choice in any of this. My destiny has been expertly woven since the day of my birth. I have no choice. You do." Catra didn't understand what she meant by destiny and having no choice, of course there's a choice, there's always a choice. Perhaps that was the part Shadow Weaver didn't tell her about.

"And if you did have a choice," Catra asked, playing along with whatever that destiny thing was. "What would you choose, the Rebellion or the Horde?" Adora couldn't answer that.

"I would always choose to protect the innocent, that doesn't necessarily mean choosing the Rebellion, but whatever I would choose, I'd do it with you." Catra's shoulders sagged. "I had hoped you'd do the same." She turned and walked away.

"Hey! I'm not done fighting with you yet." Adora turned and slashed her sword through the air. A glowing white rope fling out from the sword beam and bound her in light. She couldn't wiggle her way out of that one.

"For now, you are. Until we meet again, wildcat," Adora said and vanished within the dark of a hallway. Catra teared up finally, teeth grinding together, struggling against the light.

She-Ra raced to find the others, she was terribly worried after a whole army chased after them. Her heart hurt to have left Catra like that, even more so that they have declared war on each other. Of all people, she had hoped that Catra would understand and go with her. But apparently not. Apparently she was wrong. She had to come to terms with the fact that they were enemies and there was nothing she could do about it other than buckle up and be prepared. She knew Catra had a wickedly smart mind and was awfully good at strategies, she'll stop at nothing and she'll outsmart Adora in every way.

After traversing down a million and one hallways, getting lost she didn't know how many times, she came across a trail of Horde soldiers. Without even thinking, she thrust her sword into the giant mecha suit's chest as it had turned to greet her. Bright white sparks of lightning zapped all over the suit, it began to shut down. She removed the sword and looked into the cavity to see it was just wiring, no soldier inside. Good, then she won't feel guilty about ruining them.

She got up and cut through the rest like they were butter, sheared off limbs, punched in their glass faces and ripped out their core units within the chest. Thankfully, there weren't many mecha suits, so it didn't take her long. With the suits gone, the only thing that stood in her way were the actual soldiers. They held little hand held guns and tasers so they were not to be messed with.

She-Ra rounded the corner, where loads of soldiers surrounded a tired glimmer before a massive, metal door. The soldiers turned to her and raised their pistols. White guns that fire bolts of red hot lasers, their tasers hanging by their hip. Shots were fired as She-Ra advanced. She brought up the sword and positioned in a way that reflected the shots, she moved so quickly she thought it was impossible. She swiped and knocked them down with a sword beam.

Glimmer was sweating, panting, the light in her power was dulling and the sparkles decreasing. She-Ra raced forward, as several soldiers raised their guns to fire at her, and became her shield. She held her hand out, creating a barrier of golden light that disintegrated the lasers.

"Adora," Glimmer muttered between breaths. "You're bleeding." She-Ra had forgotten all about the fact she was covered in cat scratches. Suppose it's her fault for trying to man handle a big cat.

"I'll be fine, where's Bow and Entrapta?" She asked.

"Inside the lab behind me, we locked the door to give them time. I tried to hold off the soldiers but..." she trailed off.

"Don't worry, you did great." Glimmer perked up at the comment. "You're very brave, Glimmer."

"Thanks," she huffed, catching her breath. "You're pretty cool yourself." She-ra pulled her arm back and pushed with all her might, the barrier was flung forward, pinning several soldiers to the walls. "Do you have enough power to get us in?" Glimmer didn't bother with a response, she grabbed her hand and within the blink of an eye, they were standing inside the lab. Soldiers banging on the metal door.

"Don't worry, they won't get in here, not even with their mechas. I made the door that way," Entrapta said, mask down, illuminated by the blow torch she's using.

"I took care of the mechas," She-Ra breathed. Adora was getting tired, the blood loss and the energy leaking out of her all at once. Glimmer took a seat, leaning against a rusty metal cylinder. There's a spider web of monitors showing a bunch of numbers and various First Ones data, none of which she could make sense of. Bow was nearby, bow at the ready in case the door failed and they were attacked by soldiers.

Entrapta was in the middle of repairing a really big circular robot, four giant spider legs and a glass window right at the front that had a scanner and a laser. The bot had another function as well, but Entrapta kept that one to herself. She was trying to infuse a First Ones bit of tech, a blue triangular crystal found in Dryl, to the bot to make it more efficient. So that the secret function can work. It was just a regular bot before Entrapta started tinkering with it; she had stolen it from the Horde.

Bow approached her with a look of concern written over his dark skinned face. His hair was a mess of curls. "Adora, you're hurt."

"You have any first aid stuff here, Entrapta?" Glimmer asked.

"Uhhhh. No?" Entrapta said, though it sounded more like a question.

"Adora..." Teela Na's voice echoed from the blade's gem. She-Ra raised the blade so she could look into the gem, a reflection of the hawk sorceress stared back at her. "Connect with She-Ra, she will help you." Her image faded, leaving just a vague statement.

She huffed a breath and took a seat on Entrapta's computer chair since she wasn't using it. Geek princess was balancing herself on a wobbly step ladder. She-Ra sat there and caught her breath, focusing on breathing in and out, her eyes shutting closed.

"Give me a moment," She-Ra said to the team. Adora on the inside pleaded with She-Ra, for who she was infused with at that moment. She was both Adora and She-Ra but she had never exchanged words with her before. She'd seen her in dreams, though that was as fair as it went.

Within the darkness behind her eyes, the golden figure of She-Ra appeared again, reaching her hand out. Adora stretched out her hand, wanting to connect with her, to be her, to understand her.